The Evil That Men Do (1984)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written by David Lee Henry and John Crowther, based on the novel by R. Lance Hill
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Starring Charles Bronson, Theresa Saldana, Joseph Maher, Antoinette Bower, and Jose Ferrer

Features:

• Widescreen and fullscreen feature presentations
  
• Digitally mastered audio and anamorphic video
  
• Remastered in High Definition
  
• Theatrical trailers
  
• English, French, Spanish, and Portugese subtitles
  

Rating: R

Anamorphic: Yes

My Advice: Only if you've got a death wish

Holland (Bronson) is a retired assassin, a position that apparently means that, while any number of people can track you down at will with full knowledge of your previous life, you can sip fruity drinks on a tropical beach with no worries about silly words like "extradition" or "wanted." But when one of his friends, a journalist in Latin America, is murdered at the hands of legendary sadist and torturer Dr. Clement Molloch (Maher), Holland comes out of retirement to rid the world of such a dangerous and evil individual (a bit hypocritical coming from a professional assassin, if you ask me, but nobody did).

So through some contrivances and planning that would get even the most experienced undercover agent in the real world shot in mere hours, Holland travels to Molloch's current location, with the dead journalist's wife and child in tow. He manages to lure Molloch out of hiding by getting the drop on Molloch's sister (who is essentially like a personal assistant to her brother the world-reknowned torturer). Once he's got Molloch out of his hole, Holland lures him to a nice secluded area (abandoned opal mine, of no real importance, but there you have it), and confronts him with his deadly skills and laughable equipment (revolvers and sawed-off shotguns, in an age where any self-respecting assassin would have gone for the long-distance sniper rifle, but Holland's a hard-ass, I guess).

The Evil That Men Do represents a part of Bronson's bid not to be completely forgotten in an age of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Eastwood. It's akin to a feeble little voice in the back of the room trying to be heard over those two action-movie titans, whining "hey, I'm an action hero, too!" Sadly, it doesn't really work. I realize Bronson used to be in every action flick that rolled out, particularly the Westerns, but other than the early Death Wish films, he's never really had the draw or the screen presence that the more well-known 80's action stars had. It may be due in part to the fact that Bronson nearly always plays the Charles Bronson Character^TM, which amounts to squinting, speaking all your lines in a monotone, and shooting people with wild abandon. This film would desperately like to be a Dirty Harry movie, but it just doesn't cut the mustard.

That said, if you're a fan of Bronson's Death Wish series, this isn't a radical departure. The plot is typical of the 80's, when we were being distracted from the threat of nuclear annihilation by our government's triflings with a host of banana republics. By setting the whole thing in Latin America, you get to pump the propaganda machine full of more willing believers that the whole continent is nothing but death squads and imported European torturers. The plot is also predictable in the extreme, but nobody picks up Charles Bronson flicks to see how surprising a twist comes at the end.

The DVD presentation does little to add to the (dubious) value of the film, providing only your choice of wide or full screen and some theatrical trailers. The video and audio are passable, but show their age, with pops and crackles throughout the picture and mono-only sound. So unless you're just the kind of person that has to have all of Charles Bronson's big-screen contributions, I can't imagine why you'd bother with this one. If you want Bronson, rent the first Death Wish or Mr. Majestyk. Leave this one to rest in peace.