Stallone's Subtle Resurface

Get Carter Dir: Stephen Kay Starring Sylvester Stallone Alan Cummings Michael Caine Rachel Leigh Cook 2000 R, 103 m RATING: 7 out of 10

GOLF BUDDIES: Sly intimidates a femme Alan Cumming in Get Carter, an entertaining flick that offers a different role for the action star icon.

Admitedly, Sylvester Stallone is getting on in age, and there are times that we all wonder exactly when old Sly is gonna call the tough guy routine quits.  In Get Carter, however, he surprises, delivering an amusing, subtle performance and not resorting to his usual over-the-top badass attitude antics. Stallone plays Jack Carter, a Las Vegas loan shark who goes back home when his estranged brother is apparently killed in a drunk driving accident. Or was  he? He proceeds to prod his brother's wife (Miranda Richardson) and daughter (Rache Leight Cook) about the death and soon encounters characters that suggest there was foul play. Suffice to say, this isn't your typical car-chase, explosion, fistfight, shoot-out, testosterone-pumped action flick.  Instead, we're given a mystery/thriller with a sometimes too conventional, and at other times well-plotted story.  It moves with such confidence in its deliberate slowness and is an excellent change of pace for Stallone, offering more than a slick talking bad ass and actually fleshing out a performance.  There are times that he even pokes fun at his own age, in a manner both funny and endearing, as if he knows he's a little over the hill but still trudging on. Get Carter proves that though Stallone may have peaked a while ago and has become an iconoclast of the typical mindless action star, he can still offer up a fun and entertaining performance in a decent blend of the action and mystery genres.  While the action scenes are decent, it's when he's pushing around the equally fun  Alan Cumming that are Carter's best moments.

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