Here's a far different Death Wish, to the former three. Yes, crack has claimed the life of another person, Bronson's close to, that being the daughter (Vacation's Barron) of his new girlfriend (Lenz). So Charlie goes undercover to bust the bastards, after being enlisted by a guy (John P Ryan) who lost his son to crack. Of course, much more realistic to bubblegum pic, number 3 (my favorite) this entry, sees a wearied Bronson, doing what he does best, playing Mr Cliché tough guy, where the movie really goes into the drug problem, but more so just has Charlie, kicking arse. He masquerades as a bartender to a playboy drug kingpin, who became his cop partner, in J Lee Thompson's next flick, Kinjite, where later Charlie is played for a sucker. Just watching the party scene, we can patently see, Charlie would rather be somewhere else, but if you're a desperate or more so is the case here, typecast actor, you have to take what you can get. Too this Death Wish has a nice twist near the end, I liked, something you never would of expected in this, though this film is far from the superior original. I think with watching this forth one, here's a good time for Charlie to hang up his boots and be done with this franchise, in what is an interesting and not badly made pic. Sadly it wasn't, with the desperate and final entry six years later, the sickest Death Wish yet. Death wish fans will still be content here, especially when Charlie brings out the big guns, reprising his role, as Mr Vigilante Paul Kersey, one of his greatest acting performances, ever.

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown is set in Los Angeles where architect & ex vigilante Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) has been happily living with his girlfriend Karen Sheldon (Kay Lenz) & her teenage daughter Erica (Dana Barron). While out with her boyfriend Randy (Jesse Dabson) Erica is given some cocaine by a dealer, later that night Paul & Karen get a phone call to say Erica is in hospital because of an overdose. They rush to be with her but it's too late & Karen dies. The following day Paul is contacted by supposed newspaper publisher Nathan White (John P. Ryan) who says that he too lost a daughter to drugs & that all drug dealers & smugglers deserve to die & if Kersey wants to dole out a little justice to the drug dealers in Los Angeles he will finance it & give Kersey all the information he has, never one to turn down the opportunity to kill some scum Kersey agrees & sets-out to bring the Los Angeles drug trade & those who run it down all by himself...

Directed by J. Lee Thompson after Michael Winner declined to come back to the series after directing the first three Death Wish 4: The Crackdown is a better film than Death Wish 3 (1985) but isn't quite as much fun or quite as entertaining. Death Wish 4: The Crackdown is more of a straight laced thriller in the style of the often imitated Yojimbo (1961) in which Bronson plays two rival drug gangs off against each other in order that they will literally wipe each other out but with a few Death Wish style touches like rape, dirty cops & yet another person close to Kersey getting killed. I mean it's just dangerous to know this guy as your likely to either end up raped or murdered. Unlike Death Wish 3 which was a really silly & mindless exploitation flick Death Wish 4: The Crackdown tries to have a little social relevance & bases it's unfortunate events around drugs, the perils of taking drugs & the evils of pushing drugs. In fact the film starts off quite anti drug with a tour around an LA county morgue in which most of the bodies there are drug related & Karen a journalist trying to write a story about the dangers of drugs but even her editor saying no-one cares anymore but this moral preaching & social message is soon completely ditched in favour of a fairly entertaining action thriller as Bronson plays the two gangs off one another & if you throw in a couple of neat twists then this really ain't too bad. Death Wish 3 had everyone know who everyone else was & Bronson was the face of vigilantism but here he stays in the shadows & the two drug gangs don't know who he is which makes for a more plausible if not entirely realistic film too. There's also a terrific dialogue exchange here that is maybe the hight light of the series where a dirty cop threatens Bronson & says 'I can be very nasty' before Bronson blows him away with a concealed gun & replies without a hint of irony 'so can I'. The pace is generally good but although it's an improvement on the previous film in terms of plot, themes & narrative there's a loss of entertainment value somehow, it's just not as much fun even if it does work better as a film.

The film looks alright, it's much more competent than Winner's Death Wish 3 but again somehow it just loses a little entertainment value because of it. The violence is kept to shoot-outs & bloody gunshot wounds along with a brief rape at the start. I have to hand it to John P. Ryan who gives it his all & just check out his 80's clothes at the end. The action scenes are workman like & are not particularly memorable but get the done. Bronson also scales down his arsenal here too so there's no rocket launchers or huge machine guns.

With a supposed budget of about $5,000,000 this has solid if unspectacular production values, the action scenes are alright if a little flat & I would have liked to have seen more things explode. Explosions are good. Again Bronson stars & actually comes across as quite tough while John P. Ryan is a total hoot here.

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown is a decent enough vigilante flick with a hint of Yojimbo thrown in there, it's not brilliant but it's not too bad either. Fans of the series should like it, followed by one more sequel Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994).

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown the fourth movie in Death Wish franchise is criminally underrated and misunderstood action flick from The Cannon Group, Inc. of the 80s. It is a good movie it is not the best or great but it is a decent good movie. Paul Kersey avenges all the children that have died an over dose from drugs that is why I love this film to death! It is my favorite action film the movie that grow on me. This movie has special place in my heart it is my favorite Charles Bronson film of all time. J. Lee Thompson beautiful directed this film it arguably his good film.

This is the original Punisher not Frank Castle Jon Bernthal but Paul Kersey is The Punisher. You watch Jon Bernthal as The Punisher (2017) I watch Charles Bronson Death Wish 4: The Crackdown film. It is arguably my favorite and so underrated action flick I really miss movies like are this one today I miss action movies like are this one. I am a huge fan of Charles Bronson I have been watching his movies since I was a kid and Death Wish series are my favorite film series. Death Wish 1,2,3 and 4 were really good misunderstood action movies.

"DEATH!"

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown it is my favorite Charles Bronson action film in the 80's. Michael Winner, who directed the first three films in the series, was replaced by J. Lee Thompson. Death Wish 4: The Crackdown had a substantially lower budget and a more limited release than its predecessors. Even with a low budget the film for me works I really miss the 80's. The movie and the character Paul Kersey.

Paul Kersey kill's the bad guys drug dealers for all the children and that's all the movie tells you. Charles Bronson acts brilliant and does a fine solid job. John P. Ryan is a perfectly bad guy. Soon-Tek Oh plays a corrupt cop he plays decent the bad guy. Kay Lenz was beautiful and decent perfectly as the new girlfriend of Paul Kersey. Perry Lopez as the bad guy was also excellent. George Dickerson as detective Reiner was excellent cop i have seen and a real good guy. Almost everyone who played in this movie is dead and it is no longer with us anymore. This movie has my respect.

The movie has tons of action and explosions Paul (Charles Bronson) uses a M16 with M203 grenade launcher to go after Nathan White (John Ryan) and his men at the roller rink. He shoots the bad guys and he blows Nathan White with grenade launcher to pieces. I miss action movies like this, this were real practical effects real actions no CGI crap all real actions. Is it just me or this is just my action movie? I love Paul Kersey he kills all the bad guys with machine gun MAC-10 and kills all the drug dealers.

The movie has a beautiful score that I love from John Bisharat, Paul McCallum and Valentine McCallum.

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown is an American 1987 action crime film, and the fourth installment in the Death Wish film series. The film was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and features Charles Bronson, who reprises his leading role as Paul Kersey.

9/10 Grade: A