After phoning in his performances in way, way way too many straight to VOD action films (SEVEN IN A ROW! HE MADE SEVEN OF THEM!), Bruce Willis has decided it’s time for a career resurgence.
The timing makes sense since the movie gods have recently granted comeback films to other movie stars who peaked in the 80s and the 90s. In the past few years we’ve seen to resurgence of Keanu Reeves with John Wick and John Wick Chapter 2, Kurt Russell with Furious 7 and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Sylvester Stallone with Creed.
So which film has ol’ Bruno decided to kick off his return to theatrically released films? A Death Wish remake directed by torture porn maestro Eli Roth!
Um… okay then.
The trailer for this thing dropped today and it looks… fine? To be honest, I was expecting something a little more eccentric given its director. Love him or hate him, Eli Roth makes memorable and unique films and it baffles me that Death Wish looks so by the numbers.
To be honest, I wouldn’t have been able to guess that he made this one from the trailer.
I would have assumed this was made by some low rent nameless hack and not Eli freaking Roth.
At least Bruce Willis seems to be awake for this one. If you’ve seen any of his VOD film performances in the past few years, you know that he gets away with murder in those things. It’s some of the laziest acting you’ll see outside of a Steven Seagal film.
Anyway, we’ll see how this plays out. Perhaps Roth can surprise us.
Some parts of the internet, though, don’t seem as optimistic about the film:
Yes Death Wish was always racist…but that’s the fucking point. Are we not going to point out something is racist because it’s always been?
— Lexi Alexander (@Lexialex) August 3, 2017
Angry, old white man becomes an armed vigilante against Chicago civilians. That’s a dangerous message. Is Death Wish alt-right fan fiction? pic.twitter.com/7VIrMbLWXv
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) August 3, 2017
Maybe it’s the marketing, but seems a strange time to give a high-five to an older angry white dude going vigilante with lots of guns.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) August 3, 2017
Fair or not, I can’t think of a more tone-deaf idea in this political/social environment than white filmmakers remaking #DEATHWISH…
— Scott Mendelson (@ScottMendelson) August 3, 2017
Eli Roth’s Death Wish remake is so nakedly fascist that alt-righters will have an erection before the trailer ends https://t.co/sDY5fQXR9W
— Alan Zilberman (@alanzilberman) August 3, 2017
Death Wish is out November 22nd, 2017.
Will you be seeing Death Wish? Sound off below!