Sometimes, there's nothing more satisfying than watching a movie where nefarious characters get what they deserve. The payoff of seeing them receiving their comeuppance after doing something awful and believing they'll get away with it is the best.
Redditor u/1Hate17Here set up a thread titled “Looking for movies where justice is served.” The user specifically asked the answers not to include Taken, The Equalizer, I Spit on Your Grave, and John Wick, as they were already familiar with those movies. They received a lot of great answers. Here are some of the best of them.
Please note this piece contains spoilers.
1. Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
u/johndoe64 said, “Law Abiding Citizen.”
Law Abiding Citizen is a vigilante action thriller starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. In the movie, Butler's Clyde Shelton is forced to watch as his wife and daughter are murdered. After a plea bargain sets one of the killers free, he decides to take justice into his own hands – and he does so emphatically, slowly dismembering the culprit before eventually decapitating him.
2. Mandy (2018)
u/Mairess99 suggested several movies, one of which was “Mandy (2018),” and u/DildoSwaggins82 replied, saying, “Mandy is awesome.”
The action horror movie stars Nicolas Cage as Red Miller – a man who lives a secluded life in a forest with his artist girlfriend, Mandy. When Mandy is burned alive by a nightmarish hippie cult and their demon-biker henchmen, Red takes vengeance, savagely slaughtering every last member of the cult.
3. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
u/RonzoniTime and u/ilovelucygal both suggested this one, with the former simply saying “Shawshank Redemption” and the latter saying “The Shawshank Redemption (1994).”
In this drama based on the 1982 Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) gets sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murders of his wife and her lover, despite the fact he is innocent.
Justice is ultimately served in two ways in the movie. First, the warden who mistreated Andy is found guilty of money laundering. Second, Andy escapes prison to live a life of hope and freedom with his former prison mate Ellis “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman).
4. The Last House on the Left (1972/2009)
u/Mairess99 answered, “The last House on the Left (1972),” prompting u/redjedia to reply by saying ““The Last House on the Left” doesn’t exactly view itself as endorsing what the parents do to the killers, though.”
They're both right. While the 1972 movie and its 2009 remake have the same revenge plot, neither suggests the exploits of its vengeful characters are correct. In each horror film, the murderers and rapists of a young girl inadvertently find themselves taking shelter at her parents' home. When the parents discover exactly who is staying in their house, they get justice by killing them.
5. I Saw the Devil (2010)
“I Saw the Devil” was a popular suggestion, with u/plinkett-wisdom, u/LaughingGor108, and u/Scuzzlebutt94 all giving it as an answer.
It's a South Korean action thriller about an NIS agent called Kim Soo-hyun. Soo-hyun embarks on a mission for revenge when his fiancée is brutally murdered by the psychopathic serial killer Jang Kyung-chul. The quest for revenge ends when he beheads the killer in front of his family.
6. Straw Dogs (1971/2011)
u/ronnass answered, “Straw Dogs (with Dustin Hoffman).” It prompted u/TheSpookyForest to reply, “It's a classic. Sam Peckinpah at the top of his game. This and Wild Bunch are his best films.”
Straw Dogs is a psychological thriller based on Gordon M. Williams's 1969 novel, The Siege of Trencher's Farm. It's about a young American (Hoffman) and his English wife (Susan) who move to rural England and face increasingly vicious harassment from some violent locals. After the harassment elevates to acts as vile as rape, the couple fights back and kills their tormentors.
7. Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)
u/truckturner5164 suggested “Hobo With a Shotgun,” then followed it up with another post saying, “It'll change your life, lol.”
Hobo with a Shotgun is a black action comedy based on a faux trailer of the same name featured in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's movie Grindhouse. It's about a homeless vigilante, played by the late Rutger Hauer, who targets wrongdoers such as crooked police officers, pimps, drug lords, and pedophile Santas with his trusty pump-action shotgun.
8. Michael Clayton (2007)
u/SimonFerocious76 said “Michael Clayton,” and u/ilovelucygal put forward several suggestions, with “Michael Clayton (2007)” being one of them.
Michael Clayton is a legal thriller about a law firm that brings in its “fixer” to remedy things after a lawyer has a breakdown while representing a chemical company in a multibillion-dollar class action suit that he knows is guilty. The fixer in question – George Clooney's eponymous Michael Clayton – proves the company is guilty by wearing a wire and getting a confession from the company's general counsel.
9. Revenge (2017)
u/PhantomKitten73 suggested a few movies, one of them being “Revenge (2017).” u/a_distantmemory replied, “Revenge is SOOOO good! I love that movie!”
Revenge is a French action thriller about a young woman who, after being, assaulted by three men, is left for dead in the desert. Once she recovers, she seeks vengeance upon her attackers, brutally killing them all.
10. In Order of Disappearance (2014)
u/slicineyeballs answered, “In Order of Disappearance (2014). Fun Stellan Skarsgard revenge movie; pretty sure it's got action, humour and suspense so it ticks some of your boxes at least.”
In Order of Disappearance is a Norwegian action thriller in which Stellan Skarsgård plays Nils Dickman, a snow plow driver whose son is murdered by drug dealers. When Nils discovers precisely who killed his son and how he died, he hunts them all down and slaughters them one by one.
This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.