Haven't seen Bruce Willis in action in a long time. This time, "Death Wish" was his comeback.
This also proves once again that a good actor also needs a qualified script. Without a good story and a slightly profound theme, an actor can be degraded infinitely. Since "Die Hard", Bruce Willis has established himself as a Hollywood action star.
After that, in "Pulp Fiction", "The Sixth Sense of the Supernatural", "The Fifth Element", etc., we also discovered the side of Bruce Willis' acting school. The tough guy's tenderness gave him a multi-faceted character and a rich inner heart. emotion.
In "The Raptors" (the Chinese translation is really bad), I saw the heroic twilight, the extremely old Bruce Willis. In the film he played a calm and unhurried doctor Cauchy. The hospital broadcasts called him countless times to save lives one after another, fight against death, and race against time.
Cauchy, who saved his life, was unable to save his family from being broken. A burglary and three strange men broke the peace of the family.
His wife was shot and killed, and before Ke Xi could go to the operating table, his wife died.
The daughter was shot in the head and fell into a coma. As a father and husband, Ke Xi deeply blamed himself. He hoped that the murderer would be brought to justice and give him justice, but when he came to the police station and found a whole wall of notes waiting for the case to be solved, he was disheartened. Cold, knowing that everything is far away.
So he started a revenge plan to seek justice. The plot design of "The Raptors" is somewhat similar to the previous hit film "Law Abiding Citizen", which all tell the story of the man himself seeking justice for his family's revenge. "Law Abiding Citizen" focuses on the bloody methods of revenge, as well as the detective's relentless pursuit of the male lead. "The Raptors" is more down-to-earth. An ordinary doctor does not have super-high intelligence, careful thinking, and high combat effectiveness. Instead, he learns firearms technology through the Internet. And, because he was not familiar with guns, he injured his palm.
In this way, all the way down, he turned into a media hero, a criminal death that people feared, and found the murderer of his family before the police and took revenge.
In addition to the bloody scenes, headshots, cuts, wound displays, rampant gunfire, and in-depth thinking on social issues that are commonly used in B-level films, "The Raptors". It is these discussions based on reality that give the film a certain depth, so that it does not float on the surface.
"The Raptors" discusses the contradiction between procedural justice and consequential justice. The police system becomes powerless and fragile again in the film. The police are sympathetic and angry about what happened to the Cauchy family. However, due to limited manpower, numerous cases, and the time to search for evidence and witnesses, the case cannot be broken through.
Cauchy must bypass procedural justice, seek a breakthrough and save himself by means of result justice. After repeated private law enforcement, his life was back on track, saving people and killing people at the same time. Even the psychiatrist said that he looked much better. In triggering the topic discussion, "The Raptors" also intervened in the power of the Internet.
Cauchy was accidentally photographed with a mobile phone during the first shootout with the gangsters and uploaded to the Internet, causing a huge discussion among the media and the public. Private law enforcement and presentation of justice have created controversy in public opinion.
The police system was furious at this, continued to solve the case, and targeted the mysterious death. However, some people among the citizens supported him and regarded him as a hero who punished evil and promoted good.
In fact, in the first act of the film, the film threw out this issue. The seriously injured policeman was carried to the hospital, and Kexi was unable to recover. At the same time, the murderer who killed the policeman was also injured and sent to the hospital. Kexi hurried to the operating table. At this time, the colleague of the dead policeman fiercely questioned, "Do you still save the murderer?" Cauchy replied coldly, "If possible, of course."
As a doctor, it is a duty to save lives and heal the wounded. As a policeman, it is also a duty to avoid violence and safety, and at the same time abide by procedural justice. As a father, it is also a duty to seek justice for the family. From the inside to the outside, from self to society, from law to ethics, all The conflict of levels constantly leads to the inner turning of the characters and the reversal of the plot. This is the most interesting part of "The Raptors".
Of course, the core of the discussion around this issue is the issue of gun control in the United States. The proliferation of guns has caused the crime rate to remain high. Cauchy's father-in-law directly told him that sometimes force can solve problems. Men must rely on themselves to surround their families, and the way to defend them is the freedom of guns.
The female salesperson of the gun store also told the truth. It is very easy to apply for a gun possession certificate, and it is almost impossible to fail. After a few training courses, you can legally hold a gun, and the green light is all the way.
At the end of the film, it was with the possession of heavy weapons that Cauchy solved the criminal who came to surround him.
And those documents are the most powerful response to block the police from handling the case. Because it is legal, the police have no way to take Kexi. In addition, they feel compassion, and the police choose to let him go.
"The Raptors" is rich in detail and convincing in motivation, which makes it appear complete in the story, and the plot progresses step by step without major mistakes. "The Raptors" is a commercial film under the Hollywood standard assembly line. We can find models from many previous films, but fortunately, "The Raptors" has its own place to keep pace with the times. Willis' star halo is indeed worth seeing.
I believe that male audiences can resonate more with Bruce Willis' character and trigger their own thinking about family responsibilities.
View more about Death Wish reviews