Review: The Evil That Men Do – 1984

As most of the Charles Bronson flicks I have written about I saw this for the first time several years ago. I don’t remember too much about what I thought about it back then though. I think I remember feeling a bit gross out by the initial torture scenes but I’m not sure. I know I still feel a bit squeamish when they talk about nailing the victim’s testicles to a wooden table. And here you thought you were thick skinned after watching hardcore horror films for so many years. This flick doesn’t even have to show anything for me to shake like a leaf.

Basically the movie is about this “doctor” that preforms torture for the South American governments. Joseph Maher portrays him with real class! He really makes the character come to life! Not a very pleasant character to say the least. But a tormentor for hire shouldn’t be very pleasant should he? Anyway. Charles Bronson plays a retired pro-killer that sets out to seek justice. This Tormenter deserves to die and who is better suited for the job than Charles Bronson? It may not be the most original character played by Bronson, nor the most intellectual script but it works quite well. I like this movie.

What is there more to say? That’s a hard question. Sometimes you just have to “feel” the movie and don’t put so much thought into it. That is particularly true when the script is less than intellectual. This is more or less a standard thriller with a revenge plot. Charles Bronson is just the instrument for it. He plays the role the way only the master of “one dimensional characters” could do it. There’s no need to go any further than that. I think I liked it a lot more when I first saw it in the early 90’s but it’s still pretty entertaining. At least if you take the nostalgia into consideration.

7/10