Cranked out for cable TV, BITTER VENGEANCE is about as generic as its title, with a good cast trapped in uninspired skullduggery.
The reliable Bruce Greenwood plays sour ex-cop Jack Westford, tired of both his dead-end job as a security guard and his flawlessly beautiful blond wife Annie (Virginia Madsen). When he commences an affair with flawlessly beautiful redhead (go figure) bank clerk Isabella Martins (Kristen Hocking),
Jack hatches a scheme to steal a weekend $3 million cash shipment, flee with Isabella to Mexico, and pin the crime on oblivious Annie. The lawless lawman leaves Annie drugged and smeared with his blood on a rented yacht (called "No Illusions"), and, exactly as planned, authorities suspect her of
bumping off Jack after assisting in the heist.
Late in the action, the bank's shady insurance investigator, Harry Carver (Eddie Velez), slithers promisingly into the picture and looks like he'll be a truly offbeat hero of the piece, but then Annie suddenly turns Nancy Drew to track down Jack at his south-of-the-border villa, where he's already
murdered the restless Isabella. Annie alone survives a final confrontation and shootout between her husband-from-hell and Carver.
Greenwood has some strong moments as a Jekyll-and-Hyde type whose villainy knows no limits once he decides to "go bad," as his wife wistfully puts it, though since the viewer never sees him any other way, Jack's fall from grace carries little dramatic impact, and the rest of the tale connects the
dots in largely routine fashion. First shown on the USA Cable network in 1994, BITTER VENGEANCE went to home video the next year. (Violence, sexual situations.) leave a comment
