"Seems a strange time to give a high-five to an older angry white dude going vigilante with lots of guns," he said in a series of tweets about the film.
Others were concerned by the decision to move the action to Chicago, a city known for its problems with gun violence and comparatively high homicide rate, and branded the trailer "alt-right fan fiction" and "tone deaf".
In a piece for The Mary Sue, writer Jessica Lachenal explained some of the objections to the trailer in more detail, expressing her view that the film encourages the contentious idea that gun ownership is a good thing.
"This trailer is a huge advertisement for the NRA. It's 'Good Guy With a Gun: The Movie' It's narratives like these that spur people into believing that "one good guy with a gun" is enough to justify the countless lives lost to senseless gun violence every day," she wrote.
Unlike other critics, she also explicitly objected to the way race is portrayed in the film, writing: "The people of color in this film are presented as poor, lost souls, so unsure of what to do until some white guy with a gun comes to save them all. Like, wow. 'He's a guardian angel!' they say. That is some white man's burden, colonialist, white savior bullshit, right? And this film is totally doing its best to push that. Come on."
Film critic Alan Zilberman was even more blunt in his assessment:
Death Wish is released on November 22.
DID YOU KNOW...
Atomic Blonde is the directorial debut for David Leitch, who was assistant director on John Wick. To prepare for her role, Charlize Theron trained with Keanu Reeves, who was preparing for his return in the John Wick sequel.
