Death Wish
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: March 2, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
31
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
15
Negative:
16
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 2, 2018
Death Wish is easily the second best “Death Wish” movie ever made, and not a distant second. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMar 8, 2018
Death Wish is a classier version of what you can find on cable in the wee hours — it’s not worth seeing in the theater — but it’s worth pausing over its politics of guns. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearMar 2, 2018
The one light at the end of this long, slogged-through tunnel is, surprisingly, Willis. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 2, 2018
The 2018 Death Wish has been developed with a specific audience in mind – those who enjoy these kinds of thoughtlessly violent outings. The direction is workmanlike, although without the flourishes that have added some visual razzle-dazzle to similar orgies of brutality like "John Wick" and its sequel. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaMar 2, 2018
The film, much like Willis' performance, never flatlines, but it never delivers the thrills you expect from this type of genre piece. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 1, 2018
Again and again, Death Wish feels anything but real. Read full review
50
UproxxVince ManciniMar 1, 2018
Roth and Carnahan’s motivations here remain murky and Death Wish never justifies its existence. Divorced of context, it’s like sauce and tomato without the burger. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRyan OliverMar 1, 2018
The film’s best stability through all of these shifts is Willis who, while he could do a role like this in his sleep (and has), commands the screen and reminds us why he became an above-the-marquee star in the first place. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 1, 2018
Eli Roth’s Death Wish isn’t a bad movie as far as super-violent exploitation flicks go. But it is a deeply problematic one. And that problem boils down to this: It’s the absolute wrong movie at the absolute wrong time. Read full review
50
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMar 1, 2018
Although he races through the occasional blasts of gritty action, Roth slows things down whenever Paul corners one of the people who killed his wife, the director sinking his teeth into long torture sequences or terse dialogue scenes that are punctuated with shocking flashes of gore. Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonMar 1, 2018
A wishy-washy exploitation movie, which doesn’t show any real verve until the climax. Read full review
40
EmpireAndrew LowryApr 9, 2018
Sadly, Donald Trump hasn’t quite found his Leni Riefenstahl: this is a film too embarrassed to be what it is. And shorn of capes and costumes, vigilantism is pretty ugly. Though Roth’s gift for the gruesome gives it a small voyeuristic appeal. Read full review
40
Paste MagazineOktay Ege Kozak Mar 9, 2018
This is a standard vigilante/revenge fantasy too plodding to deliver the base genre goodies, and too simplistic to work as a character study on how a sudden life of violence can irredeemably disrupt an average citizen’s psyche, the way the original film at least half-heartedly attempted to do. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoMar 1, 2018
Quite simply, it’s impossible to “enjoy” a film that makes you feel even worse about the society we live in – especially when it’s so gobsmackingly unaware itself. Read full review
40
VarietyOwen GleibermanMar 1, 2018
All the new Death Wish is truly committed to is getting a rise out of the audience. It’s a first-person-shooter fantasy. The film’s only real view of justice is that it’s a blast. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Mar 1, 2018
But the real problem is that the picture feels padded. There are endless, and pointless, scenes of radio hosts debating the vigilante violence. And the wildly mismatched shoot-outs — every criminal Kersey goes up against is slow, stupid and a lousy shot — waters down the thrills. Read full review
38
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiMar 2, 2018
Preying on a hurting city might be forgiven if the movie was any good. But Willis, who was once a formidable action star, is performing “Die Hard With an Ambien” as he exhibits zero emotion and mutters under his breath like an accountant who’s upset with his boss. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzMar 2, 2018
The new Death Wish is a vigilante film that's also about vigilante film cliches, when it remembers to think about such things, which is only occasionally. Most of its attempts to subvert or freshen up familiar elements aren't well developed, and they're certainly never strong enough to counter the bloodlust and gun worship that's invariably going to power this kind of project. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Mar 2, 2018
Whether uncritically brought over in remake translation or genuinely reaffirmed, the movie’s fucked-up politics poison the fun. By the end, which creates an unmistakably symmetrical arc for Paul, Death Wish has all but devolved into a scare-tactics advertisement for locked-and-loaded home protection. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMar 1, 2018
Eli Roth and screenwriter Joe Carnahan could have done the same thing, manifesting the rages and fears that afflict the country we live in right now. Instead they offer a cheap and dishonest Death Wish that (references to social media notwithstanding) is interchangeable with get-tough knockoffs that have flooded cinemas for decades. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMar 1, 2018
Directed by Eli Roth with the same knowing smirk that has informed his previous exercises in self-satisfied bloodletting ("Cabin Fever," "The Green Inferno," the "Hostel" movies), the movie is a slick, straightforward revenge thriller as well as a sham provocation, pandering shamelessly to the viewer's bloodlust while trying to pass as self-aware satire. Your time, to say nothing of your outrage, is much better spent elsewhere. Read full review
30
IGNWilliam BibbianiMar 1, 2018
Death Wish takes the serious topic of vigilante violence and reduces it to melodramatic hero worship, and it’s not even particularly good at that. The action is forgettable and the plot barely holds together. Read full review
30
TheWrapRobert AbeleMar 1, 2018
As soon as Willis deploys his trademark smirk, and the comfortable vengeance of tracking down his wife’s killers while avoiding detection takes over, it just becomes a million other B-movies about lowlifes getting what they deserve. Read full review
25
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 1, 2018
Bruce Willis, looking decrepit and acting like he gave his last damn a dozen years ago, stars in what plays like an old man’s movie for angry, emasculated and frightened old men. Read full review
25
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 1, 2018
For a while, director Roth plays this stuff relatively straight, and Willis periodically reminds us he can act (the grieving Kersey cries a fair bit here). Read full review
25
ConsequenceRandall ColburnMar 1, 2018
There’s something distinctly odious about a storyteller exploiting both a city’s tragic reality and a country’s debate about firearms to make a film that thrives on violence. Read full review
20
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 12, 2018
A pound-store Tarantino with the sadism dialled up and the wit switched off, Roth has the very basics of a stomach-clenching suspense sequence down pat. It’s just that the film never provides any rationale for why you’d want to submit to it. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenMar 7, 2018
The new Death Wish is unlikely to spark similar controversy, simply because the filmmaking is not as compelling as in the original film. Read full review
20
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisMar 1, 2018
An imbecilic misfire. Read full review
20
The GuardianAmy NicholsonMar 1, 2018
This could be satire, but Roth and screenwriter Joe Carnahan refuse to take a stance. Ironically, a film about a guy with guts doesn’t have any itself. Read full review
12
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzMar 1, 2018
The only thing stopping Roth's film from being an irredeemable zero-star disaster is its introduction of a dramatic principle that I'm nicknaming Chekhov's Gun Cabinet – but that's hardly justice for such a recklessly criminal cinematic act as Death Wish. Read full review
0
Slant MagazineJake ColeMar 1, 2018
At a time when Americans are constantly bombarded with reports of unpunished police brutality, the film suggests that the true problem with justice in our country is that law enforcement isn't violent enough. Read full review
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