He’s back! Well, ermm, kind of. Distributed by Uncork’d Entertainment Death Kiss starring Robert Kovacs ‘Bronzi’ is an indie-homage to the early Death Wish films. Directed by Rene Perez, Death Kiss is a classic throw-back to vigilante justice with soul. When a mystery man starts cleaning up the city, we are taken back by the resurrection of Charles Bronson in what feels like a direct sequel to Death Wish 2.
The Death Wish series will always have a place in my heart (my favorite movie ever made being Death Wish 3 directed by Michael Winner) and Death Kiss brought back that nostalgia. Is Death Kiss for everyone? No, It’s not. Is Death Kiss a fun movie packed with violence and justice? Well yes, yes it definitely is.
Bronzi stars as a mystery vigilante who’s soul purpose is to kill drug dealers, pedophiles and gangs. Mr. Vigilante’s motives are unknown but is definitely a reflection on how bad society is and must be saved by a White Knight. Death Kiss has a pretty simple story to follow which heavily requires Bronzi’s lookalike persona to keep the viewers attention. There were a lot of ‘filler” scenes in Death Kiss which were often repetitive with its action and dialogue. Death Kiss read as if a 13 year old boy who watched the Death Wish movies decided to write a script and throw in everything he loved about the original Death Wish movies and budget to make a love letter to the genre. Corroded with violence Death Kiss does have a heart as big as the moon. We follow Mr Vigilante, as his whole soul purpose is to take care of a family in need when he’s not out and about killing muggers. Death Kiss also stars Daniel Baldwin (John Carpenter’s Vampires) Richard Tyson (Kindergarten Cop) Eva Hamilton (Ruin Me) and Stormi Maya (2050) that keep the engine running while Bronzi demolishes evil.
Final thoughts: There were times I felt that Charles Bronson was on screen bringing happiness to my 13 year old self. My biggest complaint was dubbing Robert Kovacs Bronzi because his natural voice is fine. Death Kiss is a worthy adversary to the vigilante genre and in my opinion could be a spin off of the early Death Wish movies. Let’s face it, Death Wish 5 is pretty terrible and Eli Roth’s Death Wish is a sad remake.
Death Kiss is currently on VOD, Itunes Vudu and many more streaming platforms
7/10***
