Vingança

Kevin Costner in his early days managed to convey a rawness to his characters that was seldom seen after he made "Dances with Wolves" and became a successful producer. Films such as "No Way Out" (1987), "Bull Durham" (1988) and of course "Revenge" (1990) showed him when he was trying to establish his career and you could feel the actor at work rather than the movie maker.

In "Revenge" Costner plays US Navy pilot Michael "Jay" Cochran who is retiring after 12 years in the service. He seems to have lost direction and wants to take some time out for himself. He plans first to go and see his old friend and Tennis partner Tiburon "Tibby" Mendez (Anthony Quinn) who is a powerful mob boss in Mexico. Exactly why they are friends is a little unclear but it seems that Tibby owes Jay a debt for saving his life at some point in the past. Once Jay arrives at the Mendez Hacienda he meets Miryea (Madeleine Stowe) Tibby's wife. Instantly attracted to one another and although initially fighting the chemistry between them, they begin an affair, which comes with massive consequences.

This film has elements of "The Wild Bunch" (1969) to it and the location shooting in Mexico adds so much to the atmosphere and tensity of the story. There are seamy and claustrophobic qualities to many of the situations which are enhanced beautifully by the background. The acting is nicely understated, Costner manages to display a barely restrained anger throughout the second part of the film and Anthony Quinn is convincing as the superficially charming but totally ruthless mobster. Madelaine Stowe is OK as the female lead but struggles with a Mexican accent and seems a bit uncomfortable with the innocence that her character is supposed to portray.

"Revenge" was commercially unsuccessful but is one of those movies that deserves to be seen. Costner, being an actor of limited range, was always best at these type of roles. When he behaves rather than acts, you get to see the best of him.

If I have any complaints, I believe the denouement of the story, although certainly interesting, doesn't quite fit. The build up to it promises something more of a violent showdown and the character of Jay would seem by this point to be poised to take his "revenge". Perhaps the downbeat finish was done to avoid "going Hollywood" with a big finale and as i mentioned it is certainly effective, but leaves a general feeling that there is business still to be done.

An interesting and entertaining movie that is well worth viewing.

Tony Scott loves his so-called good guys to be amoral anti-heroes. The more ruthless they are, the better (after they've taken a pounding from the bad guy first, natch). And whenever possible, he likes Mexico to be in the mix. With that set-up, I could be describing 'Man On Fire', 'True Romance', or 1990's 'Revenge'. Since he unofficially remade 'Revenge' as 'Man On Fire' earlier this year, I should just call up that review and replace Denzel Washington's name with Kevin Costner's. Even though I'm seeing them out of order, the 14-year-old flick is better. Scott even shows more grown-up sensibilities than he usually does and directs his actors through believable love scenes. I don't think he's been so unabashedly romantic since this period in the early '90s.

Costner plays Jay Cochran, a cocky Navy pilot (shades of Maverick from 'Top Gun') who vacations in Mexico after retiring from the jet-set life. Playing host to the flier is a ruthless tycoon, Tibby Mendez (Anthony Quinn). The two men are old friends, despite the generation gap and the fact they have nothing in common. But just when you think Costner is going to have some fun, he has to go and fall in lust with Tibby's wife, Mireya (the heavenly Madeleine Stowe). [What beautiful kids those two actors would make.] They don't vault into bed immediately, but neither of them lets a little thing like loyalty to Tibby get in the way of their passion. When the husband finds out, Jay is severely beaten and Mireya is scarred & banished to a whorehouse.

You thought revenge would be Quinn's for his cuckolding? No, vengeance is Costner's. He spends most of the second hour of this bloody picture busting up anybody who might know what happened to his lover. 'Revenge' equals serious violence, no doubt about it. It's rare that the usually heroic Costner is given the chance to ride the gruesome line between good & evil. He's probably justified, but he DID betray his friend by bedding the man's wife. You don't do that in Mexico without waking up in the afterlife, so you might say Cochran got off easy. The tender climax is a bit of surprise from the the slick Scott, giving his otherwise angry film a heart. The movie might not be much fun, but the actors are pretty good and the story is always watchable. And violent.

As spotty as Tony Scott's filmography was, it's easy to forget how good he could be. This is my first time seeing REVENGE and I must say that I was surprised by how emotionally involving and artfully directed it was, despite relying on a number of genre clichés. Kevin Costner plays Michael "Jay" Cochran, a 12-year Navy veteran who has just left the service and goes to see his friend, Tiburon Mendez (Anthony Quinn), in Mexico. While there, he ends up falling in love with Tibey's (as his friends call him) beautiful, young wife Miryea (Madeleine Stowe). When Tibey finds out about this, leaves Jay for dead and throws Miryea away in a whorehouse. The remainder of the film is Jay going back to rescue Miryea. Hopefully I haven't given too much away, but the film is 25 years old and there has to be a statute of limitations on spoilers, even if they're small. Since I liked more than I disliked, I'll just get the negative stuff out of the way first. I mentioned earlier that this film relies on genre clichés. One such example, and very key to establishing the central character relationship is the history shared by Tibey and Jay. Apparently, they were hunting buddies and Jay saved Tibey's life one time, so now Tibey is in debt to Jay. That's something that's been done to death in countless films before and since, but it wouldn't be such an issue if that wasn't the extent of it. It was just hard for me to buy that a Navy pilot would have it in so good with a Mexican power broker/kingpin. I also thought the romance that develops between Jay and Miryea was rather cliché, even if it was well-performed. And to be fair, this movie has some great performances in it. Kevin Costner was his usual likable self, and veteran actor Anthony Quinn was great as his world-weary foil. Madeleine Stowe did fine, but isn't given much to do besides be the damsel in distress once confined to the whorehouse. Now, on to the positives (the rest). This is probably one of Tony Scott's best-directed films, and came a decade or so before he started using his much ripped-off MTV shooting style. There were some really artful shots, e.g., a fire being reflected in sunglasses or beautiful shots of the Mexican terrain. Even the sex scenes were shot well. I also really liked the score, which struck a fine balance between melancholy and tension. But most of all, and despite the clichéd elements, the characters were well written and developed, and the performances really elevated the rather pulpy source material. Overall, REVENGE is an artful, occasionally thoughtful action thriller that probably deserves more attention than it got/currently gets. It might have a shaky dramatic foundation, but it's definitely worth seeing for what's built around and on top of it.

It has been nearly ten years since I last saw Revenge but I always have this fond memory of how much it had an impact on me as it was a very courageous project for Kevin Costner at that time. It started off like this Top Gun rip off then turned into this beautiful tale of love, passion and betrayal. Never have a seen a love story with so much chemistry and have an ending which Hollywood would never dream of now compared to back then.

Kevin Costner is an air pilot leaving the Navy to visit a very old friend Anthony Quinn. I can't remember why they were both such good friends to start off with, I think it was something to do with them both being in a war together or something along those lines. In the time they have been apart Quinn has married a beautiful women played by Madeline Stowe and he takes no time in getting them both acquainted. And in no time Costner and Stowe become a little to friendly and start to fall for each other but fight their best to avoid this.

What works perfectly is how Quinn knows how beautiful his wife is and how much he really knows without saying how much Costner wants her. This adds to the tension as he always makes Costner feel uncomfortable by asking him questions about how beautiful she is. It all erupts to you know what and I think most of the end is more like a western than anything. This is what turned the film around for me as they are some truly brutal scenes in this film and that's when the story really begins and the revenge from both sides of the story begin to take turn.

By the end of the film I was just surprised at how rare a film like this was back in the day when films weren't completely apart of Hollywood and followed there own path into making a decent film which is what Revenge delivers. Anthony Quinn didn't make many more films after this so this was a rare gem as his Quinn goes and this is a movie which you wouldn't expect Costner to be taking the lead.

Fantastic

I'd avoided this film for years, despite being a huge Costner fan, because people had described it as nearly unwatchable. On the advice of someone on the internet, I gave it a shot, and what a surprise! Although it'll never be one of my favorite films, it's certainly worthwhile, a highly engrossing (albeit graphically gory) trip through a wide and shifting range of emotions. Quinn gives his best performance since "Zorba," and Costner and Stowe are extremely good. The photography is extraordinary, and Mexican music has seldom been used so effectively. I'd recommend it to anyone with a strong stomach. The love scenes, by the way, are romantic AND sexy, a rare combination.