Dr. Paul Kersey is an experienced trauma surgeon, a man who has spent his life saving lives. After an attack on his family, Paul embarks on his own mission for justice.
Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of his city's violence as it's rushed into his ER--until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. The police are overloaded with crimes so Paul, burning for revenge, hunts for his family's assailants to deliver justice. As the anonymous slayings of criminals grabs the media's attention, the city wonders if this deadly avenger is a guardian angel--or a grim reaper. Fury and fate collide in the intense action-thriller Death Wish.—MGM
As a spate of aggravated burglaries hits Chicago, Dr Paul Kersey discovers he has failed to protect his beloved ones when brutal masked robbers break into his house. Now, Kersey's family is a statistic. As a result, with the authorities unable to find the perpetrators, Paul soon loses faith in the ineffectual system. And as the once meek family man plucks up the courage to take the law into his own hands, Paul's semi-automatic, 4th generation Glock 17 pistol ensures that those who robbed him of his happiness will pay in blood. But isn't a doctor supposed to save lives?—Nick Riganas
Chicago is riddled with crime, with 762 murders in a year and more than 3500 shootings. The police are ineffective in stopping the crime wave. Most gunshot victims are taken to the trauma section of emergency rooms.
Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis), who lives with his wife Lucy (Elisabeth Shue) and college-bound daughter Jordan (Camila Morrone), works as a trauma surgeon at a Chicago hospital. As a medical professional, sometimes Paul is unable to save the victims, but ends up saving the perpetrators of the crime with his skill and expertise in the operating room.
During the Kerseys' lunch, Paul's brother, Frank (Vincent D'Onofrio), asks him to lend some money ($2000) to pay off a debt, to which Paul reluctantly agrees.As the Kerseys leave, Frank gives the valet, Miguel (Luis Oliva), the keys to their car and joyfully tells him that Paul has "got the money". Miguel goes to pick the car up, but also take pictures of Paul's address from their car's navigation system.
On the night the Kerseys are to have a birthday dinner, three masked men invade the Kerseys' home while Paul is suddenly called to the hospital. The men take Jordan hostage and force Lucy to open the safe. One of the men starts to sexually harass Jordan and she picks up a knife to defend herself, slashing the man's face and exposing his identity. The other 2 men are forced to take out their guns as they cannot let Jordan identify them.Both Jordan and Lucy are shot. Paul is informed at the hospital that Lucy died, and Jordan fell into a coma. Police Detective Kevin Raines (Dean Norris) & Detective Leonore Jackson (Kimberly Elise) are the officers tasked with the investigation.
Lucy's father Ben tells Paul that police only come after the crime has been committed. He says that to protect what belongs to him, a man has to do it himself.Outraged that the police are unable to solve the crime (Raines says that he has dozens of open homicide cases with no clues or leads on the perpetrators, reward will invite false leads, and a private investigator cannot get involved in a murder investigation), Paul becomes a vigilante stalking the city streets to deliver his own brand of justice and to find the men who ambushed his family. When a gang member is brought into the hospital after getting shot, Paul steals his weapon after it falls off the table and practices shooting. He proceeds to prevent a carjacking, injuring his left hand in the process. A video of which goes viral; Paul is dubbed Chicago's "Grim Reaper".
After treating a boy who was attacked for refusing to sell drugs for a dealer called "Ice Cream Man", Paul shoots down Ice Cream Man in broad daylight. The news reports consistently demonstrate divided opinions of support and condemnation of Paul's developing war against violent criminals.
Later, Paul finds his watch on Miguel's wrist when the latter is hospitalized. Paul orders one of the doctors to fibrillate Miguel's heart three times, killing him. Paul discovers a photograph on Miguel's phone with his address. The phone receives a text, telling him to meet at a bar in the suburbs. At the bar, Paul talks to the owner, Ponytail, and says that he was sent by Miguel. A suspicious Ponytail secretly messages Fish (Jack Kesy), his partner in crime.
Ponytail reaches for his gun, but Paul stabs his hand with a dart and forces him to return the goods he stole from Paul's house. Fish arrives and accidentally shoots Ponytail while aiming at Paul. After shooting Fish in the leg during a shootout, Paul steps on his wound for information. Fish then divulges that Lucy's shooter is Joe (Ronnie Gene Blevins), a car mechanic who works in an auto body shop. He kicks Paul in the groin and gains the upper hand but is accidentally killed by a falling bowling ball.The cops visit Paul to discuss the case and Paul destroys the phones to cover his tracks.
At the auto body shop, Paul ambushes Joe while he is working under a car. He tortures Joe for information by cutting his sciatic nerve with a scalpel and pouring brake fluid into the wound. Joe divulges that their leader, Knox (Beau Knapp), shot Lucy. Paul then removes the jack lifting the car up, causing it to crush Joe's head.
Arriving home, Paul is confronted by Frank, who answers the front door and is questioned by the detectives of his brother's whereabouts.The hospital informs Paul that Jordan has regained consciousness. At the hospital, Paul tells Jordan what happened to Lucy. A week later, Paul leaves the hospital with Jordan and legally buys weapons to defend his family.
After he rejects a phone call from an unknown contact, a message warns Paul that the police will be informed about his actions unless he answers the next call. The contact, Knox, orders Paul to meet him in a bathroom at a nightclub. Paul calls Knox's phone number to see it ringing in a stall. He shoots the stall, only to find that it was a ruse. Knox confirms the gunshot to be Paul's, and the two engage in a shootout, which ends when Knox escapes. When Paul returns home, Frank discovers Paul's gun collection and confronts him, but Paul insists on continuing to protect the city.
Knox and two other thugs prepare to invade Paul's home; Paul hides Jordan in a closet under the stairs. After killing the two thugs in the upstairs bedroom, Paul heads into the basement, where he suspects Knox is located. There, Knox emerges from the darkness and shoots Paul in the shoulder. Before Knox can kill him, Jordan yells out her father's name.
Knox taunts Paul and states the house will go up in flames, as he approaches Jordan's location, Paul retrieves an assault rifle from a compartment under a table and as Knox arrogantly turns around, Paul shoots Knox dead. The police then arrive; Detective Raines suspects that Paul was the "Grim Reaper" but decides to cover up after Paul hints that he is done with vigilantism.
Later, Paul drops Jordan off at the university. A radio program playing in the background hopes that, wherever the "Grim Reaper" is, he stays out of society. As Paul is leaving, he spots a man who steals a bag from a bellhop. Paul points at the thief with a finger gun.
