In Riders of Justice, a woman is killed in an explosion on a train. But, the explosion was no accident. It was an assassination attempt by a notorious biker gang. The women was an unfortunate victim of collateral damage. But, when some friends point this out to the husband of the dead wife, he decides to seek some good old fashioned vigilante justice. The husband and his socially awkward friends team up to track down and hunt the evil people responsible. There’s a bit of comedy in this action-packed drama and its vigilante justice at its entertaining best.
If you are in the mood of more justice that is doled out by common civilians, we have just the list for you. Here are 8 movies like Riders of Justice.
A fan of new action movies? You might like these other movie suggestions we recently wrote. Here are movies like Wrath of Man and comedy action films like Thunder Force.
8 Vigilante Justice Revenge Movies like Riders of Justice (2021)
1 Four Brothers (2005)
IMDB 6.8 | 130k+ Ratings
We put this movie first on the list because it has action, drama and comedy. Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), Angel (Tyrese Gibson), Jeremiah (Andre Benjamin) and Jack (Garrett) are step-brothers. When they find out that their adoptive mother has been killed during a store robbery, they decide to join hands and seek revenge. Along the way, they realize that one of the brothers had something to do with the gang responsible for their mother’s killing. Also complicating things is that the two cops assigned to the murder investigation seem to be doing anything but help.
There’s a lot of action with some quite funny bro-humor sprinkled in unawkward places. An entertaining watch, just like Riders of Justice.
2 The Boondock Saints (1999)
IMDB 7.8 | 229k+ Ratings
Vigilante justice is doled out by the unlikeliest of people, two Catholic Brothers. At first, they kill two Boston Mafia thugs by accident. But, because they turned themselves in and were able to prove that they mistakenly killed them, they are released. Then, they become local heroes. This spurs them to be people of faith by day and a vigilante cleanup crew by night, to clean up the streets of Boston, taking out the mafia, one by one. In their minds, they are serving out God’s justice!
Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus play Connor and Murphy MacManus, the two vigilante brothers. But, the real star of the movie is Detective Paul Smecker played by Willem Dafoe. Dafoe puts in an incredible acting performance to make this movie a very entertaining watch. He is flamboyant, outspoken and hell bent on tracking what he sees as murdering psychopaths. If you like The Boondock Saints, which we sure you will, there’s a great sequel to follow it up with!
3 Harry Brown (2009)
IMDB 7.2 | 80k+ Ratings
Michael Caine puts in a gritty and steely performance as Harry Brown. Harry lives a quiet life, shuttling between the hospital to see his terminally ill wife and playing chess with his friend Leonard (David Bradley). But, when Bradley is killed by local hoodlums, Harry decides to take mattes into his own hands, after the justice system fails his friend. Armed with nothing but a gun he buys off a delinquent, Harry systematically hunts down the gang members one by one.
Emily Mortimer and Charlie Creed-Miles play detectives trying to identify and shutting down the vigilante killer on the loose.
4 Death Sentence (2007)
IMDB 6.8 | ~70k ratings
Kevin Bacon sizzles as Nick Hume, a mannered corporate professional with a lovely family. But, when his Son is mindlessly killed by a gang as parts of its gang initiation rite, he is overcome with vengeance and fury. He singlehandedly takes on the local gang to avenge his son’s death. But, with this family’s safety at stake, he must both protect and avenge, with little help from the cops who themselves want him arrested for wreaking havoc as a vigilante.
The movie also stars John Goodman and Kelly Preston who put in very convincing support performances.
5 Seeking Justice (2011)
IMDB 6.2 | 44k+ Ratings
Seeking Justice is a vigilante justice movie with a twist. Will Gerard (Nicolas Cage) is an English teacher. He is dearly in love with his wife Laura (January Jones). Will is traumatized when Laura is assaulted in what seemed to be a random incident of crime. But, while in the hospital, Will is approached by a mysterious person who says he is from a vigilante group. He promises that he will avenge the assault on Will’s wife. But, there’s a catch. Will has to do something in return. The vigilante group wants him to kill a pedophile. Will accidentally kills the pedophile but later finds out that he wasn’t a pedophile but a journalist investigating the wrongdoings of the vigilante group that wanted him dead.
Now, the vigilante group wants Will dead too. How will he survive and protect his family? An action drama with mystery in it too.
6 Death Wish (1974)
IMDB 7.0 | 36k+ Ratings
We go back to 1974 with good reason. Death Wish has a cult following and was probably the first major vigilante justice movie to be made in Hollywood.
Charles Bronson is Paul Kersey, an architect in New York City. His wife Joanna is murdered by thugs. Heartbroken, Paul tries to deal with the sudden demise of his wife. He is then sent to Arizona on a work assignment. While there, Paul imbibes the ‘eye for an eye” culture of the gun-toting west. With a new perspective, he returns to New York. Every now and then, he indulges in random acts of violence, killing street thugs. The movie has a long list of sequels, all of which are very successful even to this day.
7 The Brave One (2007)
IMDB 6.7 | 58k+ Ratings
Jodie Foster is the lead in The Brave One. Traumatized by a brutal assault that saw her fiancé killed and herself put in a coma, Erica (Jodie Foster) summons the courage to seek vengeance. Her revenge saga leaves a trail of blood almost all across New York City. With every kill, she becomes more and more comfortable with vengeance. Hot on her trail is Detective Mercer (Terrence Howard).
Can Erica get away with her vigilante killings? When will she stop? Or, is there something completely unexpected on the cards. Jodie Foster delivers a great performance in a role that almost seems tailor made for her.
8 Prisoners (2013)
IMDB 8.1 | 615k+ Ratings
Prisoners is a dark and brooding movie revolving around the vigilante justice theme. Hugh Jackman plays Keller Dover, a father to two young missing daughters in a quiet town. The girls are playing around an RV up their street when they go missing. But, when detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) doesn’t find enough evidence to pin down the owner of the RV, he has no choice but to let him go. The RV owner also seems to have an IQ of a 10 year old, as attested by his mother, who thinks he can’t hurt a fly. But, something doesn’t add up right for Keller. He decides to take matters into his own hands.
This movie isn’t a shoot’em up style vigilante justice movie. There’s definitely no comedy either. But, it is a tautly made thriller that was nominated for one Oscar. Hugh Jackman as the distressed father and Jake Gyllenhaal as the sincere detective deliver great acting performances. Maria Bello does very well as Keller’s anguished wife.
Will they find the girls alive? Who is responsible. Is it the innocent looking RV owner? A great movie that keeps the suspense locked away right until the very end.