Film Inquiry Recommends: Great Revenge Films

Over at our official Facebook page, we are currently posting daily film recommendations, with each week being a different theme. This is a collection of those recommendations! This week’s theme is great revenge films from all over the world.

The act of revenge and the consequences of the action is one that is seen quite frequently in cinema. It’s understandable, as it can fuel many different genres, from action to comedy, it’s a universal act that in the hands of the right filmmakers, can always be an interesting notion to build a story upon. Many lesser directors just make B-Level films which feature revenge as an excuse for one man to kill many people, usually criminals or ‘the mafia’, but these films below show us some of the other angles revenge can be explored in.

1. Blue Ruin (2013, Jeremy Saulnier)

Blue Ruin is an exceptional revenge film, a stripped-down thriller which uses the low-budget indie film-making to its advantage to make a really engaging and well-crafted film. Jeremy Saulnier came into the scene in 2007 with the micro-budget Murder Party, which is a nice little comedic horror film which failed to make a big impact.

Using his own finances mixed in with some small independent marketing, Jeremy Saulnier made Blue Ruin using his friend Macon Blair, who also featured in Murder Party. Macon Blair does a great job as Dwight, a traumatised man who had everything taken away from him when his parents were murdered. When the criminal responsible is released from prison, Dwight immediately kills him, which gets the criminal’s family on his trail for revenge.

Blue Ruin is a revenge film which tells the same story that many revenge films do: that violence will always lead to more violence and retribution is never a good idea. The film manages to deliver this message without it seeming stale, making an interesting decision of delivering the film as ‘What if an ordinary man decided to get revenge?’. This involves the murders being sloppy, the main character actually getting injured and everyone involved being exasperated at the on-going ordeals.

Between the acting, cinematography and overall direction, Blue Ruin was easily one of the best independent films of 2013 and introduced a wider audience to the talents of director Jeremy Saulnier. His upcoming film, Green Room, has been picked up for release next year and has been getting rave reviews, which is great to hear.

2. Sitting Target (1972, Douglas Hickox)

A nasty little British revenge film starring the notorious Oliver Reed and great character actor Ian McShane, Sitting Target is an underrated thriller that pulls no punches. Our protagonist is Harry Lormat (Reed), a convicted murderer, who teams up with Birdy (McShane) to break out of prison. Harry’s determination to break out of prison comes from his desire to hunt down his wife, who has just left him and become pregnant from an unknown male. The Wicker Man’s Edward Woodward stars also as a police inspector who is put in charge of tracking the two men down.

The lead-up and execution of the men’s escape from jail is quite suspenseful, giving enough build up to actually make the scenes quite engaging to watch. Having our protagonist as a crazed murder out to kill his pregnant wife makes the film an exercise in how to engage with a protagonist, as we want to see Harry stopped due to his indecent actions, but at the same time, his adventure being so dark makes for compelling viewing.

The action scenes are well executed and Reed channels his real-life lunacy into an intense performance where you don’t know when he’s going to completely snap. The story has some surprising twists, making for a dark little taut revenge thriller that’s worth hunting down.

3. Rolling Thunder (1977, John Flynn)

A film loved by Quentin Tarantino so much that he named his shortly-run distribution company after it, Rolling Thunder is an old school dirty revenge thriller which has much more to say than the standard B-Movie. William Devane stars as Major Charles Rane and Tommy Lee Jones as Johnny, who have just been rescued from being captured for several years in Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam war.

Both coming back changed men, Charles is celebrated as a hero by society, but his wife and child have both moved on and don’t recognise the changed Charles Rane anymore. After being awarded a chest of silver dollars for his service, a small group of thugs attack Charles and his family, killing his wife and son and mangling his right hand. Now with nothing left in life, he sets out for revenge, replacing his mangled hand with a hook and equipped with a sawn-off shotgun, Charles hunts down the people responsible. He is helped out by waitress (Linda Haynes), who, after feeling sorry for the major, decides to help him exact revenge. The film ends in a shotgun-filled shootout which is a great piece of action cinema.

Whilst the film sounds like a typical B-Movie revenge fodder, the film has an interesting examination on the effects of war and violence on men’s psychology and how these intense events change people directly and those around them. The film’s messages on violence and its role in society adds a depth that makes this film much more elevated and justifies the film’s more graphic scenes.

William Devane does a great job of capturing the vacant stare of Charles and his lack of ability to connect to the people around him, only being able to truly show himself through violence. Now available on Bluray and streaming services, Rolling Thunder is another great film by John Flynn.

4. Payback (1999, Brian Helgeland)

Payback is based on the novel The Hunter by author Richard Stark, a book which was also the basis for John Boorman’s brilliant film Point Blank. Whilst Point Blank took its source material and interpreted it in a more artistic way, Payback draws from the book more literally, sticking pretty close to the original story. The film is a gritty, tough-as-nails revenge thriller which is a great vehicle for a different side of Mel Gibson.

Mel Gibson stars as Porter (named Walker in the novel), a man who was double-crossed and left for dead by his girlfriend and his partner in crime Val (Gregg Henry). After chasing them down, he goes after the mafia family that Val works for, causing great chaos over a small amount of money.

The blue tint in the colour scheme sets up a unique visual style of the film which reflects the film’s darker material, where Gibson really does a great job as Porter, flipping his likable protagonist charm and making Porter an unrelenting criminal who doesn’t let anyone stop him. When first timer director Brian Helgeland shot the film initially, it was seen as too dark for general audiences, so 30% of it was reshot.

The studio reshot scenes with Kris Kristofferson as the final antagonist for Porter and the blue tint was added to the cinematography. The plot was also alot more conventional and linear, making for a more mainstream friendly film, despite the film’s unrelenting violence and unlikeable characters. In 2007, the director’s cut was released on DVD/Bluray, changing the story significantly, returning the cinematography to a regular standard colour scheme and completely removing Kris Kristofferson, which some film critics have said is superior version to the original.

5. A Bittersweet Life (2005, Kim Jee-woon)

Directed by the great Kim Jee-Woon, whose directorial efforts include I Saw the Devil, A Tale of Two Sisters and The Good, The Bad and the Weird, comes this action-packed Korean revenge film. Starting off as a typical Korean gangster film, Kim Sun-woo (Lee Byung-hun, recently seen in Terminator: Genisys) is a high-ranking mob enforcer, working for Mr. Kang, until Kang asks Kim to eliminate Kang’s young mistress Hee-soo, who Kim sees as an innocent person and refuses to kill her. Being livid with his betrayal, Kang has his entire gang go after Kim, who seeks revenge over being royally screwed over for trying to do the right thing.

Compared to Oldboy and The Chaser, the film isn’t quite as deep in its themes and storytelling, but what it does deliver is grounded, well-shot action scenes which do feel like they have a sense of punch behind them, not feeling like lifeless staged scenes. Lee Byung-Hun does a terrific job as Kim, giving the character a sympathetic and gentle side to the usual stone-cold mob enforcer character.

6. Dead Man’s Shoes (2004, Shane Meadows)

An excellent morality tale, Dead Man’s Shoes examines the power and machinations behind revenge and the effects of it. The great Paddy Considine (who co-wrote the film with Shane Meadows and Paul Fraser) stars as Richard, who returns home after military service to exact revenge on a local gang of bullies that mistreated his disabled brother (a young Toby Kebbell). Using his intimidation tactics and methodical violence, Richard starts to pick off the gang one by one.

Paddy Considine really shows off his versatility here, shedding his likable, comedic personality to become Richard, an angry man who refuses to be put down by anyone on his conquest for revenge. Meadow’s script keeps the plot unpredictable, constantly shifting the plot organically which makes the story interesting to watch unfold, rather than playing into audience expectations. The film’s short bursts of violence and creative use of language, whilst avoiding the typical tropes of revenge films, makes Dead Man’s Shoes one of the more memorable revenge films, really leaving a lasting impression after your first viewing.

7. Ms. 45 (1981, Abel Ferrara)

From controversial director Abel Ferrara, who is behind underground favourites such as Bad Lieutenant, King of New York and The Driller Killer comes this pseudo-Death Wish film, with a commanding lead performance from Zoë Tamerlis. Thana, a mute seamstress, is attacked and raped on her way home from work. Traumatised, she races home where she encounters a second unrelated robber at her house, who also attacks and rapes her. In shock, she attacks and kills the robber. The two back-to-back events slowly start to deteriorate her mental health, where she takes a .45 caliber handgun and starts to kill random males in a vigilante way.

This plot development is similar to Death Wish, where after Charles Bronson’s wife is killed and daughter attacked, Bronson started to attack criminals at random, not so much targeting the people who caused him trouble initially. Ms. 45 is a dark and violent film, which really strips a lot of the heavy dialogue that Ferrara is known for, swapping it out for crude, grindhouse like violence.

It was a low-budget affair (only 62 grand) and didn’t do too well critically or financially in cinemas due to its graphic nature. Made during Ferrara’s explotation years, his film before this was the controversial horror film The Driller Killer. After Ms. 45, he made Fear City, a more restrained gangster film which developed his exploitation style into something more mainstream friendly, whilst maintaining his hardcore style.

Are there any other great revenge films that you can recommend to watch?

(top image: Rolling Thunder (1977) – source: American International Pictures)