Review: Death Wish IV: The Crackdown, The Beginning Of The End
- Mar 6, 2018
- 2 min read
Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) really should sever all ties to anyone close to him. Seriously, it never ends well.
Paul Kersey has, for the third time, settled down. He has his own business, a girlfriend, Karen (Kay Lenz) and, for the first time in a long time, things are looking up. When Karen's daughter Erica (Dana Barron) overdoses on cocaine, Kersey once again takes up his guns as he sets out to clean up the streets.
The Crackdown is a very different film when compared to the others. It's more methodical, more cold. Kersey acts as more of an assassin than the impassioned vigilante of the past. He slowly works his way up the chain with ruthless efficiency. While it's a departure from the past, it's not a totally unwanted one. But it does bring with it an unforgivable flaw. While the action is as enjoyable as it ever was, and Bronson is still a certified badass, The Crackdown's structure makes it boring.
The setup of assassination after assassination makes for unique set-pieces and little else. It loses the frenetic pace of prior films, replacing the chaotic action and thin plots with an attempt at convincing storytelling. And at this, it fails horribly. The film tries to introduce twists, differing levels of suspence and all manner of devices that simply fail to entertain.
In an attempt to elevate itself, The Crackdown has thrown itself down, losing almost all of what made the other films so much fun. It feels twice as long as it is, there's too many moments of boring dialogue and, aside from some fun action scenes, there's not a lot of reasons to watch it.
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