Watch Get Carter For Free

Undescribable Perfection

Let's be realistic.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in his filmography in order, I come to his first movie of the new millennium 2000's Get CarterPlot in A Paragraph: Jack Carter (Stallone) a mob enforcer living in Las Vegas, travels back to his hometown of Seattle for his brother's funeral. During this visit, Carter realises that the death of his brother was not accidental, but a murder. With this knowledge, Carter sets out for revenge. This is a strange case, and certainly a missed opportunity!! The movie doesn't seem to flow right, and that's probably due to the fact that there were lots of changes during the production of the movie. Director Stephen Kay clashed with Franchise Pictures, the financier, over the tone of the film. Kay wanted the film to be more of a character driven "anti-revenge" film, while Franchise wanted a more traditional Stallone action picture. Sly who was trying to move away from action pictures agreed with the director, but 15 (yes 15) producers and poor test screenings who complained about the lack of action in a Stallone movie, resulted in lots of footage on the cutting room floor, several reshoots and and two new endings later, it's totally different in tone to what was intended. Michael Caine's character who was also only in one scene in the original cut, but test audiences liked him and they transformed the movie to give Caine a bigger role. It's sad and disappointing that Sly saw this as another character driven movie to follow up 'Copland' with, but it ended up as nothing more than a routine action flick, that is quite forgettable.Most of Miranda Richardson's scenes seem to have been left on the cutting room floor, and John C McGinley simply disappears from the movie despite being great in it. Alan Cumming is fine and Mickey Rourke is an intimidating presence to go against Sly's Jack Carter, Whilst Michael Caine does what Michael Caine does. But it's Rachael Leigh Cook who is brilliant here. The scene between her and Sly on the rooftop and is the best scene in the movie. I actually consider that scene one of the best scenes of Sly's career. It's just a pity the the rest of the movie wasn't filled with such scenes. As a remake it's awful, as a stand alone Stallone move, it's about as watchable as 'Tango & Cash' and 'Cobra' but without the cheese.

Sylvester Stallone's remake of the British classic GET CARTER has gone down in history as one of the biggest flops and worst remakes ever. Watching it now, I can see why; it's a completely forgettable film that might just pass muster as an average straight-to-video thriller but which feels like a catastrophe when compared to the original.The problems with this film are myriad, but most noticeably missing is the sense of location. GET CARTER made excellent use of its northeastern locations, whereas this remake just has an ordinary Seattle backdrop that looks like a hundred other thrillers from the era. It's not one of Stallone's finest performances either; he looks constipated throughout the production, which is a surprise given that he'd made the excellent COP LAND fairly recently which had contained one of his greatest performances.The casting of Michael Caine in a crucial role just reinforces how tedious and average this thriller is. Sure, the plot is fast paced, but the direction is hollow and the action sequences feel sub-par, somehow. I notice that director Stephen Kay has wisely stuck to television fare after the double whammy disaster of this and BOOGEYMAN (which was even worse).

I guess my disadvantage here is in not seeing the original film. With that in mind, I noticed a darker, though not as expressive Sylvester Stallone parlay his Carter character into a revenge machine out to get the goons who murdered his brother. Unlike John Rambo, who was minding his own business (at least in the first film) when his buttons were pushed, this incarnation is looking for trouble right from the get go. Though he might have had a clever one liner or two, I didn't get any sense of charisma from Jack Carter, and you have to wonder if the problem with the character was with Stallone's interpretation or the director's. So I guess that's why you had all the fancy camera work, slick angles and stylized editing, especially in the second half where it looked like the original picture might have transitioned into something else. I liked John McGinley as Connie-Conna-Wanna-Do-Da-Day, and Mickey Rourke, already beefing up for "The Wrestler". Some decent fight action and car chase stuff here, but you've probably seen it before. But it's not so bad I wouldn't say stay away to anyone other than Michael Caine.

97% less nasty than the Micheal Caine version, which was, face it, about as nasty as they come. And so yes, it lacks the raw feeling of disgust and with it most of the dramatic tension. And, yes, there are some some nonsensical plot moves especially towards the end, unlike the rather spartan, bleak, and more thematically satisfying resolution of the 1971 film.But taken on its own merits, it's a good movie. I'll go one step further: surprisingly good.The styling works. The music works. Stallone works, though he's a little too cuddly perhaps. Rachael Leigh Cook works, her character is just believable enough to hold the movie together. Without that the movie would be throwaway.Highlight of the movie is Micheal Caine lecturing Stallone on how revenge is pointless and Stallone's blunt reply: "no its not". Come on? The original Jack Carter telling this to John Rambo? Worth the price of admission right there!Though I admit you will have to make some allowances especially if you've seen the original:Too many gratuitous car chases. - Bad guys are ridiculously bad shots, even for an American action film. - Playing Jeremy Kinnear for comic relief leaves the bad guys toothless. - Botches the "Jack Carter is having an affair with his boss's wife/girlfriend" side plot completely.Kudos though for keeping the names intact while moving from the North of England (a train ride from London) to Seattle (an even longer train ride from Las Vegas). That was cute.Kudos also for keeping the pornography angle, but that was also a bit of a problem, since, well, the filmmakers decided they couldn't push the _underage_ angle and without that the main motivating force of the plot evaporates.Check your brain at the door, enjoy the show. It's not a terrible film.