Having now seen the 2018 remake of this film with Bruce Willis, it was hard to watch this film and appreciate it as much as I had in the past. The acting in this film was incredibly subpar. There were very few actors in this film that I truly appreciated--Charles Bronson, Stuart Margolin and Jeff Goldblum (whom I had absolutely no recollection of being in this film). I felt that the acting throughout the course of the film was terribly unconvincing; they lacked emotion, their facial expressions were often nonexistent, and they lacked the vigor needed to convey that they were who they said they were. I believe that my least favorite actor in this film was Steven Keats. His portrayal of Jack Toby was just atrocious; his acting encompassed each of the things that I previously mentioned in regard to the acting in this film. I find it fascinating that Jeff Goldblum, credited as nothing more than “Freak #1,” managed to become the most successful actor from this film. The pacing of this film is, in many ways, pitiful. Considering the heinous act towards Bronson’s Paul Kersey and his family happened within the first ten minutes, or so, of the film, the fact that the vigilantism doesn't begin until at least halfway through the film is disappointing. In fact, there is very little build up to Kersey actually doing anything about the crime in New York. Even after Kersey begins to take action, most of the film relied on searching for Kersey, rather than actually focusing on Kersey, making the film drag on. After watching this film for the first time in maybe ten years, I have to say that I am terribly disappointed considering how well this film is regarded. Having said that, I am truly fond of how the film ended. Throughout the film, the audience was berated by Vincent Gardenia’s Frank Ochoa saying how Kersey was an issue in the city and that the vigilante needed to be taken down. He finally realizes, however, that the vigilante was doing what others were unable to accomplish. Moreso, Kersey’s final scene, when he reaches the platform in the train station, looks to the weirdos just feet from him, points an “air gun” at them and smiles is incredibly well done. The tone of the film is very serious, but to see how much Kersey enjoyed what he was doing (as psychopathic as it was) helped to lighten the mood as the film came to a close. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071402/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2
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