Five Fathers You Don’t Want On Your Doorstep

LINK (BLOOD FATHER)

With the recent release of Death Wish on Blu-Ray and VOD, and father’s day being just around the corner, it’s a good time to take inspiration from manly father Paul Kersey’s (Bruce Willis) righteous acts of fatherly violence.

Who else can compare, or even surpass?

Mel Gibson’s ‘Link’ from Blood Father is a movie father you don’t want on your doorstep.  Blood Father was a great film and a much-needed boost for Gibson, the entire movie driven by violent redemption.  Very violent.  It was probably Gibson’s most gritty and visceral role yet.

JOHN MATRIX (COMMANDO)

You don’t want the Colonel on your doorstep, if you’ve aggrieved a child of his.  Actually you don’t want John Matrix chasing you at all.

The body count is 81.  That’s eight sets of ten people killed by one man, plus Bennett.

A damn good supply of body bags was required, simply because a man’s daughter was kidnapped.  But another valuable lesson can be taken; never kick Vernon Wells out of your unit.

Either way, John Matrix is surely the most driven father in movie history.

BRYAN MILLS (TAKEN)

I don’t really remember much about the Taken sequels, nor have I watched the TV series.  But I do recall that it’s not advisable to kidnap Bryan Mills’ daughter for the purpose of rape and molestation.  Such an endeavor will lead to men getting stabbed in the legs with steel rods, then electrocuted to death.

Luckier ones will be beaten to death or simply shot in the head.

This movie reinvented Liam Neeson’s career.  The first is the best, and the unrated ‘R’ version is the best of the first.  It’s probably also the best of Neeson’s action movie phase.  To make it all the sweeter, it has the pissant step father included, to further help us empathize with the manly real father.

FRANK CASTLE (THE PUNISHER)

I still remember the first time I watched this 2004 movie.  It was one of those times where I was spaced out in front of the TV, it came on and I expected little from it.  But the murder of a man’s child in the opening act spurs one Frank Castle to revenge.

To me, the slickest entry in the series.

It’s a rare comic book movie that finds that hard to hit medium.  It’s not too turgid and trying too hard to be ‘intellectual’ (Dark Knight series), nor is it too lightweight or cheesy.  It’s a pity we never got more of Thomas Jane as The Punisher, minus the short he did by himself.

NICK HUME (DEATH SENTENCE)

And finally, since we’re celebrating Bruce Willis’ outing in Death Wish on home media and Father’s Day, we should take a look at another underappreciated movie father.

Kevin Bacon’s Death Sentence was a spiritual remake of Death Wish.

I’m telling you, if you haven’t seen this film, you really have to.  In order to see what a real lunatic will do if you mess with his children, Death Sentence is a violent illustration.  Put simply, mad man goes on rampage armed with shotgun committing mass murder, after his son is murdered by pissant lowlifes.

It also features John Goodman as an arms dealer!