Who doesn’t want a little revenge every now and again? That guy who dinged your car. The bully who made high school hell for you. That jerk at the office. The guy who murdered your family, burned down your ancestral home and is responsible for the death of your unborn child. Yeah. He could use a bit of a whooping. Well this week’s revenge thriller Death Sentence has me hankerin’ for some real, classic revenge.

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (2003, 2004)

“It was not my intention to do this in front of you. For that I’m sorry. But you can take my word for it, your mother had it comin’. When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I’ll be waiting.”

Quentin Tarantino’s amazing two-part revenge film is due out on DVD in one, long form film later this year. Although I’m not holding my breath. Harvey Weinstein himself once told me to my face that the complete version of Kill Bill would hit art house theaters and DVD the same year this masterpiece finally finished. And I’ve been waiting for the whole bloody affair ever since. But this really is a modern masterpiece. An amalgam of ’70s revenge films with ’70s kung fu movies, told like only Quentin Tarantino can.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

“He tasks me! He tasks me! And I shall have him. I’ll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round the Antares malestrom and round perdition’s flames before I give him up!”

Not only the single greatest Star Trek film ever made, better than any episode or by-product of it. This revenge film takes us back to a character from the show that Kirk had long since dealt with coming back to get his revenge. It is gritty, dirty and by the end you are in tears at the loss of one of our beloved friends. One of the greatest science fiction films ever made.

Man on Fire (2004)

“Forgiveness is between them and God. It’s my job to arrange the meeting.”

When making a remake of anything, one should first consult a film that did it right. Based upon the forgotten 1987 actioner (and also the novel this film was based on), they hired genius Brian Helgeland to rewrite it and make it awesome. First they make you fall in love with this little girl along with Denzel, then they kill her. And you spend the rest of the film riding along in the car with him as he goes to kill them all. This movie is cold, mean and abrasive. And it’s hard to find a film in its genre that is better. An interesting fact: this and the previous two films each share something in common in that they all reference the 18th century quote, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”

Death Wish (1974)

“Well, what if the cops can’t handle this, Jack?”

The ultimate classic vigilante film, and the one that most likely inspired Death Sentence. This is Charles Bronson taking on the muggers of New York City after his wife is brutally murdered. Originally a morality play about vigilantism, this movie spiraled off into a series of sequels that seemed less and less about the intellectual debate and more about ass-kicking. The first one is still great.

C. Robert Cargill – - – Email Me

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Austin-based Cargill, who not only loves but owns The Cutting Edge, writes on movies and DVD five times a week.