Death Wish

A doctor (Bruce Willis), distraught after a gang of home invaders leaves his wife dead and his daughter in a coma, and fearing the police investigation is going nowhere, embarks on his own anti-crime crusade. Writer Joe Carnahan and director Eli Roth update the 1974 Charles Bronson vigilante wet dream (from Brian Garfield’s novel), relocating it to Chicago on the theory that the present murder rate there is roughly equivalent to New York in the ’70s. The result is a satisfying melodrama, bolstered by the supporting performances of Vincent D’Onofrio as Willis’ brother, Elisabeth Shue as the ill-fated wife, and Dean Norris and Kimberly Elise as police detectives. A sequel is inevitable, I guess (and not especially to be looked forward to), but at least this one shoots its way to a satisfying conclusion.