I think it was 28 Days Later, where…
…in a fight with one of the renegade troops, the hero gouges his opponent’s eyes out with both thumbs.
Y’know, it’s interesting…in all the movies I’ve seen, all the characters that that ever happens to—no matter how badass they are—always end up squealing.
On the other extreme, the ending of the happy, fluffly little fairy tale flick, Ever After:
[spoiler]When now Princess Drew Berrymore (read: Cinderella) confronts her evil stepmother, who’s been making her life a living hell for years, and recently tried to sell her into indentured servitude, in the middle of the royal court.
Drew says something along the lines of “Know this…in a few minutes, I’ll have put you out of my mind, and I’ll never think of you again. But I’m sure you’ll be thinking of me for the rest of your life.”
I mean, pretty standard fare, right?
But the best part is the stepmother’s reply—she’s beaten, she’s doomed. She’s lost everything, and everyone has abandoned her. She’s surrounded by eyewitnesses and guards. But she looks up from her cringe, and asks, demurely as you can imagine,
“And…how long might that be?”
I always loved that part, for some reason. No shrieking curses, no breakdown, no hopeless defiance. It’s almost like it’s one professional to another; “Well, that’s it, you got me. Could I inquire if there’s going to be a lot of screaming involved on my part after this, or are we just going straight to the axe?”
Now that is knocking a tormentor down to size. Or maybe it’s just rising to meet them.
[/spoiler]
And…one particular scene from the grand brooding goth of revenge fics, The Crow:
“Abashed, the devil stood…and felt how…awful goodness is…!”