Few long-running movie franchises are comparable to John Wick, with Death Wish standing out as one of the scant few. The John Wick series currently comprises four movies, with a fifth installment confirmed to be in development. When that happens, it will equal the amount of entries in Charles Bronson’s action movie franchise, spinoffs excluded.
Vigilante action movies, including those with sequels, are becoming increasingly common, thanks in large part to the popularity of Keanu Reeves’ performance as John Wick and the extraordinary box office success enjoyed by the four films in the series. Death Wish, on the other hand, predates all the John Wick clones and even the franchise itself by decades.
In fact, Death Wish was the product of a time where sequels of any kind were only beginning to pick up steam. The franchise began in 1974, and despite its fair share of controversy, managed to amᴀss four sequels in the span of 20 years.
Like John Wick, Death Wish Is An Action-Packed, One-Man Army Revenge Movie
Charles Bronson Plays An Architect-Turned-Vigilante
Death Wish starred Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, a happily married, ordinary architect who has his life turned upside down at the start of the film when a routine burglary at his home turns into a murder. After losing his wife, Paul gradually discovers that he has what it takes to kill, and purposely instigates a fatal encounter with a criminal.
The Death Wish movies are based on the Death Wish book by Brian Garfield.
Emboldened by his newfound potential, Kersey develops a vigilante lifestyle, seeking out criminals and dealing out his own definition of justice. Like John Wick, Paul Kersey is depicted as a cold-blooded killer who shows no mercy in his efforts to clean up the streets, as a way of dealing with the grief consuming him.
Bruce Willis played another version of Paul Kersey – reimagined as a surgeon – in a 2018 reboot of Death Wish. Unless the Charles Bronson classic, it never received a sequel.
Paul differs from Wick in that he wasn’t a killer before the story started, but it doesn’t take long at all for him to develop the same, callous determination to accomplish his goals, no matter the cost. And similar to the case with Reeves’ character, Paul’s ruthlessness is matched by his effectiveness and the fear he instills in many of his future victims.
Paul Kersey’s Story Spanned Five Movies
Paul Kersey’s Escapades In New York To Los Angeles Make For A Five-Movie Saga
Paul Kersey’s vigilante activities didn’t end with the conclusion of Death Wish. The sequel, Death Wish II, gives him a new reason to go on a killing spree, this with a gang of crooks robbing him and his daughter, unknowingly making targets of themselves – a story reminiscent of what spurs John Wick’s actions in the first movie.
Death Wish 3 follows a slightly different formula, this time with Paul being sucked back into his crime-fighting ways by the murder of his old war buddy. But Death Wish 3 doesn’t repeat the stories of the first two films, opting instead to mix things up by having Paul make an unusual alliance with a police commissioner, who agrees to look the other way.
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown sees Paul join the fight against drug dealers in Los Angeles; as it was with the third movie, the death of someone close to Paul is the catalyst of the story. In this case, it’s the daughter of Paul’s new girlfriend, who dies of a drug overdose.
Paul Kersey never received a proper sendoff due to the series ending the story after Death Wish 5’s box office failure. That said, the doesn’t leave any lingering plotlines to be resolved in a follow-up.
The franchise ended with Death Wish 5: The Face of Death, a movie that’s actually less about revenge and more about protecting someone. In the final film of the franchise, Paul is trying to protect his girlfriend (not the same woman featured in Death Wish 4) from her dangerous ex-boyfriend, who has organized crime connections.
Charles Bronson’s Paul Kersey Is One Of The Best (& Darkest) Vigilante Movie Anti-Heroes
Charles Bronson Was The Perfect Choice For Death Wish’s Main Protagonist
Due to accusations that the films glorify violence, the Death Wish movies have been the subject of controversy since their release. However, Charles Bronson’s interpretation of Paul Kersey has remained an icon of 1970s action dramas, often mentioned in the same conversation as Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry.
Charles Bronson was not dissimilar to Keanu Reeves, in that he excelled at playing stoic, “tough guy” characters who come across as both cool and imposing. That aspect of Bronson’s acting persona is what made him such a great fit for The Magnificent Seven and several other Westerns of that era.
That same gravitas translated perfectly to Death Wish, with the actor – previously known for his roles in gritty Western movies – fitting seamlessly into the bleak, crime-ridden world of Death Wish. In his take on Paul Kersey, the franchise delivered an anti-hero willing to embrace his darkest impulses to accomplish his goals.
