Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy is a modern cinematic masterpiece that continues to thrill and haunt audiences to date. The neo-noir revolves around Oh Dae-Su (played by Choi Min-Sik), a man held in captivity for several years till he seeks revenge to find out the real identity of a mysterious adversary.
In his quest for vendetta, he finds out some secrets about his past that force him to confront some increasingly uncomfortable truths. From its elaborate action sequences to the unexpected plot twists, Oldboy is a hyperviolent film that’s one of a kind. The South Korean film has hardly aged over the years and continues to entertain viewers.
Kill Bill (2003 - 2004)
Another iconic and gruesome revenge drama, Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill (released separately as two volumes) was a trailblazer in the modern action genre. Typical of his derivative style, the writer and director borrows elements from certain classic Hong Kong action films, while adding his own bizarre spin.
The basic premise surrounds The Bride (Uma Thurman), an assassin who’s left for dead on her wedding day by her lover Bill and his league of other fellow assassins. Waking up from a coma, she makes it her goal to seek revenge on Bill and his accomplices in a series of well-choreographed encounters, adding enough style to make up for its simple premise.
The Raid (2011)
If viewers loved the claustrophobic action sequences in Oldboy, including the famous hallway scene, they will love The Raid. Directed and edited by Gareth Evans, the Indonesian action-thriller is entirely shot in a high-rise building that’s run by a ruthless drug kingpin. An elite security team is tasked with finding the druglord, as his various henchmen prove to be a challenge.
What follows is a non-stop, adrenaline-fueled series of martial arts-driven fights and firepower. The film spawned a sequel and built a worldwide interest in Indonesian action stars, especially the lead actor/martial artist, Iko Uwais.
Memento (2001)
The film that put Christopher Nolan on the map, Memento is an intricately-woven film that tests viewers' patience and memory. But once its dots are connected, Memento makes for an intriguing thriller. Guy Pearce plays a man suffering from short-term memory loss, which implies he only re things for a short span, until his memory resets again.
Faced with this condition, all that he re is that his wife was murdered and he needs revenge. In the investigation to find the perpetrator, Nolan’s protagonist must figure out what is real and what is fake. The film is so interactive that viewers will be as confused as the characters, as it is also presented in a non-linear timeline.
Hard Candy (2005)
Hard Candy can be quite a disturbing watch, but it’s highly engaging with its twist on the polarizing morality of the revenge genre. Harvey (Ellen Page) is a teen who meets a photographer (Patrick Wilson) on the internet. What seems like a harmless conversation between the two turns into a full-blown bloody affair, as she holds him captive. Her ultimate plan is to get a confession out of him, as he’s a serial sexual predator.
Both Page and Wilson give convincing performances in this vigilante drama. However, some audiences might want to avoid this film if they are easily disturbed by scenes of prolonged torture.
The Revenant (2015)
The Revenant emphasizes realism and the human spirit, rather than flashy action sequences. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Hugh Glass, a frontiersman who was betrayed and left to die by his hunting crew in the brutal wintry landscape. While fighting the extremities of the weather and nature itself, Glass makes it out alive to seek revenge on one certain comrade of his who spearheaded the betrayal and murdered his son.
At its essence, The Revenant is a simple revenge drama, but director Alejandro G. Inarritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki elevate the story to such great heights that the film turns into an immersive human experience.
Confessions (2010)
Confessions is a smartly written thriller from Japan that features a chilling lead performance by Takako Matsu. She stars as a school teacher who reveals several unsettling secrets about her class on the last day of school. She recounts how her daughter had drowned in the school’s swimming pool in what was actually an orchestrated murder by two of her own students.
Eyebrows are raised as the grieving mother seeks justice through her cold-blooded means. The film also showcases different viewpoints of the students to understand their perspectives on this sudden, brooding mystery they face.
John Wick (2014)
John Wick is arguably the film that redefined the action genre and brought Keanu Reeves back into the pop culture zeitgeist. He plays the titular character, an ex-hitman coming to with his wife’s death. In the middle of this, a mob boss’ brash son decides to play around with the middle-aged Wick and even kills his pet dog. This is the last straw for Wick, who comes out of retirement to avenge his pet, while the mobster puts a bounty on his head.
With top-notch stunt choreography and direction by David Leitch and Chad Stahelski, John Wick drew upon influences like anime and Hong Kong action dramas to craft a poetic saga of violence.
I Saw The Devil (2010)
GI Joe fame) plays a trained secret agent whose fiancé is brutally murdered and decapitated by a homicidal maniac. Driven by revenge, he doesn’t wish to give the killer a quick death, so, in a fit of demented rage, he devises a detailed cat-and-mouse game of torture, catching and releasing the criminal several times.
I Saw The Devil shows the disturbing heights to which some will go to seek justice and revenge. It has its share of fast-paced thriller and action moments, but also delves deep into the emotionally-drained mindset of its revenge-seeking hero.
Point Blank (1967)
Point Blank is a classic based on the pulp novel The Hunter by Donald E Westlake. The literary noir has also been adapted into the films Payback and Parker, but Point Blank is the adaptation that is widely considered to be the best. Lee Marvin stars as Walker, a ruthless gangster who is left to die in Alcatraz after one of his partners intentionally botches the plan.
However, in a typical revenge drama fashion, Walker doesn’t die and returns to reclaim his position in the crime syndicate while planning his vengeance. The film wasn’t a hit at the box office, but has gained a cult following since its release.
Lady Vengeance (2005)
Apart from Oldboy, Park Chan-Wook directed two more films centering on the theme of vengeance, spiritually connected in what's known as his ‘Vengeance Trilogy." Lady Vengeance, the final chapter in this trilogy, is as visually exciting and stylish as its predecessors.
Similar to Oldboy’s premise, Lee Yeong-Ae stars as a woman who has been locked up in prison for 13 years for a murder she didn’t commit. Once she is released, she assembles a rag-tag bunch of her accomplices and friends from prison, as they devise a method to clear her name and find her estranged daughter.
