Ah sweet, sweet revenge. Sometimes watching sweet justice being served is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world. Watching our protagonist struggle to move on from a tragedy and watching as they take steps towards getting their hard-earned revenge.
Whether it’s taking on the enemies that killed a loved one, moving on from a cheating spouse or simply replicating the actions to a greater extent, revenge movies are a favorite genre to a lot of movie fans. Here are 10 of the best revenge movies that have ever come out.
Death Wish (2018)
The remake of the 1984 classic with the same name, Bruce Willis stars as a well-known surgeon that takes justice into his own hands after his daughter is brutally murdered by burglars. With no knowledge of firearms, Willis takes on the role of a vigilante and hunts down the men who killed his daughter and fortunately for the audience, gets his vengeance. Although he isn’t the best vigilante on the list, it’s still fun to watch as he takes on criminals on his way to getting his revenge.
Taken (2008)
Creating one of the most memorable scenes in recent history, this former government operative with a particular set of skills tracks down the men that took his daughter and unleashes hell on them. Traveling 1000s of miles to track down the kidnappers, he stops at nothing to get his daughter back and literally takes on an army in his efforts. Liam Neeson takes on the role of Brian Mills and he does a great job of capturing the worrisome father who gets his revenge and manages to rescue his daughter.
Gladiator (2000)
Gladiator tells the story of Maximus, who is captured and brought to Rome following the murder of his wife and son where he is forced into fighting as a gladiator. With strength for vengeance and his own fighting skills, Maximus fights and fights until he can get to the king who is responsible for the murder of his wife and kids. In typical heroic fashion, Maximus finishes off the king, exactly like he planned, despite the King's attempts to sabotage him. The movie ends with Maximus achieving his goal and peacefully dying, meeting his wife and kid in paradise.
Walking Tall (2004)
Starring Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, Walking Tall is about an army veteran (Johnson) who comes back to his hometown to see it worse than when he left. It was partly due to his old schoolmate who started a casino that's taken over the town's economy and manufactured drugs that have the youth addicted. Enraged by this, he takes matters into his own hands as a vigilante and takes down the criminals of his city. This movie is arguably what started the Rocks career into action movies and helped make him one of the best-known actors of the decade.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Inglourious Basterds is a satire of World War II and one of Quentin Tarantino’s greatest cinematic masterpieces to date. When a Jewish French soldier loses his family at the hands of the Nazis, he assembles his team of fellow Jewish soldiers and they attempt to take down some of the most prominent Nazi leaders by brutally torturing them.
Known as some of the evilest people in the world, it’s oddly enjoyable watching how the soldiers take them out and prove victorious time and time again. Add in the fact the soldier gets his revenge and avenges his family, it’s definitely a quality movie for this list.
The Crow (1994)
The Crow is a classic revenge movie. When a family is brutally murdered, and the husband is somehow brought back to life on the anniversary of his death to avenge his and his fiancee’s murder. It’s a pretty dark movie with some really noticeable gothic tones that we haven’t seen before. Starring the son of Bruce Lee, Brandon, we see some cool action scenes and a great dealing of revenge towards the end of the film. Unfortunately, there’s also an aura of sadness surrounding the movie since Lee had his accidental ing on the set during filming, so seeing his character seek and destroy has even more gratification.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The movie deals with a tough revenge scene that many viewers might have a hard time watching. Based on a very famous book, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is about a man trying to solve a 40-year-old murder with the help of a trustless young woman named Lisabeth. After Lisabeth is continually assaulted by her father, she takes him on and drowns him, ending his reign of abuse over her. Although the scene is very hard to watch, we see a satisfied Lisabeth, happy that her reign of terror is finally over.
Django Unchained (2012)
This movie takes place approximately a few years before the Civil War in Texas. Similar to Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino rewrites history in favor of the good guys by making Django (a slave) and Dr. Schultz (a slaver hating bounty hunter) team up to take on the slave owners of Western America.
With the all-star cast, the amazing settings, and great plot, Django Unchained is also an overall great movie. With the years of inhumane treatment towards slaves, it’s satisfying to watch as Django takes down some of the worst people in the movie and finds his wife who had been lost for years.
Dark Knight (2008)
Batman was literally created by Bruce Wayne to get revenge. When his parents were killed in an alleyway by a Gotham criminal, Bruce grew up with a goal to instill fear in Gotham’s crime and prevent anyone from suffering as he did. Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan’s second installment of the trilogy, Bruce suffers the loss of his long-time love at the hands of the Joker and goes crazy trying to find the clown prince of crime.
Batman eventually confronts the Joker and in typical Batman fashion beats the snot out of him and leaves him hanging upside down for the police to come and take him. With every punch landed, viewers were left oddly satisfied and cheering on Batman for getting his vengeance.
Kill Bill (2003, 2004)
Another great Tarantino classic, Kill Bill revolves around the former assassin Beatrix who escapes her life as a killer despite having a lover. To escape, Beatrix fakes her death and manages to escape to live on her own. While she’s out on her own she finds a new lover and the day of her wedding she is surprised to find her former lover who kills everyone at her wedding, including her (supposedly). As an act of revenge, she uses her skill as an assassin and brutally murders everyone responsible for the murder of her loved ones. There is nothing better than seeing Beatrix take on entire armies and come out successful.
