Get Carter
(2000)
Directed
by Stephen T. Kay
Screenplay
by David McKenna. Based upon the novel Jack's Return Home by Ted
Lewis
Starring
Sylvester Stallone, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Leigh Cook, Alan Cumming,
Mickey Rourke,
and
Michael Caine
102
minutes. Rated R. Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1. 2000
In this day and age, it's almost pointless to make a decision about what
movie you want to see based on the theatrical trailer. Almost every trailer
is a masterpiece of editing. A good editor could make Ishtar look
like Lawrence of Arabia. The Beach is a good example of a
completely misleading trailer -- not only does it make that piece of hackwork
look like a great film, but it's also completely misleading about what
the film is about.
The trailer
for Get Carter isn't misleading about the story, but it is
misleading about how good the film is. The trailer for this film is brilliant.
It's sets a new standard for trailers, it's a fantastic piece of filmmaking.
And it's not like Get Carter is as bad as Ishtar or The
Beach, but it's nowhere as good as we're led to believe.
The story...well,
the story is actually a little confusing. Not on the surface: on the surface,
Carter (Stallone), a Vegas leg-breaker, comes home when his brother turns
up dead, suspecting for really no good reason that he's been bumped off.
He manages to piss off about half the town asking questions, and manages
to confuse the audience as to why exactly he thinks that his brother's
been killed. Which he has, of course. Maybe Carter looked at the script.
The script
only gets more confusing. This is one of those films where there are a
lot of different shady characters, all screwing each other for one reason
or the other, and where there are a lot of different layers to peel away.
The script does a terrible job keeping all these layers and characters
straight, and the direction doesn't do much to help. I hate to evoke the
ever-popular "music video" analogy, but this film is very stylistic just
for the purpose of being stylistic. And don't get me wrong -- I
love style, I love nifty camera angles, and I love creative editing. But
this film takes it way too far, and actually makes it harder to follow
the story, which wasn't so easy to follow in the first place.
Really,
the only thing this film has going for it is the cast, and fortunately,
the film's got quite a bit going for it. This isn't Stallone's best performance
(you'll have to see the brilliant Cop Land for that), but it's a
damn good one. He plays the brooding, moody, dark, yet friendly Jack Carter
with style to burn, and this is a case where style is a good thing.
Stallone's great here, and brings a lot of personality to a pretty flat
character. Mickey Rourke, Michael Caine, and Miranda Richardson are all
great in strong supporting roles, but the person who really shines here
is Rachel Leigh Cook. Even with the nasty little dreadlocks and the distracting
nose ring she sports in this film, that girl is still charming as
hell. She's attractive, sure, but there's much more to it than that. She
just has this natural charm that shows up very clearly on screen, enchanting
both the characters in the film and the members of the audience. Indeed,
my attention to this film had been wandering somewhat, until it was revealed
that Cook's character had been wronged in a very serious way. I was all
of a sudden very involved in the film, wanting Carter to get the guys who
had assaulted her. It took Cook's 
charm
to get me emotionally involved in the film, and that's saying a lot, both
about the script and about her charm.
The action
is also often ruined by the stylistic nature of the film. There's one great
car chase -- no, car duel -- sequence, but that's about it. Everything
else is really flat, or really convoluted.
I also
get the impression that a lot of stuff might have been cut out. There are
a couple loose ends, and some fairly extraneous characters. Carter's in
trouble with his boss in Vegas (who we never see completely) because he's
poking around in his hometown. It seems to me that Carter's boss was really
the mastermind behind the whole thing, especially since one of the characters
-- who should have nothing to do with Carter's boss -- mentions him by
name. But nothing more is made of that, and the situation with Carter's
boss is just kinda sitting there, not doing anything except padding the
film's running time. I guess I'm saying that the editing was also pretty
bad -- they really needed to include more than they did, because the film
as it stands is pretty confusing. They could have cut it down even
more, I suppose, and eliminate those extraneous characters I mentioned,
but there's still stuff that should have been included that wasn't. I don't
know if it was filmed then cut, or written and not filmed, or if it just
wasn't written at all. So I don't really know who to blame.
If this
review seems a little fractured, I suppose it's just my reaction to the
film. Great movies bring out the best in my writing. Crappy ones do the
opposite.
Bottom line: Confusing and way too stylistic, but the acting saves it from
completely sucking.
My grade:
C -
My advice:
A "damn, everything else has been rented" kinda film.
Get the movie
poster!
