Revenge (1990 Film Review)

1990 Columbia Pictures
Directed by: Tony Scott; Written by: Jim Harrison and Jeffrey Alan Fiskin (Based upon the novella "Revenge" by Jim Harrison)
Starring: Kevin Costner, Anthony Quinn, Madeleine Stowe, and Sally Kirkland
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 124 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 3/10

Kevin Costner is a hotshot fighter pilot who has retired young. His only plan is to go visit his old friend, Anthony Quinn, who is exceedingly wealthy and owns a sprawling Mexican estate. Quinn is also married to the much younger Madeleine Stowe, who he seems to live to infantilize and neglect. When Costner arrives for his extended visit, he and Stowe both find themselves lonely, bored, and in heat. An affair ensues. However, Quinn is a very dangerous man. Soon, Costner is beaten and left for dead on the side of the road, while Stowe is slashed up and forced to sell herself at a brothel. But Costner isn't dead. He slowly recovers. And he's looking for one thing...revenge. Well, two things...he wants to find and rescue Stowe, as well. But mostly...REVENGE!
1990's Revenge is as simple as its plot sounds. Unfortunately, with this plot, it is 124 minutes long. Director, Tony Scott, known for a certain zip, is uncharacteristically lethargic here. The movie moves at a snail's pace and not much happens. There's nothing wrong with a simple, trashy plot, generally when that simple, trashy plot is coupled with a 90-minute runtime, but it feels like it takes 90 minutes just to get to the event Costner wants revenge for...or is that event itself the revenge? Either way, the movie plods along. 
Costner is fine, generally playing to the material, so not really having much to play here. Quinn is a great actor, but this is a cardboard role, and it makes no sense that Costner never really puts together that Quinn's character is dangerous until he's being beaten for sleeping with his wife. As for that wife, Stowe is sexy and enigmatic, but it's a role that's just as cardboard as the others. Even the genre thrills here are thin and fleeting.  The only reasons to watch then, are Scott's visuals and the rare moment the film pops. Otherwise, Revenge is a rare misfire in Scott's generally accurate filmography.