Plot by Imdb: " When John Eastland's best friend, Michael Jefferson, is mugged and left permanently crippled, he decides to do something about it. Jefferson had saved Eastland's life in Vietnam and now it's time for Eastland to get revenge for his friend. Using his old Army gear he sets out on a crusade to clean up the streets of New York using the name "The Exterminator."
One of the best vigilante flick, in my humble opinion. It's not quite up to the level of "Rolling Thunder" but close. It is equally grim and violent. And it doesn't seem outdated to me now, just think about all the Gulf War and Afghanistan vets coming back or the ex-Yugoslavia soldiers turning to crime. The Vietnam first sequence has some gruesome moments, specially the decapitation scene that sticks with you during the movie. It makes the psychological trauma of the vigilante even more realistic. The rest is ultra classic/ vets back from hell, one of them get mugged and killed, his best friend avenge him and, realizing that crime is everywhere, goes on a rampage amongst the criminals and corrupted. It's one of those movies about the incredible urban "fauna" of New York at that time, as well. Creepy sex-shops, junkies and urban decay are everywhere. As for the bad guys, the list is almost complete : pimps, hoodlums, rapists, a powerful mobster and a senator, etc... The main characters are surprisingly all well painted. Rober Ginty is solid and never ridiculous. Even with a flamethrower in the hand. His false Nemesis, the cop that understand all too well that somebody can turn into a vigilante in this environment, is also doing a good job. The main paranoid message, as usual, is that society is not protecting you, even when you almost gave your life for it.
How are you protecting yourself from society ? Me, I chose to blog.
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