Siskel and Ebert Get Revenge

Is revenge a dish best served cold? That is the topic of this special edition where we cover various movies focusing on revenge. I'm Roger Ebert from The Chicago Sun-Times.

"And I'm Gene Siskel from The Chicago Tribune. Luckily we were not subjected to another viewing of Jaws: The Revenge. We said it all in 1987 and thankfully that was the end of a franchise that never should have been.

RE: There was a satire called Jaws 3, People 0. Doug Kenney from National Lampoon wrote that. Steven Spielberg would not sign off on that. Could it have been any worse than the third or fourth installments?

GS: We'll never know. There is a market for revenge movies. Should we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Death Wish?

RE: Speaking of movies that should not have been franchises. Charles Bronson had to make difficult decisions in that film.

GS: He did. Paul Kersey was trained to fire weapons and chose not to. A conscientious objector was relevant in the Vietnam era even though Paul Kersey served in Korea.

RE: He did not want anyone else to suffer the way he did. That is a higher calling. Vigilante movies can be good or bad. They can change the course of careers. Liam Neeson had a varied and interesting career before Taken. Now he is the loner, usually a father, who fights for justice.

GS: Variations on a theme. Taken took everyone, including Liam Neeson, by surprise. They should not have made sequels.

RE: The problem with sequels in this genre is they have to find someone else the protagonist cares about who will be a victim of violent crime. I hoped in later Death Wish movies Paul Kersey would have been apprehensive about relationships because anyone near him was a target.

GS: In James Bond movies he always had one woman who was with him at the end and a sacrificial lamb. Licence To Kill has elements of revenge. Is that where the franchise needs to go next?

RE: Bond films work better when they set a standard. When they copy trends like blaxploitation in Live and Let Die, science fiction in Moonraker or Jason Bourne type combat in Quantum of Solace it feels like they are coming in second.

GS: Don't forget the Bruce Lee "Homages" in The Man With the Golden Gun. We are no closer to the next James Bond film.

RE: The franchise has fallen into irrelevance. Besides the violence that borders on cartoonish in the John Wick movies there are exotic locales. There might be a John Wick 5.

GS: Oh my goodness. Is he going to seek revenge in the afterlife?

RE: If so, we had better watch out. What did you think of Monkey Man?

GS: I liked it. There was more to it than revenge. It is nice seeing different cultures showcased. Dev Patel directed it well. (to the camera) That's all the time we have.

RE: Really? We never mentioned Sisu or The Beekeeper.

GS: The Beekeeper is better appreciated for users of LinkedIn as Jason Statham goes after hustle bros. One of them says beekeeping is his brand.

RE: I don't think we ever had personal brands.

GS: Not even "The fat guy and the other one?"

RE: Not even The Pulitzer Prize winner and the Yalie. My point was we were too busy doing out jobs to care about a personal brand.

GS: We do what we do. As for Sisu- there is something inherently satisfying when Nazis are killed.

RE: They remain effective bad guys. Anytime someone says "He's only one man" you know a well armed militia is about to be taken out one at a time.

GS: Just like in The Professional.

RE: That movie holds up. We'll have to save that for another discussion or the advertisers will want revenge.

GS: There are a lot more commercials nowadays. Truly that's all the time we have for this special episode. For Roger Ebert I am Gene Siskel and the balcony is closed.