The first “Death Wish” movie was a thrilled to be admired and “Death Wish II” once again pairs star Charles Bronson (“The Dirty Dozen”) and director Michael Winner to make a very entertaining film that might not be quite as good as the first but is a decent follow-up.

Several years after the events of “Death Wish”, architect/vigilante Paul Kersey (Bronson) is living in L.A. and things seem to be looking better for him, that is until some crooks get a hold of his wallet and pay his maid and daughter a visit. Now Kersey back to his killing days. This time he’s already got a ruthless efficiency, what can stop him?

Bronson is both tough and vulnerable in the early “Death Wish” films and that’s what I like about his performance. Jill Ireland is mediocre as Bronson’s love interest. The chemistry between the two is poor and this is the same with these two in other films where they’re paired together. The criminals in this film are good and they don’t become cartoony, they remain straight like in the first one. Seeing Kersey annihilate the bad guys is entertaining as they’re made mean enough to justify the deadly punishments that they receive from him.

Although set-up wise, it is practically a rehash of the first film, I still liked “Death Wish II” a lot. It takes what I liked about the first film it carries on doing at almost the same level. It lacks the power of the first film as we don’t see Kersey turn gradually towards violence but that being said it is still done with a lot of skill and Bronson once again shows us that he isn’t a guy to mess with and he can get things done (both on and off screen). “Death Wish II” is a step below the original but it’s very entertaining.