{"id":1271,"date":"2024-07-23T22:14:44","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T22:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1271"},"modified":"2024-10-14T00:40:53","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T04:40:53","slug":"death-wish-v-the-face-of-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/23\/death-wish-v-the-face-of-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Death Wish V: The Face of Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Death Wish V: The Face of Death<\/strong>\u00a0 (1994)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trimark\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 95 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, strong violence, nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Allan A. Goldstein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Allan A. Goldstein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Terry Plumeri\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Curtis Petersen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 14, 1994 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Charles Bronson, Lesley-Anne Down, Michael Parks, Robert Joy, Saul Rubinek, Kenneth Welsh, Miguel Sandoval, Erica Lancaster, Chuck Shamata, Kevin Lund, Lisa Inoue.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $1.7 million (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: **<\/p>\n

\u00a0I figured the Death Wish series would run out of gas sooner or later, especially since star Charles Bronson wasn\u2019t getting any younger. When I first saw the previews for Death Wish V: The Face of Fear<\/strong>, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I was psyched that they were doing another one. On the other hand, it didn\u2019t look all that good. To be blunt, it looked really half-assed. It is! It\u2019s easily the weakest entry in the series. It\u2019s also the last. In addition, it was Bronson\u2019s final starring role in a theatrical film. While I was glad to see him again after a five-year absence (1989\u2019s Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects), it was obvious that he\u2019d had enough of playing Paul Kersey. He looks and sounds bored in Death Wish V<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the seven years since the previous installment, Cannon Films went bankrupt and producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus parted ways. Golan launched his own production company, 21st<\/sup> Century Film Corporation. It wasn\u2019t a very successful venture as one movie after another bombed at the box office. Their titles include the Robert Englund vehicle The Phantom of the Opera (1989), the crummy remake of Night of the Living Dead (1990) and the ill-fated Captain America (1990). Death Wish V<\/strong> did nothing to change Golan\u2019s luck. It was released to only 248 theaters and made only $1.7M at the box office. It\u2019s a bad film on several levels, but you can laugh at it. By definition, cheap action movies are silly, but this one tries to be creative. I just can\u2019t dismiss a movie that shows us death by poisoned cannolis, exploding soccer balls and shrink wrap.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ll preface the plot description by saying that Death Wish V<\/strong> is ludicrous even by the low standards of cheap action flicks. For one thing, Paul Kersey is in the Witness Protection Program although it\u2019s never fully explained why. So where do the genius feds decide to relocate him? That\u2019s right, New York, the place where it all started. His name is now Paul Stewart and he teaches architecture at the university. He\u2019s romantically involved with fashion designer Olivia Regent (Down, Nomads) whose ex-husband Tommy O\u2019Shea (Parks, Grindhouse) heads the local Irish Mob. The scumbag has his fingers in every aspect of Olivia\u2019s business and regularly terrorizes her and the employees. He\u2019s bad enough that his own daughter Chelsea (Lancaster) is terrified and wants nothing to do with him. She likes Paul and that\u2019s a problem for Tommy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Paul finally convinces Olivia to sit down with the DA, Tony Hoyle (Rubinek, Against All Odds), and talk about her ex\u2019s illegal doings. Tommy finds out and sends his best hitman, Freddie \u201cFlakes\u201d Garrity (Joy, Desperately Seeking Susan), to shut her up. This dude is a real character. He shows up at a restaurant in drag and follows Olivia into the ladies room where he disfigures her by repeatedly smashing her face into the mirror. BTW, his nickname Flakes is due to his chronic dandruff problem. Olivia is scared and scarred, but Paul convinces her not to back down. Enter application of the \u201cKiss of Death Wish\u201d rule. Now Paul is pissed off and back on the warpath again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Given Bronson\u2019s age (he was 72 at the time), it\u2019s little wonder he\u2019s not running all over the place shooting punks. He takes care of Tommy\u2019s guys in rather creative ways, ones that I mentioned earlier. A heavyset goon dies (right in front of his mother) from eating a poisoned cannoli. Flakes gets it with the exploding soccer ball. One thug gets wrapped to death in a clothing factory. Don\u2019t panic, Bronson still shoots a few people, mainly at the end.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Tommy is a sick, sadistic bastard as proven by how he tortures uncooperative employees with table saws and press irons. Flakes runs down a lady cop and a portly employee with his car. I\u2019ll say this for Death Wish V<\/strong>, it doesn\u2019t short-change the audience when it comes to violent action. It\u2019s just that the picture itself is very poorly made. One look at the cinematography and editing betrays this fact. It looks like a movie that might otherwise get released straight-to-video. Director Allan A. Goldstein (2001: A Space Travesty) spares every expense in this weak outing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The acting ranges from bad to outlandish. Parks chews up the scenery as the main villain. His psycho is like something out of a warped comic book. Joy delivers a very weird performance as a very weird character. Lancaster can\u2019t act, it\u2019s that simple. She doesn\u2019t even react to her mother\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Death Wish V <\/strong>is also extremely predictable. There\u2019s never any doubt as to who\u2019s on Tommy\u2019s payroll at the DA\u2019s office. It can\u2019t be anybody else but this character. But when Kersey finally kills him, it leads up to one of the picture\u2019s best lines. The body is shipped to Tommy in a crate and he says while standing over the dead man, \u201cShip him to Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0The final shot of Death Wish V<\/strong> is somewhat prophetic as if the makers knew it would be Bronson\u2019s swan song. It shows him walking directly into the light at the end of a hallway as he leaves the scene of his final massacre. While I don\u2019t think that Bronson went out on a high note with Death Wish V<\/strong>, it\u2019s not completely unwatchable. Maybe I\u2019m being too generous given my affection for vigilante flicks, but this one is just okay.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Death Wish V: The Face of Death\u00a0 (1994)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trimark\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 95 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, strong violence, nudity)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Allan A. Goldstein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Allan A. Goldstein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Terry Plumeri\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Curtis Petersen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: January 14, 1994 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Charles Bronson, Lesley-Anne Down, Michael Parks, Robert Joy, Saul Rubinek, Kenneth Welsh, Miguel Sandoval, Erica Lancaster, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-b-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Death-Wish-V-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1271"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1895,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1271\/revisions\/1895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}