The defence The Adrenaline Seeker
“Momentum is a formal choice.”
The velocity sharpens instinct and tension, making every beat land before self-importance can settle in.
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Vigilante
Crime · Action · Thriller · 1983
New York City factory worker Eddie Marino is a solid citizen and regular guy, until the day a sadistic street gang brutally assaults his wife and murders his child. When a corrupt judge sets the thugs free, he goes berserk and vows revenge.
Movie details
Vigilante
“There's only one way to stop them...”
1983 Crime · Action · Thriller 1h 30m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.2 / 10
Community rating
New York City factory worker Eddie Marino is a solid citizen and regular guy, until the day a sadistic street gang brutally assaults his wife and murders his child. When a corrupt judge sets the thugs free, he goes berserk and vows revenge.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Vigilante?
For the defence
The Adrenaline Seeker
“If it slows down, you check your phone.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Auteur Devotee
“You watch the director, not the movie.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Death Wish II
Action · 1982
Paul Kersey is again a vigilante trying to find five punks who murdered his housekeeper and daughter in Los Angeles.
Citizen Vigilante
Thriller · 2026
A man takes justice into his own hands, hunting down criminals. His vigilante crusade makes him a social media star but puts him at odds with the local police chief.
Cobra
Action · 1986
A tough-on-crime street cop must protect the only surviving witness to a strange murderous cult with far reaching plans.
Due Justice
Action · 2023
An attorney with a military past hunts down the gang who killed his wife and took his daughter.
Shaft
Action · 2000
New York police detective John Shaft arrests Walter Wade Jr. for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted -- especially since he's paid a drug kingpin to kill the witness.
The Equalizer 2
Action · 2018
Robert McCall, who serves an unflinching justice for the exploited and oppressed, embarks on a relentless, globe-trotting quest for vengeance when his former partner is murdered.
Ms .45
Crime · 1981
After being attacked and raped twice in one day, a timid, mute seamstress becomes a violent agent of revenge for wronged women.
Dead Man Down
Thriller · 2013
In New York City, a crime lord's right-hand man is seduced by a woman seeking retribution.
Assault on Precinct 13
Thriller · 1976
A highway patrol officer, two criminals, and a station secretary form an unlikely alliance to defend a defunct Los Angeles precinct against a siege by a bloodthirsty street gang.
Wake Up
Horror · 2024
A group of young activists set out to make an environmental statement by vandalizing a home superstore as it closes. But their plan goes terribly wrong when they become trapped inside and must face a deranged security guard with a gruesome passion for primitive hunting. As the night fills with violence and terror, the teenagers find themselves in a desperate fight for their lives.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
William Lustig
Written by
Richard Vetere
Robert Forster
Eddie Marino
Fred Williamson
Nick
Richard Bright
Burke
Rutanya Alda
Vickie Marino
Don Blakely
Prago
Joseph Carberry
Ramon
Willie Colón
Rico
Court is in session
Put Vigilante on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Auteur Devotee
“Speed as an alibi.”
The film races past its weak spots and hopes acceleration will keep the audience from inspecting the evidence.