8 Movie Characters Whose Revenge Was Way Over The Top

4. Paul Kersey - Death Wish

Death Wish tells the story of a vigilante named Paul Kersey, played by Charles Bronson, who takes to the streets in an attempt to rid Manhattan of petty criminals after his wife is murdered by thugs, and his daughter is sexually assaulted. And yet his target is never those who killed his wife, but random thugs on the street who pose a threat to others. Kersey assumes the role of a kind of revolver-wielding Batman character, except he actually goes through with the killing of his victims. At one point in the movie, Paul even sets up situations that he knows will draw criminals to him, just so he can shoot them - like walking around with lots of visible cash so that they purposely target him. The point of Death Wish is that Paul gets addicted to his own vigilantism, of course, but as an act of "revenge," he goes about things in the wrong way entirely. He channels his anger through the killing of people who don't necessarily deserve to die - as revenge movies go, then, it offers a highly skewered portrait of "getting even."