R E V I E W S
Get Carter (2000)
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Miranda Richardson, Rachael Leigh Cook, Alan Cumming, Mickey Rourke, Michael Caine Director: Stephen
T. Kay Studio: Universal Review Posted: 10.12.00 Rating: 6/10
By Stephen.
"Carter updated not too shabby, feels a bit lost"
It’s obvious that Sylvester Stallone’s career needs a boost. To be honest, Get Carter is not going to be the movie to do him that good deed. However, it redefines Stallone as a bad ass action star. His performance of Jack Carter, which was Michael Caine’s role in the original, is actually pretty impressive. When Carter tells you “you don’t want to know me,” he’s goddamn right. In fact, he will pluck you up so bad you’re going to sit in the hospital for weeks. Stallone’s facial features in this movie looked absolutely nothing like you’ve ever seen (in a good way). The only downside is that he looked pretty buff, muscles included.
Get Carter’s story is nothing more than a rehash of several other movie’s plots. It resembles Payback seemingly little, yet bigger than originally thought. Its story and dark overtone feel familiar. The plot goes like this: A man comes back to town to extract revenge upon the evil force(s). In Get Carter, it’s not exactly an evil force, but the person who was responsible for the death of Carter’s brother. After Carter paid his dues to his brother at the funeral, he visits all of his old buddies and enemies and tries to find the guilty person. With this comes the problem of character development. In Get Carter, you’re meeting so many different people it’s hard to keep track of them and what exactly they have to do with the plot (or the movie for that matter).
As confusing as Get Carter (story wise) gets over time, you can’t rule out all the great action sequences. Oh heavens, there are quite a lot. Punches, kicks, bullets, car chases, etc. The first car chase takes place at night and is exceptionally well shot. Quick cuts, low angles, close-ups, and other stuff all added to the excitement. Moving on, the second car chase is even better. To talk about the car chases is boring. You have to see them for yourself. The rest of the action speaks for itself, even though some of it seems contrived.
This version of Get Carter (2000) concentrates on plot and character. The script wouldn’t have suffered a re-write. Again, the characters should’ve been introduced properly in order for them to be remembered; in the sense of why they’re present. There’s some humor and wit able to slip out of Get Carter’s excessive slow scenes. For example, Carter busts into an apartment to interrogate a guy who’s done something he shouldn’t have. “Please don’t kill me Mr. Carter,” he says. Immediately after you hear a car alarm go off. Carter walks out of the apartment, crosses the street, and gets in his car. The guy who once pleaded for his life is now potato salad on the hood of someone’s car. There’s just something funny about that.
Stephen Kay has a way of utilizing run-on editing and flash photography in an effective way. I don’t think Get Carter should/could’ve been shot any different. Kay did an exceptional job (with some help from the editing bay man NAME). Kay even had his take on the script. David McKenna (the exceptional American History X) was the initial writer of Get Carter (2000). Not bad, I say. Although, Kay might’ve changed or added some parts. Nevertheless, as I say before, the script wouldn’t have suffered from another possible re-write. As it is, the majority movies are never perfect, nor will they ever be (I hope I’m wrong).
Get Carter has its up’s and down’s. I already mentioned the down’s, so let me speak of the up’s. Stallone. Action. Direction. Dialogue. Stallone’s performance wasn’t the best, but better than other recent one’s. The action speaks for itself, naturally. The direction, from an audience’s POV, is slick, yet not very original. The way Get Carter was shot has been done before. However, I can’t stress it enough that I liked it. The dialogue was good in most parts. The occasional cheesy lines were present nevertheless.
Overall, I had fun watching Get Carter. Occasionally, I was bored, but the end made up for most of it. And it did change. As in the original Get Carter, something else happened to Jack Carter. Why they changed it? Who wants to see Stallone dead? Me, errr, the original, in most cases, was more violent than the remake. It also was a little out of order, but it was actually better. With some movies, a slow pace can kill most, if not, the whole film (I kindly call upon What Lies Beneath). If there’s one deceiving thing in the trailer, it’s the quick pace it promises the film to have. Then again, trailer’s are about movie’s good things. Making the trailer promise more than the movie has to offer is common.
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