• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
• Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0, French Dolby Digital 1.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
• Region: A (Region-Locked)
• Rating: R
• Run Time: 99 Mins.
• Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
• Studio: MGM
• Blu-ray Release Date: August 14th, 2012
• List Price: $16.99

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Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:1.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0.5/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

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The Film

[Rating:1.5/5]

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown continues the story of Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson). In this fourth entry, drugs and death have taken over the streets of Los Angeles. It seems like no one wants to do anything about it until Paul Kersey comes back to town! Bent on bringing these drug kingpins down, it becomes much more personal after Paul’s girlfriend’s daughter dies from a cocaine-induced night. Normally this would be Paul doing what he does best (kicking butts and taking names), but now it’s them vs. him. What results is yet another entry in the Death Wish series, one that is just TOO over-the-top for my liking.

Whether it’s that I’m “actioned” out after watching Death Wish 2–4 almost back-to-back, or just the inane action in this film, I just couldn’t find myself ever getting into this one. Where the other Wish movies were able to succeed in at least being entertaining, if not overly solid films, this fourth (and final) entry in this series is just too silly, too laughable, and way too over-the-top to really ever be considered a good movie.

Video Quality

[Rating:3.5/5]

This 1:85:1 framed, AVC/MPEG-4 encoded transfer arrives on Blu-ray with decent results. For a film roughly 25 years old, the results presented here by MGM will please fans as I can’t recall the film ever looking this good.  No, this doesn’t look great by any stretch of the imagination, but in comparison to previous DVD releases, much of the clarity and detail is retrieved.  Out of the three Death Wish titles released recently by MGM, the latter two  are the strongest.

Audio Quality

[Rating:3/5]

Arriving with a DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 track, I was glad to see MGM didn’t unnecessarily throw a 5.1 track at this, randomly adding in odd effects. Out of the four Death Wish titles, and the three hitting retailers, Death Wish 4: The Crackdown has the best sound design. With that said, the film’s sound design still is rather limited. Gun shots sound tinny, explosions lack punch and an overall impact. Dialogue, I will say, is well reproduced. Low frequencies are are obviously going to be subdued in a 1.o track, and the overall sound here is almost muffled. All in all, this is about as good as this film will ever sound short of MGM reworking the sound mix.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:0.5/5]

The included supplements are featured in High Definition:

• Trailer – The film’s trailer is shown.

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:2.5/5]

While I found something to enjoy in the second and third Death Wish films, I just couldn’t get into this fourth entry. Perhaps I was too actioned out after watching all three practically back to back. Outside of the film itself, MGM’s Blu-ray features a serviceable V/A presentation. Purchase-wise, I suppose it all depends on how much you like escapist action.

Additional Screen Captures

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Purchase Death Wish 4: The Crackdown on Blu-ray at CD Universe

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[amazon-product]B0089J2926[/amazon-product]

Purchase Death Wish 4: The Crackdown on Blu-ray at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0.5/5]

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