Movie Review: DEATH WISH(2018)

   Bruce Willis stars in this remake of the 1974 Charles Bronson classic. It is remade by director Eli (Hostel) and writer/director Joe Carnahan(The Grey.A-Team) and tells the story of a husband, father and E.R. Surgeon Paul Kersey, who turns into a vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter is left in a coma. With no help from the police and just barely enough support from his selfish debt owing brother (Vincent D'Onofrio), Paul find s more answers on his own and with a gun in his hand, which he is reluctant to use at first but soon learns carrying around a gun can produce the answers that he has desperately spent months looking for.
   I remember the original Death Wish being a shocking and gruesome film. This updated version is neither of those two. It's not shocking when his wife (Elisabeth Shue) is murdered due to the simple fact that our society has become desensitized to the murder and mayhem that is portrayed here. Even more importantly, we the viewer do not have an emotional interest in Paul Kersey's quest for justice.There is no emotional payoff when Kersey finally gets what he's been looking for-JUSTICE. When DEATH WISH reaches its conclusion, it's just another film that we've seen many times before and done much better with the original.
   That's not to say that this DEATH WISH has no redeeming social value. It does offer some satisfaction, however, limited that may be. Veteran Filmmakers Roth and Carnahan bring the moviegoer a solid enough remake that scores some points for entertainment and thrills, especially in the third act, but once again- it breaks no new ground in the process.
   I am on the fence with this grade. This version of DEATH WISH sits somewhere between a B- and a C+. Should you see it? Not if you are looking for something that is original and groundbreaking. That was the original 1974 film.