Eli Roth's remake of the 1974 film "Death Wish" is causing a stir, and it's not even in theaters yet.
The trailer for the Bruce Willis-starring flick dropped Thursday, prompting some to call out the movie for being "racist" and "alt-right fan fiction."
Willis stars as Dr. Paul Kersey, a surgeon-turned-vigilante who makes it his life mission to hunt down the people who killed his wife and raped his daughter. He also takes it upon himself to clean up crime in Chicago.
GQ magazine called "Death Wish" "the most tone-deaf film of the year."
"In moving the setting [from New York] to Chicago, a city where gun violence is both well-documented and highly politicized, and setting the trailer to 'Back in Black', the remake tips its hand: 2017's 'Death Wish' comes off as a work of cowardice and opportunism, piggybacking off hard-right fear-mongering and a government that's completely and utterly disingenuous in its rhetoric about violent crime when nationwide, crime rates —despite rises in cities thanks to mass shootings like the Pulse massacre in Orlando—remain historically low," Joshua Rivera wrote in GQ.
A critic for Salon wrote, "The glamorization of high-capacity firearms is fundamentally troubling in an age where white men (and boys) use them again and again to take what they see as revenge on society."
Eli Roth's Death Wish remake is so nakedly fascist that alt-righters will have an erection before the trailer ends https://t.co/sDY5fQXR9W
— Alan Zilberman (@alanzilberman) August 3, 2017
Twitter users echoed the film critics' critique of Roth's film.
Fair or not, I can't think of a more tone-deaf idea in this political/social environment than white filmmakers remaking #DEATHWISH...
— Scott Mendelson (@ScottMendelson) August 3, 2017
Angry, old white man becomes an armed vigilante against Chicago civilians. That's a dangerous message. Is Death Wish alt-right fan fiction? pic.twitter.com/7VIrMbLWXv
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) August 3, 2017
Bruce Willis looks like a Neo Nazi in the new #DeathWish trailer
— iris (@cnycitylady) August 4, 2017
However, some fans felt the uproar was unwarranted.
So many people being triggered over the DeathWish Trailer, personally I'm definitely want to see it!
— Kenneth Moody (@Kmoody2003) August 4, 2017
So many people getting upset over the "alt-right" Death Wish reboot, and I'm just like "Why are movie trailers still using Back In Black?"
— M Gon' Give It To Ya (@thebigmak93) August 4, 2017
Wait....You gonna have to help me here.
— Tanya (@MommaTNYC) August 3, 2017
HOW was Death Wish racist??? pic.twitter.com/sBdwKjEDUf
I'm laughing at all the people calling Death Wish fascist or racist. Vigilante Justice has been a Hollywood theme for decades.
— Corey Pentland (@Ozymander) August 3, 2017
Reps for Willis and Roth did not return Fox News' request for comment.