Once again the fucking cops look the other way because they
basically agree with Kersey’s measures.
I don’t know what it is with this universe and corrupt police. A key difference this time is they’re onto
him from the start making the concept go down easier. It’s better than magically waving your hand
at the end and saying “ok we’re gonna let you walk on who knows how many
homicides we haven’t really firmed up the final tally yet but listen pal, you
better not do that again”.
The whole movie’s more fun than the previous two. From the ridiculous Escape from New York
type premise to the mostly omitted rape scene, it’s lighter all around. Kersey acts as protector of the neighborhood
and given permission to do so which makes his actions feel more legit. The filmmakers do a good job of acquainting
you with some of the people who live in the area and how horribly they’re
treated by the thugs who have the run of the place giving you a reason to side
with Kersey and the police chief.
And the city truly is a shithole. There’s rubble where buildings and sidewalks
should be, trash and graffiti everywhere, attacks on citizens occurring
constantly, things are far worse than they were in ’74. Now NYC was actually like a really dangerous
place in the 70’s and 80’s but the crime here still seems on a cartoonish level.
Again, this exaggeration works in the
film’s favor though giving you a reason to get in Kersey’s corner.
Part 3 continues the tradition of casting a future
star as a gang member and in this film it’s Alex Winter (Bill from the Bill
& Teds) in his first role. He’s
not quite as vicious as Jeff Goldblum or Laurence Fishburne were but he still
participates in killing an innocent man and jumps on the hood of some poor
lady’s car terrorizing her.
Jimmy Page’s score is back and a lot of it sounds recycled
from Part II. For whatever reason
the roaring guitar (or synth?) slides work better here. I think it’s the way they edited it plus the
new music they added is nicer too.
If you think about it Paul Kersey has some of the worst luck
in the world. He keeps finding himself
the victim of heinous crimes involving rape and murder. He’s still an asshole though because he makes
insane decisions like stalking the streets at night blowing away anyone he
thinks deserves to die.
No comments:
Post a Comment