Thanks to the Die Hard films, Bruce Willis‘ status as an action hero is unshakable. Even when the 62-year-old actor pops up in franchise attempts (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) or comedic adaptations (Red and Red 2), the action never wavers. Any time audiences see his bald, white dome on the screen, they probably assume he’s about to pull a gun on a bad guy and avoid John McClane-like quips to avoid copyright violations between studios. Hence why it’s not too surprising Willis is starring in a remake of the 1974 Charles Bronson classic, Death Wish.
Directed by Hostel filmmaker Eli Roth, the new Death Wish dropped its first trailer on Thursday. Following a Chicago radio show’s discussion of viral videos featuring Willis’ masked vigilante gunning down a criminal, the two-minute preview briefly recounts his character’s downward spiral. Paul Kersey’s (Willis) wife and daughter are attacked during a home invasion, leaving the former (Elisabeth Shue) dead and the latter (Camila Morrone) hospitalized. When the lead detective (Dean Norris) assigned to the case reveals they haven’t made much leeway, Kersey — a presumably non-action oriented individual — purchases a gun and tracks down his wife’s killers.
Whether the remake succeeds well enough to guarantee as many sequels as the original remains to be seen. Yet Death Wish‘s relocation from New York to Chicago, which is plagued with violent, gun-related crime, will surely be a talking point when it hits theaters November 22nd. After all, the official plot describes Willis’ Kersey as a “surgeon who only sees the aftermath of Chicago violence when it is rushed into his ER” until his wife’s murder. So in light of President Donald Trump’s occasional comments about the city’s violence, a film depicting a gun-toting vigilante who “[looks] like a white dude” is sure to grab attention.
