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by Spencer Hawken

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Jay Cochran is spending his last days with the US Air Force; having reached a certain age he must now retire and seek out other work. While lots of people have lots of advice and recommendations for him Jay is taking one offer particularly seriously. Some years past Jay saved Mexican businessman Tippi Mendez from certain death; since that day Tippi has been pressurising Jay to go to Mexico and work for him.
Having arrived in Mexico Jay is amazed to discover that Tippi's wife Mireya is considerably younger than Tippi. The two initially share a sort of mutual dislike for one another as Mireya already feels detached from her husband, because his business keeps him busy most of the day; now with the arrival of Jay she sees even less of him. Jay and Mireya are however placed in similar circumstances and the barriers begin to drop away. No sooner have they become friends than the two begin a torrid affair, and no sooner has the affair begun than the two of them have fallen in love.

What Jay had not taken into account was that Tippi is a businessman in the loosest sense of the word, in short Tippi is a gangster.
When Tippi discovers about the relationship between Mireya and Jay he is initially hurt; that hurt turns to hatred and finally Tippi demands revenge. In a subtle way and because Jay had saved him in the past Tippi, without allowing Jay to realise his knowledge of the affair offers Jay a chance of a lifetime. But when Jay refuses this offer Tippi has no alternative but to exact his revenge.

Revenge comes swiftly as Tippi and his henchmen barge in on Mireya and Jay at Jays shack in the hills; they kill Jays dog, burn the shack to the ground, beat Jay to a state that he cannot move then leave him to die in the sweltering sun. Mireya's fate is less lenient, Tippi has her turned into a drug addicted and places her in a Brothel in which she will be given to up to 50 men a day.
With a new day comes the discovery of Jay in the hot sweltering hills; as locals nurse Jay back to health its time for Jay to seek his revenge, and most importantly try to find Mireya.

Cast
Kevin Costner .... Michael J. 'Jay' Cochran
Anthony Quinn .... Tiburon 'Tibby' Mendez
Madeleine Stowe .... Mireya Mendez
Miguel Ferrer .... Amador
Tomas Milian .... Cesar
James Gammon .... Texan
Jesse Corti .... Medero

I have never been endeared to Tony Scott, he has always struck me as being the poor brother of Ridley Scott. Tony's films generally consist of lots of action but very little plot and character development to back it up. Two movies in Tony Scott's catalogue of movies stand out to me as being excellent value of course True Romance, and the second one the little heard of movie Revenge.
I first saw revenge about 13 years ago, and to this day it remains one of my favourite movies. It's not incredibly well crafted; in fact at times it's quite poor. But Revenge is a movie that has everything a bit of romance, a thriller, plenty of action, a bit of humour, and most importantly a clear message on morals.

Revenge is an action packed movie that has that certain "cringe" factor, especially in the violence that is carried out throughout the movie. In fact in the United States campaigners to offence at the subject matter and the violence of the movie. In the cold late of 2006 however the violence does not stand up to much by current standards; however the story which was disturbing 15 odd years ago remains disturbing now.

A pet hate of mine Kevin Costner who in my eyes can either make or destroy a movie (with no happy medium between the two) plays the role of Jay; and I cannot deny I just cannot try as I might find any form of likeability for either the actor or the character he plays. However both Anthony Quinn in the role of Tippi, the bad guy; and Madeline Stowe as Mireya are very easy to bond with indeed. Even though Quinn is playing the bad guy you cannot help but sympathise with him; this is aided by the fact that he really does work (as an actor) for his money, he is part good part bad, and despite his badness he wants so very much to be good.

As for Stowe's performance rather like the movie plays out you hate her, and then you love her. As her character reveals more about her past life and how she was pretty much given to the character of Tippi; the bond between the viewer and her character bonds. And its at this point that you really appreciate the beauty and the quality of Stowe as an actress; one whom in my opinion is drastically unused. When I think of the movie Revenge, I immediately think of Stowe dancing on the beach; and although she is indeed beautiful and obviously attractive to any man the reason I think I am reminded of this scene is because of the power of Stowe's performance. While with the character of Jay, Mireya for the first time feels true freedom, and the dance on the beach illustrates this perfectly. Its important to point out that in many religions and many countries women are given to men to be brides, and by placing Stowe in this role whom herself as a person could have pretty much anyone she desired brings this message home to the viewer.

I must comment on the soundtrack, which generally consists of traditional Mexican music, but this is then combined by a tragic love theme by Jack Nitzsche, which in many ways creates a lot of the power of the movie.
Revenge is a very classy but very tragic tale of the things in life that often prevent true love.

In the UK the movie has been little seen since two screenings on television due to an issue over the rights of the movie. Basically subsidiary company of Columbia Tristar 20:20 vision went into receivership in the UK during the mid 1990's; when this occurred only what is considered the prime crop of the 20:20 catalogue, movies like look who's talking were saved. The rest sit under lock and key; it's not too much of a tragedy as Revenge is easily available outside the UK. If you want to see this and are considering waiting for a television screening, prepare for disappointment; the current lock on the movie within the UK means that Revenge will not be seen until at least 2010.

Learn more about this author, Spencer Hawken.

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