Death Wish 3

Scoop's comments in white:

Charles Bronson has 73 acting credits in films with an IMDb rating, and the Death Wish sequels represent four of his bottom five, including his worst three movies! Based on the IMDb scores, Death Wish 3 is the third worst movie Bronson ever made, and it would have been the worst if he had never made Death Wish 4 and Death Wish V!

Death Wish 3 (1985) is considered by Roger Ebert to be better than number two in the series, although that isn't saying much, because Mr. Ebert's upgrade for this one was based on one star. He gave Death Wish II no stars at all.

(6.38) - Death Wish (1974)
(4.59) - Death Wish II (1982)
(4.11) - Death Wish 3 (1985)
(4.00) - Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994)
(3.65) - Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

The domestic box office performance of the five films traces the degeneration and general mismanagement of the franchise.

Death Wish            $22m

Death Wish II         $16m

Death Wish 3         $16m

Death Wish 4         $6m

Death Wish V         $2m

Tuna's comments in yellow:

What made the first film more than just an actioner was the growth of pacifist architect Paul Kersey into a relentless vigilante. By the time the series got to number three, Kersey had become a professional vigilante. He returns to New York to help an old friend. His friend is killed by a neighborhood gang for refusing to pay protection, and Kersey is arrested for his murder. The police captain recognizes him, realizes he can't be the murderer, and asks him to clean up the neighborhood. What follows is non-stop rape, thievery, and violence.

Befitting his new status as a professional vigilante, Kersey has an impressive arsenal of weapons. In addition to a rather impressive handgun that shoots high powered rifle rounds, he uses a missile launcher, a machine gun, and clever booby traps to wage his war. Any women around him, as usual, get killed, but the citizens in the neighborhood eventually follow his lead and fight back against the gang.

NUDITY REPORT

Marina Sirtis shows breasts in a lengthy rape scene, and an unidentified woman shows breasts near the end in an attempted rape.

DVD info from Amazon

The special effects were good for the most part, and the bad dudes were very bad, but Bronson never really did anything in this role. It seemed that he was tired, and was just going through the motions for the paycheck.

The Critics Vote ...

Roger Ebert 1/4

Rotten Tomatoes summary. 0% positive.

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 4.0/10

Death Wish 3 grossed $16 million dollars in the USA.

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, this is a very low C- from both reviewers. If you like vigilante movies, this may meet your minimum standard. Anyone else, steer clear.