Are Revenge Movies Getting Better?

Revenge plots are a motive that can dive into any kind of genre, it's automatically of interest to see the prime drive for a character to resort to violence.

If you think about it, most of the revenge films are usually the plots to the westerns. Westerns are great, but revenge is the plot. But even taking that concept aside, it is compelling to see any kind of character: A farmer returning to old ways to get back at the people who killed his family, a young woman's mission to kill the man who killed her father, or seven men end up saving a town that cannot defend itself out of vengeance for others.

Even though a lot of revenge films might have the same setup: the crime, the grief, the preparation, the killing, the fights, the questioning of continuing, the final fight, and then a set up for a sequel/ambiguous ending. Not all have that same formula, but it s different and intriguing to see what made the main character resort to violence, if they have known a life of turmoil and return to it to extract vengeance or characters who are mild-mannered in nature and change themselves into something they never expected.

In recent two decades there's been a change in that idea of revenge movies.

Two underrated movies come to mind to use as examples.

Death Sentence was one that made the transformation in becoming a man who he thought he wouldn't be. A man who has lost his son, then the stakes were raised as he became the target after his vengeance. A price is always paid, keep that in mind when you watch it.

Four Brothers is a remake that comes to mind of another modern version of brothers getting revenge. Emotional connections with the raw violence to inflict, another example of when a personal mission begins to backfire.

Vengeance isn't perfect, it's bound to blow up in the person who has that headstrong drive.

But I think I should provide a commentary on one of the most influential revenge movies, Death Wish.

Death Wish is primarily the one that comes to mind that made leeway into a one man war. But then it was overdone in five more films (I'm also including the Bruce Willis remake). But it’s a man that is going to clean up the streets that resorts to tactics of violence because it is an equal amount of violence to use on the person(s) and it is justified.

But analyzing the Death Wish films now, there was never a psychological toll or analysis in the mourning of the violent killing that took away a loved one. It was hard to feel sorry for Paul Kersey, it doesn't appear that he has remorse for his actions. Especially in the next films, that triumph for getting vengeance for his family's attack doesn't matter. That message was lost in the cheap sequels.

Most revenge films can differ from self-mission for just one person or take it a step further and provide justice for any others that have had loved one be killed or violated, and prevent it from happening again. Again I say, even Death Wish added that in the trailer where the narration says, "he'll clean up the most violent town in America". Death Wish is a great movie, Charles Bronson did a fantastic performance, and some of the little niches of the commentaries of violence is great, but it's not perfect.

Nowadays, the revenge movies seem to have taken a different approach. The psychological standpoint is explored into the pushed protagonist.

Recently I watched the Nightingale, that one had a thought provoking showcasing of the lack of human kindness. It was a film about a young former convict woman that is used over and over by the man who bought her freedom. His men ambush her home, they use her for their pleasure, then they kill her husband and daughter. Leaving her nothing but a hollow shell that won't stop until she's killed them.

It focused on the psychology of all the characters as they are treated with a lack of human compassion. Losing everything wasn't enough, the shattering of their souls and sanity from the harsh cruelty of others.

This was a film that did concentrate on how it wasn't easy to locate the people who ruined her life, how her reckless ambition with a lack of plan and only a guide who she didn't trust. She threw herself into this path, as anyone would do. There's no time to learn how to survive off the land, get an exact idea of a fighting tactic, or make sure there are no loose ends.

The Nightingale was a film I did not expect to break me. To see how driven and desperate a human being can be when pushed too hard and lives are used as pawns for amusement. It's a hard film to watch with the historical accuracy for the time period. It's worth one watch to see the raw violence unfold then a slow acceptance for the loss.

Another one I recently I watched The Foreigner, one that had more of the chaotic violence that would be similar to what we see on the news in random destruction that caused lives to be altered forever.

Jackie Chan who plays the main character, Quan, who is the one effected by the violent terrorist attack, his daughter was a random victim. She walked in the shop, and as soon as he was parking the car, the shop exploded, and her life was taken without seeing it. All he found was her body in the chaos of the carnage.

He played against typecast in the usual genre he does movies in. Showing the aftermath of violence, and how he didn't jump into the vengeance immediately despite his character having military experience. What he said to Pierce Bronson's character had a perfect irony, "Whichever end you grab, you still grab a snake". He wanted the answers, he got the answers, now it can't happen again. I won't ruin how exactly the ending goes, but it's perfect in my opinion.

It was an intelligent film that showcases what a calm man can really do when he wants justice. That is the most ruthless quality in an avenger.

The point I'm making about both of these films is the closure the characters get in both movies. These two examples showcase what they've lost, you feel a sorrow for what they've lost, the important part of any revenge film is to show how important these people were to the main character. Sometimes in certain revenge films it's hard to feel sorry or justify a character's actions if we haven't seen exactly why it had to be this way. To see their love turned into an empty part in their heart. It has to hit our heartstrings to care and understand the choices the protagonist makes. We all make some risky choices that are routed by changes, some justified and some aren't.

When the characters from both The Nightingale and The Foreigner get their closure, it's not the ideal closure. They don't go on a rampage to the end, they know when enough is enough. It didn't take a gun or some sort of weapon to confront the person responsible (either directly or indirectly but affiliated nonetheless). The violence was raw and controlled, because like I said earlier, a calm person is the most dangerous quality. These past films that I've watched, I half anticipated to see the violent end of the antagonist. Instead I was surprised to see the damage was done in humiliation of revealing damning evidence to destroy the prestige. Standing their ground to tell them what they have done and make them understand without violence because there is no fight left to inflict pain. It's takes gumption to do that.

I'm sure there are other great well received and well written revenge movies. These two were the ones that came to mind that I had to mention for prime examples of the expansion for the revenge sub genre.

Revenge movies are intriguing, but the importance lies within the reason and making the reason a clear justified cause without gratuitous, mindless violence. If I want to see a revenge movie, I'd see one like The Foreigner, Death Sentence, Four Brothers, or The Nightingale. I won't mind some cliches of stylized violence as long as it makes sense in the end with carefully executed characters making their motives justified.