Revenge movies

I Netflixed DEATH SENTENCE with Kevin Bacon and it’s most of the way through. I recently saw THE BRAVE ONE with Jodie Foster and it’s pretty much the same thing. As I’m sitting here, I’m thinking about revenge movies and how they don’t give me what I want. Movies like the two I referenced above are gritty and semi-realistic, with good people torn apart by violence and going out to get revenge. They make their first kill and it seems to happen accidentally, even tragically, leaving the protagonist with a mournful realization of the impact of violence. At this point they can’t stop and / or the criminals are onto them, menacing them right back. Eventually, they’re chastised by detectives that are on their trail with speeches like "Do you really think going out and shooting (villain) is going to bring (loved one) back?" The entire time, the hero’s face is a mask of regret and despair.

I hate crap like this. Why? I love revenge. Or, rather, I find it to be a terribly useful coping mechanism. It’s something I’m told is one of the darkest things about me... I’ve got a gleeful perspective on hardcore revenge. If I see Jodie Foster shoot the guy that shot her fiancé, I don’t consider that revenge... I consider that a terrible waste. The guy got a relatively painless death and likely winked out of existence. Revenge like what I think that guy deserved was hours and hours of unbelievable Hostel-esque torture, during which his tears were spit on by a grinning Foster. Most revenge movies have the protagonist going through far more anguish than the people they go against. I want a movie where the good guy gets RE. VENGE.

There are movies where the good guy cuts unflinchingly through his oppressors, but they’re mostly glamorized action movies. KILL BILL, PAYBACK, GLADIATOR, THE CROW, etc.. That’s fun, don’t get me wrong, but they’re genre films on something I’d like to see a serious take about: a protagonist who takes revenge and enjoys (or at least gains solace from) it in a realistic and gritty style, based on the world we live in and without bullet-dodging and cartoony dialogue. Hammers, fingernails, drillbits and kneecaps.

Maybe I need to rent A TIME TO KILL. I could use that kind of unrepentant vigilantism. It would do me good.