Avengement

Cain Burgess is a skilled martial artist who has a quick temper. Although Cain is basically honest, Cain's brother Lincoln, a loan shark, convinces him to throw a fight. Cain costs his brother and several gangsters to lose substantial amounts of money when he wins. Cain later comes to Lincoln to ask for an investment in a legitimate business. Lincoln refuses to lend him anything but offers him a job in a scam. Cain must rob a mark who has retrieved a package from one of Lincoln's gangsters. The plan goes well at first, but the mark, a middle-aged woman, doggedly chases Cain into the street, where she is hit by a car and dies. Cain is arrested and charged with manslaughter. Detective O'Hara explains that Lincoln's scam baits marks into acting as a bagman to forgive their debts. Lincoln arranges for someone to steal the bag, causing the mark to owe Lincoln even more money than before. When Cain refuses to cooperate with the police, a corrupt cop, Sgt. Evans, beats him.

Despite his clean record, Cain is sentenced to the most violent prison in England, where he is subject to constant fights. He loses most of his teeth, has prison napalm thrown on his face, and is stabbed multiple times, though he consistently wins. Despite the fights being in self-defense, his sentence is repeatedly extended. Cain realises he must become a cold-blooded killer to survive, though he does not understand why he is being targeted. After several years, one of his attackers says Lincoln has put a large bounty on his head. O'Hara, who has since learned about the bounty, once again asks Cain to give up his brother. Cain agrees on the condition that he be allowed to visit his dying mother at a hospital. They are too late, and Cain misses his chance. Though he is heavily guarded, Cain escapes custody after violently beating the police officers who delayed his visit.

At Lincoln's private bar, Cain overhears one of the patrons, Tune, describe how an unknown assailant killed Rook, a fellow gangster. Cain laughs as Tune's story becomes increasingly boastful, mocking him as a cowardly liar. Not knowing that he fought his way past the bouncers, Tune's friends caution him that the stranger may be one of Lincoln's friends. Eventually, Lincoln's lieutenant, Hyde, arrives and recognises Cain. Dismissing Cain as naive and weak, Hyde is surprised when Cain reveals himself as Rook's killer. Cain forces Hyde at gunpoint to summon Lincoln, whom he blames for turning him into a killer.

When Lincoln arrives, Cain disarms him and takes him hostage. Lincoln appeals to Cain's better nature, not realising the changes he has been forced to undergo. Hyde mocks Cain and insults the people they conned. Enraged at his flippant attitude at destroying so many lives, including his own, Cain shoots and kills Hyde in front of the others. Realising that Cain has changed, Lincoln drops his pretenses and admits to ordering a hit. Cain angrily says that he never spoke to the police and that Sgt. Evans admitted to spreading the false rumor before Cain killed him. Although surprised at the viciousness of Cain's vengeance, Lincoln says he never even cared whether it was true; the real reason he ordered the hit was because Cain made a fool of him years ago when he botched the fixed fight.

After proving that he has emptied Lincoln's bank account, Cain announces that he will now kill Lincoln, and he offers to let everyone else leave. Tune flees, but all of the other gangsters fight him. Although severely beaten and stabbed once again, Cain kills most of the gangsters. Tune returns with a submachine gun and accidentally shoots several gangsters. Cain shoots the rest once he disarms Tune. Lincoln vows to recover, and, with all the guns emptied, attacks Cain with a knife. After killing him, Cain stumbles out of the bar and collapses on a bench. In his office, Detective O'Hara discovers that Lincoln's bank account has been divided amongst his victims by Cain.

Avengement is the sixth collaboration between director Jesse V. Johnson and Scott Adkins.[3] Johnson's script was inspired by a 1962 samurai film called Harakiri by director Masaki Kobayashi. Adkins had been looking for a film project based in the United Kingdom and Johnson selected Avengement, one of his older scripts.[4] Stu Small was brought in to rewrite the dialogue and tailor it to Adkins. Stu extensively rewrote the script, and updated older parts of the script. Shortly before filming began Johnson watched a documentary on crime in the UK and used it to add true crime elements to the story.[4][5]

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 81% based on reviews from 16 critics.[6] On Metacritic the film has a score of 63% based on reviews from 5 critics.[7]

Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Director Jesse V. Johnson sprinkles in enough cruel twists of fate and melancholy-laced flashbacks to prevent Avengement from becoming just another disposable exercise in action sadism on a budget. The real credit, though, goes to Adkins, who one of these days will hopefully get called up to the Hollywood big leagues and wind up surprising a lot of people — and grin while he’s doing it." [8] Noel Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Avengement features a good balance of colorfully profane British gangster-speak and intense, explicitly gory punch-outs."[9] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Portraying his most complex character to date, Adkins delivers a ferocious turn that proves visceral in its emotional as well as physical intensity."[10]

• Avengement on IMDb