The revenge thriller didn’t start with John Wick, but sometimes it seems like it ended with him. While Keanu Reeve’s hyperviolent murder sprees may have rejuvenated the genre, they’ve also led to a slew of middling imitators. An assembly line of fading celebrities looking to slaughter their way to the top of the box office quickly sprang up, subsequently watering down a genre that fans have loved ever since Charles Bronson murdered a bunch of dudes in 1974. But half a century later, one movie proved that the revenge thriller still has some juice.
