The film was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and features Charles Bronson, who reprises his leading role as Paul Kersey.
He is recruited by a tabloid owner, Nathan White (John P. Ryan), to take down various crime figures of the Los Angeles drug trade.
The film marks the seventh collaboration between Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson, following 1976's St. Ives, 1977's The White Buffalo, 1980's Caboblanco, 1983's 10 to Midnight, 1984's The Evil That Men Do, and 1986's Murphy's Law.
Roughly one year after the events of the previous film, Paul Kersey is back in Los Angeles and is living a quiet life as an architect at his own firm, haunted by nightmares of his past as a vigilante.
Erica, the teenage daughter of Karen Sheldon, Paul's current girlfriend, goes with her boyfriend, Randy, to an arcade to meet up with a man named JoJo Ross.
There are two major gangs competing for the local drug supply: one led by Ed Zacharias, the other by brothers Jack and Tony Romero.
Paul proceeds to kill three of Ed Zacharias's enforcers, Art Sanella, Danny Moreno and Jack Stein, at a restaurant with a bomb in a wine bottle; drug dealer Max Green at the backend of a video shop; and Romeros' top hitman Frank Bauggs at a high-rise condominium.
A few days later, White instructs Paul to go to San Pedro, where a local fisherman wharf acts as a front for Zacharias's drug operations.
He arms himself with a rifle fitted with a grenade launcher and goes to the meeting place designated by the drug lord, the parking lot of White's commercial building.
Writing duties were ultimately assigned to Gail Morgan Hickman, who had previously contributed rejected scripts for Death Wish 3 (1985).
[2] Hickman toyed with the idea of giving Kersey a surrogate son called Eric, to avoid repetition in having the character lose another daughter.
He changed his mind and turned Eric into Erica, because he felt that the death of a girl would be a stronger echo to the original loss in Kersey's life.
Pancho had produced, or co-produced, seven previous Bronson films, including St. Ives (1976), The White Buffalo (1977), Love and Bullets (1979), 10 to Midnight (1983), The Evil That Men Do (1984), Murphy's Law (1986), and Assassination (1987).
The delays were due to stipulations in a line-of-credit agreements that prohibited The Cannon Group, Inc. from having more than two movies in principal photography at the same time.
Due to the financial problems that Cannon Group, inc. suffered, most of the music was re-used from previous films of the company, including 10 to Midnight (1983) and Missing in Action (1984).
Media Home Entertainment released the film on video in April 1988, having agreed with Cannon to a 2 million dollars advance.
"[4] Caryn James of The New York Times criticized the "cartoon thin" characters and the fact that the hero is essentially a dangerous sociopath, but concluded that the film serves as solid entertainment for those willing to suspend their sense of moral outrage.
[5] Kevin Thomas commented that while the film's plot is "preposterous" and its characters thin, it serves as "a solid textbook example of crisp exploitation picture craftsmanship."
He credited this mainly to director J. Lee Thompson having a strong sense of efficiency and humor, ensuring that hero Paul Kersey's apparent invincibility makes the audience laugh in a way that is "friendly rather than derisive.
"[6] Variety poked fun at Paul Kersey's approach to eliminating the drug trade but summed up the film with "What raises Death Wish 4 above the usual blowout is a semi-engaging script and sure pacing by veteran action director J. Lee Thompson.
"[7] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post poorly reviewed the film, citing the rudimentary and predictable plot, amateurish dialogue, inept villains, lack of tension, mindless violence, and Charles Bronson's weak performance.
He also criticised the script, noting it needed to be smartened up, but preferred Thompson's direction over the original director Michael Winner.