This is a soild end for this series. At one one time they planned to continue the series with a Death Wish 6 and replace Bronson with the character of Chelsea from this film as the vigilante but this plan never came to pass.
**SPOILERS** The fifth last and most vicious and violent of all the "Death Wish" movies based on the sadistic and brutal scenes in the film, even though the body count in "Death Wish V" seemed to be the lowest of all the previous sequels with the exception of the original "Death Wish" back in 1974.
Paul Kersey, Charles Bronson, now thanks to the Withness Protection Program is living as an non-violent and law-abiding citizen in New York City, Paul is a professor of architecture at a local university. With his life back to normal, no more shooting of criminals, and having a classy and beautiful lady-friend Olivia Regent, Lesley-Anne Down, who has a cute and adorable daughter Chelsea, Erica Lancaster, things couldn't be better but then "They" came on the scene. What "They" did to Paul's future wife and to his and her friends, including little Chelsea, made Paul turn into the crime fighter and personal avenger that he tried to put behind him. In the end "They'll" never be the same, or in one piece, again after the outraged and infuriated Paul Kersey does "His Thing" or "Job" on them.
"They" are a Westie-like organized mobster gang headed by Paul's lover Olivia's former husband and little Chelsea's father Tommy O'Shea, Michael Parks. Tommy is a borderline psycho who loves to hurt and torture people that he doesn't like or who don't obey him as fast as he want's them too. Getting his hands on the garment industry in NYC Tommy has a stranglehold on Olivia who has a line of clothes thats produced from a business that she owns there.
The O'Shea mob starts to put the screws on Olivia's business and those working for her. The local D.A Tony Hoyle, Saul Rubinek, gets a number of workers in the garment center to agree to testify against O'Shea and his mob. Unknown to D.A Hoyle there's a member of his staff who's tipping off O'Shea to who's to testify and has the O'Shea mob murder them before he, D.A Hoyle, can provide them with police protection. One of those who's at first viciously mutilated and later murdered by the O'Shea Mob is non other then Olivia,this brings the wild animal out of the peaceful and kind Paul Kersey.
Charles Bronson's Paul Kersey takes on organized crime in "Death Wish 5" unlike the mostly unorganized street thugs and criminals that he took on in the previous four "Death Wish" films. Again like Kersey did in the earlier movies he does the bad guys in, and finishes them off, in the most spectacular ways that he can devise.
Even though he was 73 at the time in 1994 Charles Bronson is very believable as the avenging vigilante Paul Kersey knocking off the entire O'Shea Mob. Kersey does his unpleasant and bloody job not only with bullets but with cyanide-laced pastries exploding soccer balls and clothes making and knitting machinery.
Tommy O'Shea, as well as his gang, gets his comeuppances by being dropped, by Paul, into a boiling vat of acid and made to look a lot slimmer and 150 ponds lighter. Not realizing that their no match at all for the angry and rampaging Kersey the O'Shea mob tried to trap him, by kidnapping and holding hostage Chelsea, at the plant and do him in. Kersey was on to them from the start and in the end it was he who was the hunter and they, the O'Shea Mob, who were the hunted with the results, in this deadly cat-and-mouse game, being a forgone and bloody conclusion for them not Paul Kersey.
Some spoilers here**********************************************In the final film of the series, Paul Kersey, (Charles Bronson), now thanks to the Withness Protection Program is living as an non-violent and law-abiding citizen in New York City, Paul is a professor of architecture at a local university. With his life back to normal, no more shooting of criminals, and having a classy and beautiful lady-friend Olivia Regent, (Lesley-Anne Down), who has a cute and adorable daughter Chelsea, (Erica Lancaster), things couldn't be better but then "They" came on the scene. What "They" did to Paul's future wife and to his and her friends, including little Chelsea, made Paul turn into the crime fighter and personal avenger that he tried to put behind him. In the end "They'll" never be the same, or in one piece, again after the outraged and infuriated Paul Kersey does "His Thing" or "Job" on them.
"They" are a Westie-like organized mobster gang headed by Paul's lover Olivia's former husband and little Chelsea's father Tommy O'Shea, (Michael Parks). Tommy is a borderline psycho who loves to hurt and torture people that he doesn't like or who don't obey him as fast as he want's them too. Getting his hands on the garment industry in NYC Tommy has a stranglehold on Olivia who has a line of clothes thats produced from a business that she owns there.
The O'Shea mob starts to put the screws on Olivia's business and those working for her. The local D.A Tony Hoyle, (Saul Rubinek), gets a number of workers in the garment center to agree to testify against O'Shea and his mob. Unknown to D.A Hoyle there's a member of his staff who's tipping off O'Shea to who's to testify and has the O'Shea mob murder them before he, D.A Hoyle, can provide them with police protection. One of those who's at first viciously mutilated and later murdered by the O'Shea Mob is non other then Olivia,this brings the wild animal out of the peaceful and kind Paul Kersey.
Charles Bronson's Paul Kersey takes on organized crime in "Death Wish 5" unlike the mostly unorganized street thugs and criminals that he took on in the previous four "Death Wish" films. Again like Kersey did in the earlier movies he does the bad guys in, and finishes them off, in the most spectacular ways that he can devise.
Even though he was 73 at the time in 1994 Charles Bronson is very believable as the avenging vigilante Paul Kersey knocking off the entire O'Shea Mob. Kersey does his unpleasant and bloody job not only with bullets but with cyanide-laced pastries exploding soccer balls and clothes making and knitting machinery.
Tommy O'Shea, as well as his gang, gets his comeuppances by being dropped, by Paul, into a boiling vat of acid and made to look a lot slimmer and 150 ponds lighter. Not realizing that their no match at all for the angry and rampaging Kersey the O'Shea mob tried to trap him, by kidnapping and holding hostage Chelsea, at the plant and do him in. Kersey was on to them from the start and in the end it was he who was the hunter and they, the O'Shea Mob, who were the hunted with the results, in this deadly cat-and-mouse game, being a forgone and bloody conclusion for them not Paul Kersey.
This is a soild end for this series. At one one time they planned to continue the series with a Death Wish 6 and replace Bronson with the character of Chelsea from this film as the vigilante but this plan never came to pass. A remake of the original is being talked about with Sly Stallone in the lead.
A great ending to a great franchise. Two extremely likable villains, Tom O Shea and Freddy Flakes (I think that's his name, the dandruff guy). Even in his twilight years, you really shouldn't piss Bronson off. Plus a lot of laugh out loud moments and the best fat man through a plate glass window I've ever seen. Now I guess I need to see Death Sentence to round off the whole Death Wish experience (it was a sequel or something in book form). God, I wish they could make Death Wish VI: Kersey Goes Bananas.
Sometimes I just wish that they would leave Bronson and his loved ones alone. Hasn't the man revenged enough?
By the numbers, kinda dull, Bronson looks bored with some okay death scenes thrown into the mix to save it from being complete garbage.
An avarage movie, but still a pretty unforgettable action/thriller. Death Wish (the first) was the best. I think the producer/-s and writers just couldn't make another as good as the first. I always considered Charles Bronson to be a good actor. He did a lot of bad movies. He deserved better parts. Sorry to say that he passed away in the summer of 2003.
MCT:April 29, 2008
MCT:February 21, 2008
MCT:January 28, 2008
MCT:January 18, 2008
MCT:December 11, 2007
MCT:September 4, 2007
MCT:June 12, 2007
MCT:August 31, 2006
MCT:July 18, 2006
