Vendetta is a 2022 crime thriller written and directed by Jared Cohen, who is no stranger to the genre.

After the murders of his wife and young daughter at the hands of a ruthless crime family, an ex-marine seeks revenge by picking off members of the gang one by one until he completes his mission, even if it costs him his own life in the process.

The cast includes Clive Standen, Theo Rossi, Bruce Willis, Thomas Jane, and Mike Tyson.

Vendetta was released in limited theaters, VOD, and direct to Blu-ray and DVD on May 17th, courtesy of Vertical Entertainment and Redbox Entertainment.

THE GOOD

Like most people, I was shocked and just sad when I heard about the cognitive issues actor Bruce Willis was dealing with, essentially forcing him into retirement. We all had our opinions in terms of his decision to star in a ton of low-budget films, but we never expected that he was just trying to get in as many roles as he could before his illustrious career came to a close. The talented actor has just shy of 145 acting credits, with 20 of those coming in just the last few years. He is most often thought of as a guy starring in some kind of action/crime thriller film, and he has a great feel for revenge films. I personally thought he was fantastic in the 2018 remake of the Charles Bronson film Death Wish, which I reviewed back when it came out (find the full review here). The film was unfairly shredded by the majority of critics but is absolutely worth a watch for fans of revenge thrillers. So, when I find out one of Willis’ final films, Vendetta, was slated to come out in mid-March, I had to check it out and give it a fair assessment. So, does it hold up to Death Wish? Keep reading to find out!

I am sad to say the answer is a resounding no, which is a huge bummer because I was expecting so much more. I will get into my issues with the film, and the list is long, later in the review, but for now I will try and touch on some of the positives. Vendetta is your classic revenge thriller, borrowing basically the exact premise from the 2007 James Wan film Death Sentence that offers up a pissed-off Kevin Bacon on a path for revenge. Spoiler alert, that is much, much better. The basic premise behind Vendetta is family man William Duncan, played by Clive Standen, experiences the worst thing in the world as his young daughter is murdered as part of a gang initiation. If that isn’t bad enough, the broken justice system proves to be of no help even though they have the killer in custody, forcing Duncan to resort to vigilante justice. Lucky for him, and unlucky for the gang who had his daughter killed, he is a decorated veteran who is no stranger to death. Duncan embarks on his mission for revenge with little care for his own well-being, deciding early on that seeing those responsible suffer is enough.

I enjoyed the film’s opening sequence which did a nice job setting the tone for what was to come, and I have to say I was a bit too giddy when the gang members showed up wearing Jason masks. Even though things went a bit sideways soon after, the opening was pretty good. I also enjoyed certain elements of the film’s conclusion and the overall finale which had a nice high-energy feel to it. The ending was pretty good as well all things considered. Even though his character was about as out of place as a stripper in church thanks to zero explanation as to who the heck he even was, I enjoyed Thomas Jane’s role as Dante. His pipe smoking, Budweiser drinking, and rambling on about nonsense character was fun and added some element of comic relief. Speaking of comic relief, even though he is on the poster Mike Tyson is on-screen for all of five minutes, I liked his role as it felt like more of a cameo. In my opinion, Tyson earned the right to play in any movie he wants after knocking Ed Helms into next week in The Hangover, and we get to see him throw a mean right hook in this role as well.

THE BAD

Let me be clear, I’m not going to write a film off just because it is a low-budget straight to VOD and Blu-ray/DVD release. It’s entirely possible for films like this to actually be pretty good, plus as I mentioned before I made it a point to check out what is likely one of the last times we will see Bruce Willis on-screen. But, with that being said, I can think of several revenge thrillers that are so much better than Vendetta. I already mentioned Death Wish and Death Sentence, Law Abiding Citizen is amazing, The Brave One is fantastic, The Foreigner is one of the better revenge thrillers you’ll watch, and I’ll even add in Peppermint which sends mom jeans-wearing Julia Garner on a streak for vigilante justice. Bottom line, even though the premise for the films I mentioned are as simple as it gets, execution is key. Not only did Vendetta miss the mark on execution, but they also couldn’t even spell the word if their life depended on it.

The writing is just so bad, like cringe-worthy at times. Just as an example, the film is of course built on the gang initiation that ends up killing the daughter of the main character. That scene in itself was pretty awesome honestly as I touched on a bit above, where the gang members essentially overtake this poor girl sitting in the car waiting for her dad who is grabbing dinner. The father hears gunshots and comes out to find his daughter dead, and the idiot is too slow to get out of there before the cops arrive so he ends up arrested. But because of certain events that unfold, he ends up getting released. And I’ll ignore the ridiculous nature of this scenario for the sake of making my other point, but as the gang greets him upon his release, they tell him how proud they are and that he is a man know who is capable of “running the world”. Okay so did I miss something, or did this idiot not only botch his initiation, he killed a girl in broad daylight and stuck around for the police to arrive. This is exactly when I realized logic has no place in Vendetta.

At one point Clive Standen’s character is barely making his way down the hallway in the hospital with crutches and the help of a nurse, but in the next scene he walks out the front door right into a slow-mo “power scene” as he embarks on his second (yes, second) mission for revenge. And this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as plot holes go, just think about that for a second. This is silly but at one point during his training montage, if you want to call it that, for some reason, he continues to wear his hospital gown as he is working out. Lie huh? I can’t, I just can’t. I didn’t think you needed a big budget for common sense storytelling, but I guess I was wrong. This feels like as good a time as any to touch on the dialogue, and it is BRUTAL. So many scenes felt downright uncomfortable, and if I’m being honest a 4th grader could have given the cast more to work with. The acting, in general, isn’t great and at times is pretty rough, most of which I think we can blame on the script, but I was pleased with how they handled Bruce Willis and his limitations, keeping his lines short and effective. Oh and the technical elements are mostly atrocious, although the soundtrack is okay, I just don’t have the energy to get into it. The editing is so bad that it’s honestly nonsensical at times, like to the point where they either pulled crucial scenes that helped to weave together the story or just threw scenes together in random order just for the fun of it. Like somehow Standen’s character knew where one of the men in the gang lived, but had no clue about the gang’s hideout which was a strip club he had previously cased as part of his revenge mission.

THE VERDICT

A paint-by-numbers revenge thriller weighed down by a predictable plot and a frustrating lack of creativity, Vendetta may be watchable with a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit but is ultimately a disservice to Bruce Willis in one of his final roles. I went in knowing what to expect thanks to director Jared Cohen’s lackluster resume, but I still held out hope that perhaps he had a gem in the making. But long story short, all writing duties in the foreseeable future should be taken away from Cohen, for his own good and the good of the viewing public. Also, perhaps hiring an editing team with half of a brain between them is a good start as well. I know I sound bitter, and it’s because I am. I love this genre and I just hate when films take a big crap on it assuming viewers are too stupid to notice.