Revenge - Is this True Romance?

Revenge is a 1990 drama directed by Tony Scott. After serving a 12 year term in the Navy, Cochran (played by Kevin Costner) takes a trip to Mexico to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. After spending time with his wealthy and powerful friend Tibey (played by Anthony Quinn), Cochran forms a relationship with Miryea, Tibey's beautiful wife (played by Madeleine Stowe). When Cochran and Miryea discover they are truly in love, they run away to start a new life together. However, Tibey finds out their whereabouts and brutally tortures them. Left for dead, will Cochran be able save Miryea and get their revenge?

This is a rough movie to watch. As an audience, we want to see Cochran and Miryea live happily ever after. Even though they are unfaithful, we want their relationship to succeed. However, Tibey gets his revenge and makes the audience suffer for their betrayal:

• For Cochran, they beat his body to a bloody pulp, kill his dog, and burn his house down.
• As for Miryea, they cut up her face and enslave her to a whorehouse.

The main reason I watched this film was because Tarantino mentions the movie Revenge in his audio commentary for True Romance. Tarantino claims we fall further in love with this couple because Cochran must live a life without Miryea. Similarly, Tarantino wrote the same fate between Clarence and Alabama in his script for True Romance. However, Tony Scott changed the ending from Tarantino's screenplay because he didn't want to suffer losing another beautiful couple.

My only complaint of this film was Cochran didn't dish out his revenge like I wanted him to. Sure, he shot some rounds and fought with a knife, but I wanted to see him blow up buildings, twist off some toe-nails, and hack off some scalps.

As one last note, I didn't recognize Madeleine Stowe in this film. I know her best from 12 Monkeys, but I usually recognize her when I randomly flip through movies on TV. I think it was her portrayal as a Hispanic character that masked her identity from me. Brunettes and Latinas are my weaknesses and I thought she was absolutely stunning in this film (probably another reason why I was so angered when she was suffering in agonizing pain).

Overall I enjoyed this movie, but I couldn't watch it anytime soon. For whatever reason, my emotions overcame me on this one.

So on Death List Five, Revenge ranks #3.