The Crackdown - The Crack-Up (Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (DVD))

Member Name: adambrown400

Product:	Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (DVD)
Date:	19/10/09 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Death and destruction

Disadvantages: cheaply made

Rapist: Who the $%&@ are you?
Paul Kersey: Death!

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown is a film about drugs and the drug trafficking trade. Charles Bronson again steps up to the plate as no-nonsense vigilante Paul Kersey. Kersey in his public life is a mild mannered architect who just happens to have bad things happen to him now and again. In Death Wish his wife was raped and murdered while his daughter was left institutionalised. In Death Wish 2 his maid was brutally raped and his daughter was raped and then jumped out of a window onto some spikes. Death Wish 3 saw his best friend murdered by street thugs. So things never seem to go so well for Kersey. However, Kersey is prepared for any eventuality and is in fact an undercover vigilante serving outright justice to anyone who comes across as a 'punk'.

In this film Kersey's new girlfriend's daughter is introduced into the world of hard drugs. She eventually has a massive overdose and eventually dies. Bronson goes on the rampage, seeking revenge and finding out who is behind the drug trade in LA. Ed Zacharias (Perry Lopez) and Jack Romero (Mike Moroff) turn out to be the main guys and are rival drug lords. Bronson manages to play each off of each other, disposing of the middle men - but will he find out who is behind the evil trade?

Death Wish 4 is the first film in the series to not have Michael Winner in the director's chair, instead it goes to Guns of Navarone helmer J Lee Thompson. Thompson doesn't have the exploitative flair that Winner had and the film has a much more sedate and mainstream feel to it. It's a pretty cheap affair too, with some quite terrible stunts. There is one scene with a car that runs into the back of another car and flies through the air. You can see a massive ramp obviously behind the parked car. The extras are pretty laughable too. In the final shoot-out, the members of the roller disco scream and shout like a bunch of camp weirdoes at a Kenneth Williams convention!

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown is a pretty rudimentary affair that doesn't have the same clout as the previous three films in the series. Say what you want about Michael Winner, but he certainly makes a good Death Wish film!

Bronson here looks pretty old. He is also again devoid of any emotion when he dispatches his enemies - he too seems to be going through the motions.

I've also managed to find a copy of the fifth film in series, but I hold out little hope for the quality of that film. This one could have done with a few more coppers spent on it, as it comes across as a pretty cheap mess. I also see that tomflint recently reviewed Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects- a film that was also directed by J Lee Thompson. I also wanna see that film too now!

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown is available as a region 1 import from amazon.co.uk for £3.94.

Summary: Poor addition to the series