History Film / ActsOfVengeance2017

-->--'''Marcus Aurelius''', ''Meditations''

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Valera's narration claims that ancient Stoics took vows of silence to focus on tasks. In reality, while Stoics did value working hard and avoiding idle words, it's not known that they ever endorsed such extreme measures. Vows of silence were instead done by the Pythagoreans, another philosophical school that was popular in Rome before Stoicism became the hottest thing there. There ''was'' a Roman branch that mixed Stoicism and Pythagoreanism, the School of the Sextii, but those had a very limited influence (Seneca was their only important student, and he eventually left them for his own form of Stoicism, a much more traditional one) and aren't related to the mainstream Stoics Valera reads in the film.

Frank Valera (Banderas) is an immensely successful lawyer with a reputation of having a silver tongue. One bad night, however, he returns home to find his wife and little daughter murdered in their car. Seeing his life crumble in front of his eyes, and upon finding out that the cops are completely in the dark with the case, Valera becomes a self-punishing alcoholic that finds solace as a tomato can in an illegal UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts circuit. However, after getting in a street fight while trying to help a child prostitute, he falls through the window of a discount book store, where he fortuitously grabs Marcus Aurelius' ''Meditations'' to stop the bleeding of a wound. Valera then discovers the ancient philosophy of UsefulNotes/{{Stoicism}}, and resolves to become a killing machine and undergo a vow of silence until he discovers who killed his wife and daughter.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Valera's narration claims that ancient Stoics took vows of silence to focus on tasks, but in reality, while Stoics did value working hard and avoiding idle words, it's not known that they ever endorsed such extreme measures. Vows of silence were instead done by the Pythagoreans, another philosophical school that was popular in Rome before Stoicism became the hottest thing there. There ''was'' a Roman branch that mixed Stoicism and Pythagoreanism, the School of the Sextii, but those had a very limited influence (Seneca was their only important student, and he eventually left them for his own form of Stoicism, a much more traditional one) and aren't related to the mainstream Stoics Valera reads in the film.

** Valera is beating up dudes until one of them pulls out a gun, which means troubles for you not matter how good of an unarmed martial artist you are.

* IdiotBall: Twice by the same guy. [[spoiler:After submitting Valera, Strode stabs him with a piece of scrap, yet instead of using it further to stab him to death or cutting his throat, he leaves it there and opts to try to kill Valera with a standing, flimsy rear naked choke. ''And then'', when Valera unsurprisingly throws him over his shoulder due to the hold's little stability, Strode forgets completely about the piece and just tries a triangle choke, another hold that leaves Valera's hands free and allows the lawyer to pull the piece out and stab Strode with it in return.]] From there, Valera's win is easy.]]

* ShoutOut: The Russian mafia, the child prostitute and the protagonist quoting philosophy are likely references to ''Film/TheEqualizer'', a similar 2014 film starring Creator/DenzelWashington.

-->''"Punish only he who has committed the crime."''

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Valera's narration claims that ancient Stoics took vows of silence to focus on tasks. In reality, while Stoics did value working hard and avoiding idle words, they weren't known for the extreme kind of vow Valera does in the film. Vows of silence were instead done by the Pythagoreans, another philosophical school that was popular in Rome before Stoicism became the hottest thing there.

* PunchClockVillain: While Valera's actions in a firm are implied to be shady from the start, [[spoiler: the final act reveals that he thought nothing about helping dangerous criminals escape prosecution.]] His actions weren't malicious and after the tragedy strikes, he leaves the firm.
* RevengeByProxy: [[spoiler: To avenge his daughter who was killed because Valera helped a criminal escape justice, Strode kills Valera's family.]]

* KillerCop: [[spoiler:It turns out Strode, a police officer, murdered Valera's wife and daughter for revenge as Valera got the man who murdered his own daughter off, which left him free to murder her. He kidnapped them with the pretext of a traffic stop.]]

** During the final fight, [[spoiler:Valera initially holds his own nicely, but being substantially older and much less experienced in real fighting than Strode, he ultimately fails to beat him.]]

Frank Valera (Banderas) is an immensely successful lawyer with a reputation of having a silver tongue. One bad night, however, he returns home to find his wife and little daughter murdered in their car. Seeing his life crumble in front of his eyes, and upon finding out that the cops are completely in the dark with the case, Valera becomes a self-punishing alcoholic that finds solace as a tomato can in an illegal UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts circuit. However, after getting in a street fight while trying a child prostitute, he falls through the window of a discount book store, where he fortuitously grabs Marcus Aurelius' ''Meditations'' to stop the bleeding of a wound. Valera then discovers the ancient philosophy of UsefulNotes/{{Stoicism}}, and resolves to become a killing machine and undergo a vow of silence until he discovers who killed his wife and daughter.

* PunchClockVillain: While Valera's actions in a firm are implied to be shady from the start, [[spoiler: the final act reveals that he thought nothing about helping dangerous criminals escape prosecution.]]

* BondVillainStupidity: [[spoiler:In their final showdown, Strode manages to overpower Valera and stab him with a piece of scrap, but instead of cutting his neck right there, he opts to try to choke him out with his arms. Unsurprisingly, Valera throws Strode away and uses the scrap against him, defeating him for good.]]

* BondVillainStupidity: [[spoiler:In their final showdown, Strode manages to overpower Valera and stab him with a piece of scrap, but instead of cutting his neck right there, he opts to try to choke him out with his arms. Unsurprisingly, Valera throws him away and uses the scrap against Strode, defeating him.]]
* RealityEnsues:
** Valera is beating up dudes until one of them pulls out a gun, which means troubles for you not matter how good of an unarmed martial artist you are.
** During the final fight, [[spoiler:Valera initially holds his own nicely, but being substantially older and much less experienced in real fighting than Strode, he ultimately fails to beat him.]]

* TheStoic: Valera becomes one, both in a literal and a figurative sense.

Frank Valera (Banderas) is an immensely successful lawyer with a reputation of having a silver tongue. One bad night, however, he returns home to find his wife and little daughter murdered in their car. Seeing his life crumble in front of his eyes, and upon finding out that the cops are completely in the dark with the case, Valera becomes a self-punishing alcoholic that finds solace as a tomato can in an illegal UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts circuit. However, after getting in a street fight while trying a child prostitute, he gets through the window of a discount book store, where he fortuitously grabs Marcus Aurelius' ''Meditations'' to stop the bleeding of a wound. Valera then discovers the ancient philosophy of UsefulNotes/{{Stoicism}}, and resolves to become a killing machine and undergo a vow of silence until he discovers who killed his wife and daughter.

Frank Valera (Banderas) is an immensely successful lawyer with a reputation of having a silver tongue. One bad night, however, he returns home to find his wife and little daughter murdered in their car. Seeing his life crumble in front of his eyes, and upon finding out that the cops are completely in the dark with the case, Valera becomes a self-punishing alcoholic that finds solace as a tomato can in an illegal UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts circuit. However, after getting in a street fight while trying a child prostitute, he gets through the window of a discount book store, where he fortuitously grabs Marcus Aurelius' ''Meditations'' to stop the bleeding of a wound. Valera then discovers the ancient philosophy of Stoicism, and resolves to become a killing machine and undergo a vow of silence until he discovers who killed his wife and daughter.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Valera's narration claims that ancient Stoics took vows of silence to focus on tasks. In reality, while Stoics did value working hard and avoiding idle words, they weren't known for the extreme kind of vow Valera does in the film. This was instead done by the Pythagoreans, another philosophical school that was popular in Rome before Stoicism became the hottest thing there.

* BondVillainStupidity: [[spoiler:In their final showdown, Strode manages to overpower Valera and stabs him with a piece of scrap, but instead of cutting his neck right there, he opts to try to choke him out with his arms. Unsurprisingly, Valera throws him away and uses the scrap agains him, defeating him.]]

* ShoutOut: The Russian mafia and child prostitute are likely references to ''Film/TheEqualizer'', a similar 2014 film starring Creator/DenzelWashington.

Frank Valera (Banderas) is an immensely successful lawyer with a reputation of having a silver tongue. One bad night, however, he returns home to find his wife and little daughter murdered in their car. Seeing his life crumble in front of his eyes, and upon finding out that the cops are completely in the dark with the case, Valera becomes a self-punishing alcoholic that finds solace as a tomato can in an illegal UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts circuit. However, after getting in a street fight while trying a child prostitute, he gets through the window of a discount book store, where he fortuitously grabs Marcus Aurelius' ''Meditations'' to stop the bleeding of a wound. Valera then discovers the ancient philosophy of Stoicism, and resolves to become a vigilante and undergo a vow of silence until he discovers who killed his wife and daughter.

* CulturedBadass: Valera becomes one after getting into philosophy. During his TrainingMontage, we can see him studying not only the ''Meditations'', but also Sun Tzu's ''[[Literature/TheArtOfWarSunTzu The Art of War]]'', UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi's ''The Book of Five Rings'', Inazo Nitobe's ''Book of Bushido'', Zeno of Citium's ''The Republic'' and Herodotus' ''Literature/TheHistories''.

** Valera is beating up dudes until

Frank Valera (Banderas) is an immensely successful lawyer with a reputation of having a silver tongue. One bad night, however, he returns home to find his wife and little daughter murdered in their car. Seeing his life crumble in front of his eyes, and upon finding out that the cops are completely in the dark with the case, Valera becomes a self-punishing alcoholic that finds solace as a tomato can in an illegal UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts circuit. However, after getting in a street fight while trying a child prostitute, he gets through the window of a discount book store, where he fortuitously grabs Marcus Aurelius' ''Meditations'' to stop the bleeding of a wound. Valera then discovers the ancient philosophy of Stoicism, and resolves to become a vigilante and undergo a vow of silence until he discovers who killed his wife and daughters.

* RealityEnsues: During the final fight, [[spoiler:Valera initially holds his own nicely, but being substantially older and much less experienced in real fighting than Strode, he ultimately fails to beat him.]]

-->"Punish only he who has committed the crime."

* CulturedBadass: Valera becomes one after getting into philosophy. During his TrainingMontage, we can see him studying not only the ''Meditations'', but also Sun Tzu's ''[[Literature/TheArtOfWarSunTzu The Art of War]]'', UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi's ''Literature/TheBookOfFiveRings'', Inazo Nitobe's ''Book of Bushido'', Zeno of Citium's ''The Republic'' and Herodotus' ''Literature/TheHistories''.
* The Stoic: Valera becomes one, both in a literal and a figurative sense.