The revenge movie piece felt like it was conflating difference genres, that the writer's problem was that she went into a film expecting genre A and was naturally disappointed when she got genre B. But that's not inherently a problem with either film. I've not seen any of the pieces in question, but Revenge sounds - right from the title - smack in the revenge tragedy tradition, albeit in the contemporary version when the protagonist gets to live. But it's a tradition to which violence is inherent and to some extent the point. As Voulgares points out, it delivers catharsis. Whereas Promising Young Woman sounds a very interesting and intense film, but an entirely different kind of film with a different purpose.
As to "Can a revenge movie succeed without violence?" I'd say that Nirvana in Fire, albeit a revenge TV series, says 'yes'. All the violence is that brought about by the villains' choices. The vengeful protagonist would be quite willing to have a bloodless triumph and in terms of the main plot succeeds in that.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2021-02-27 09:21 pm (UTC)As to "Can a revenge movie succeed without violence?" I'd say that Nirvana in Fire, albeit a revenge TV series, says 'yes'. All the violence is that brought about by the villains' choices. The vengeful protagonist would be quite willing to have a bloodless triumph and in terms of the main plot succeeds in that.