Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

The number of action movies Bruce Willis has started in are racking up, and at sixty-three he still does a lot of his own stunts.

Something tells me this man might just have a death wish.

It’s Dr Paul Kersey’s (Bruce Willis) birthday and he’s elbow deep in surgery when an announcement over the PA about two female incoming trauma’s makes him go cold. His worst fears have been realised as a home invasion gone wrong leaves one person he loves dead and the other in a coma.

Angry, frustrated at the slow police system, and wanting to make up for the lack of protection he showed on that dreaded night, Dr Kersey takes to the streets.

Chicago is not a friendly place at night, but clad in shadow Dr Kersey seeps himself in its violence and begins to unpick the crime that led him there.

He’ll either find justice for his family or end up as another statistic.

It was super weird to see Bruce Willis playing a character who wasn’t a cop… or a former cop… or someone with special forces training. It took some getting used to but the YouTube Vigilante character wasn’t unlikable, in fact it made Dr Kersey more realistic and ergo more endearing.

A refreshing shock was how the good doctor did not mess around when it came to getting the job done. There were no long and profound speeches, or snappy phrases about how his victims had failed this city. It as simple case of; bish bash bosh, dead.

Clearly it would have been harder to get away with vigilantism if it was suburban Connecticut and so Chicago provided a nice active backdrop for the movie. The shocking crime rate allowed Dr Kersey to move about fairly unnoticed as he sought his vengeance, and added a layer of debate amongst the cities inhabitants over his heroics.

They were nice enough but the police officers, Det. Raines (Dean Norris) and Det. Jackson (Kimberly Elise) didn’t seem to be taking their job very seriously. They weren’t exactly a comedy duo and nor did they throw things and swear in anger at the injustices of the job – you know, like stereotypical cops do. I’m not saying they didn’t care, I just couldn’t tell you that they did either.

This leads me on to the next point; The movie was a little blasé for the topic; vigilantism and ‘justifiable’ murder. I only bring this up because it was heavily referenced in the movie via popular radio shows, but even they barely scratched the surface. If it wasn’t touched at all then it would have been a moot point, as action movies play all the time without us thinking about any impacts on society.

Who knows. Maybe they wanted to avoid social ramifications in real life Chicago – or maybe they didn’t feel like it was that deep, either way it’s lack of direct address/conclusion was obvious.

A lighter Bruce Willis movie than I’ve seen in some time. A bit slow to start and a tad frustrating at watching Willis as Dr Kersey fumble through using a gun and perform basic hand to hand combat. However his directness in getting the job done and avenging his family and his home was refreshing.