***Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead!!***
After years of looking for this movie (it never came out on DVD over here in Germany), I finally watched it on pay-TV last night. It was the theatrical version and, thank God, it was even uncut. The picture quality was very good ... almost looked like a restored version.
I haven't seen the DC yet, just checked out an illustrated comparison of the two versions on the web. BUT: I can definitely see why Scott wanted to re-cut the film after all these years. For a movie titled "Revenge", it sure drags quite a bit - not just in the beginning but in the second and third acts as well. Worrying news for an action-/revenge-flick. Sadly, no matter how much you'll cut out of this film (or cut back in), it still lacks good characters, a believable plot or compelling action-scenes.
Cochran (Costner) has got to be the worst character in the entire movie: A selfish, cocky and immature, well, a$$hole, who somehow has a powerful Mexican mafia-don (Quinn) as his best friend. And despite said Don's obvious power and ruthlessness, Cochran thinks that starting an affair with his hot, young and neglected wife (Stowe) would be a good idea. Some scenes involving Costner are pain-inducingly awful. Like the one where he gets showered with gifts by his fellow navy pilots. It's probably meant to show us what a cool dude he is. What it actually does is make him look like an arrogant prick. Or later, when Quinn comes to his house and all but *tells* him that he knows something is going on between Costner and Stowe - and even leaves him a way out by asking Cochran to fly him down to Caracas (instead of taking off to the country with his new lover). After Costner refused Quinn for the third time in this scene, his character lost all credibility along with my sympathy.
And that's bad news in a story like "Revenge": If the audience can't identify with the hero, why should they care about his fate? I for one didn't feel sorry for Cochrane or the wife during their ordeal at the hand's of Quinn's thugs. The way they acted, they were practically *asking* for Quinn's revenge.
Which brings me neatly to the movie's title. It's not quite clear who is exacting revenge in the story: The cheated husband (Quinn) or the beaten-and left-for-dead lover (Costner). If it's the former, it seems pretty exaggerated, since brutally beating his friend and slicing his wife's face and then selling her into prostitution feels rather harsh for a weekend of sex. If it's the latter, the titular revenge seems rather half-assed. Cochrane does kill a couple of thugs, but when he finally gets to Quinn, instead of killing him in a cruel and creative way, he apologizes for his wrong-doings and lets him go.
The sad thing about this movie is that behind all the awkward characterization you can see glimpses of how this could've been a good, dark, gritty revenge-pic. Sadly however, it never really delivers.
4/10
After years of looking for this movie (it never came out on DVD over here in Germany), I finally watched it on pay-TV last night. It was the theatrical version and, thank God, it was even uncut. The picture quality was very good ... almost looked like a restored version.
I haven't seen the DC yet, just checked out an illustrated comparison of the two versions on the web. BUT: I can definitely see why Scott wanted to re-cut the film after all these years. For a movie titled "Revenge", it sure drags quite a bit - not just in the beginning but in the second and third acts as well. Worrying news for an action-/revenge-flick. Sadly, no matter how much you'll cut out of this film (or cut back in), it still lacks good characters, a believable plot or compelling action-scenes.
Cochran (Costner) has got to be the worst character in the entire movie: A selfish, cocky and immature, well, a$$hole, who somehow has a powerful Mexican mafia-don (Quinn) as his best friend. And despite said Don's obvious power and ruthlessness, Cochran thinks that starting an affair with his hot, young and neglected wife (Stowe) would be a good idea. Some scenes involving Costner are pain-inducingly awful. Like the one where he gets showered with gifts by his fellow navy pilots. It's probably meant to show us what a cool dude he is. What it actually does is make him look like an arrogant prick. Or later, when Quinn comes to his house and all but *tells* him that he knows something is going on between Costner and Stowe - and even leaves him a way out by asking Cochran to fly him down to Caracas (instead of taking off to the country with his new lover). After Costner refused Quinn for the third time in this scene, his character lost all credibility along with my sympathy.
And that's bad news in a story like "Revenge": If the audience can't identify with the hero, why should they care about his fate? I for one didn't feel sorry for Cochrane or the wife during their ordeal at the hand's of Quinn's thugs. The way they acted, they were practically *asking* for Quinn's revenge.
Which brings me neatly to the movie's title. It's not quite clear who is exacting revenge in the story: The cheated husband (Quinn) or the beaten-and left-for-dead lover (Costner). If it's the former, it seems pretty exaggerated, since brutally beating his friend and slicing his wife's face and then selling her into prostitution feels rather harsh for a weekend of sex. If it's the latter, the titular revenge seems rather half-assed. Cochrane does kill a couple of thugs, but when he finally gets to Quinn, instead of killing him in a cruel and creative way, he apologizes for his wrong-doings and lets him go.
The sad thing about this movie is that behind all the awkward characterization you can see glimpses of how this could've been a good, dark, gritty revenge-pic. Sadly however, it never really delivers.
4/10