In many movies, the bad guys start battles they can’t win. They go into the scenario with confidence and bravado but are humbled because they don’t realize who they are dealing with.
One internet user has asked for examples of movies where villains have no idea who they’re messing with. They cited Taken (Bryan Mills) and John Wick (John Wick) as examples. Here are some of the best responses.
1. Home Alone (1990)
Home Alone is, correctly, one of the most prominent answers in this discussion, as it epitomizes the bad guys not knowing who they’re dealing with and getting their comeuppance.
The classic Christmas comedy, of course, stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, a boy forced to defend his suburban Chicago mansion from burglars after accidentally getting left behind when his family goes on their Christmas vacation to Paris.
2. I Spit on Your Grave (1978 & 2010)
Some people have answered with the controversial revenge movie I Spit on Your Grave, initially released in 1978 before being remade in 2010. One user who gives it as an answer acknowledges that it’s a brutal watch.
In the cases of both movies, a young female author rents an isolated property to write a book in peace. While there, she encounters a group of hostile locals who assault her and leave her for dead. However, she survives and hunts them down one at a time. It undoubtedly fits the criteria for this discussion.
3. You’re Next (2011)
You’re Next is a slasher movie about an estranged family who comes under attack by a group of masked assailants during a family reunion. It’s given as an answer by multiple users in the discussion.
In the film, one family member, a young girl called Erin, completely turns the tables on the attackers. She becomes a brutal killer and picks them off individually, murdering them in some seriously bloody and nasty ways.
4. First Blood (1982)
First Blood is the first movie in the Rambo action franchise. It follows Sylvester Stallone’s Vietnam War veteran, John Rambo, as he drifts from town to town. When he tries to enter one town, he gets tormented and jailed by a small-town sheriff and his corrupt police force, who don’t realize how tough Rambo is. Upon escaping, the cops go after Rambo, who puts his combat skills into action.
Several users give this film as an answer, with one saying it’s arguably the best “you don’t know who you’re messing with” movie ever.
5. Under Siege (1992)
Under Siege is an action thriller about mercenaries who commandeer the U.S. Navy battleship Missouri. They target the ship’s captain and naval crew but forget about certain loose ends, including Casey Rybeck, a chief petty officer assigned as a culinary specialist.
On the surface, he looks like a chef, but trying to take the former Navy SEAL on turns out to be a colossal error. Nevertheless, a few people in the discussion have suggested the movie, and it’s certainly a worthy inclusion.
6. Man on Fire (2004)
Loads of users have put Man on Fire forward in this discussion, with one describing it as “basically a much better version of Taken.”
It stars Denzel Washington as a former CIA operative and U.S. Marine Force Recon Captain turned bodyguard. When the girl he is protecting – a Mexico City automaker’s nine-year-old daughter – is kidnapped, he takes revenge by going on a brutal rampage. Of course, had they known who her bodyguard was, it’s safe to say they probably wouldn’t have taken her.
7. The Punisher (2004)
The Punisher is based on the Marvel Comics character Frank Castle. In this movie, he’s played by Thomas Jane as an FBI agent who becomes a vigilante after a corrupt businessman slaughters his entire family due to his part in an undercover operation that was meant to be his final mission before retirement.
A couple of posters suggest this movie. The man who ordered Castle’s family to be killed could never have known how ruthless Castle could be when provoked.
8. I Saw the Devil (2010)
Multiple film fans say I Saw the Devil is a prime example of a movie in which the villain doesn’t know who they’re messing with. The South Korean action thriller matches that description perfectly, and one user replied that it was the movie they expected to see in the thread.
The movie is about a woman getting brutally murdered. She turns out to be the fiancée of a no-nonsense Nation Intelligence Service agent. When he finds out who the murderer is, he hunts him down and, ultimately, has him brutally murdered in front of his family in revenge.
9. Straw Dogs (1971 & 2011)
Someone has answered saying Straw Dogs. It isn’t clear whether or not they’re referring to the 1971 movie or its 2011 remake, but it doesn’t matter as they have the same plot, and both fit the bill for this discussion.
The story is based on Gordon M. Williams’s 1969 novel, The Siege of Trencher’s Farm. It follows a young American and his English wife as they move to rural England and face increasingly vicious local harassment. The harassment unlocks territorial instinct in the couple, who fight back brutally.
10. Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
Law Abiding Citizen is a frequently recurring answer in this discussion. In the movie, a frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain frees one of his family’s killers. He brutally dismembers the murderer before finishing him off via decapitation.
It certainly fulfills the criteria asked for in this discussion. Still, as one user points out, it also effectively plays around with who is the good guy and the villain, which undoubtedly adds something to it.
Source: Reddit.
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