Sly Stallone is back as a vengeful Vegas loan shark in this flick. [R]
By: Kam Williams
"My name is Jack Carter and you DON’T want to know me." Sylvester Stallone’s introductory line from the opening sequence of Get Carter sets a tough tone. Stallone, who has enjoyed tremendous success in his monochromatic Rocky and Rambo roles, delivers much of the same stoic cool here as a loan shark capable of displaying annihilating contempt for anyone who ignites his testosterone.
Although Sly is over 50 and looking every bit of it, Get Carter is the perfect vehicle for the former #1 box-office draw. This fast-paced action thriller is a remake of a 1971 film (starring Michael Caine), which was based on the novel Jack’s Return Home by Ted Lewis. The premise is essentially preserved except for a new wrinkle that typecasts Stallone as an underdog.
In the earlier version of the flick, Mr. Caine was living large as the title character, a made-man in the Mafia. Stallone’s Carter is recast as a subsisting streetsmart who is living small, enforcing collections for others. He may not be rich, but at least he is honorable, living by an old-fashioned code. At our point of departure, that code takes Carter from Vegas to Seattle for the funeral of his estranged brother.
Expecting an opportunity for reconciliation, redemption and resolution with in-laws and family, the streetwise Jack instead picks up on hints that his sibling’s "accidental" death may have actually been intentional. So Jack remains sleepless in Seattle, undertaking his own investigation of the unfolding mystery.
Sophomore director Stephen Kay (The Last Time I Committed Suicide) has stacked Get Carter, front-to-back with state-of-the-art, kinetic action sequences and a raw, driving, bottom-heavy soundtrack. These features alone make the film a worthwhile investment for any action flick fan. But the bonus of a bona fide whodunit makes for a surprising treat.
And the supporting cast is outstanding. Two-time Oscar-winner Michael Caine (for Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules) is inscrutable as Cliff Brumby, Carter’s dead brother’s boss. Pugilist-turned-thespian Mickey Rourke (Wild Orchid) primes the pump as Cyrus Paise, a lout of a nightclub owner, while Tony Award-winner Alan Cumming (for Cabaret) gives a credible send-up of Jeremy Kinnear, a spoiled-rotten, rich creep.
On the distaff side, teen queen Rachel Leigh Cook (She’s All That, The Babysitters’ Club and Living Out Loud) stops twirling her hair long enough to prove herself capable of handling more serious fare as Doreen, Carter’s troubled niece. Triple Academy Award-nominee Miranda Richardson (Damage, Enchanted April and Tom & Viv) gives a game performance as Gloria, the grieving widow. And character actress Gretchen Mol (Rounders, Girl 6, Sweet and Lowdown), does a nice turn as the ambivalent Audrey.
The flashy Carter, a hard guy to warm up to, seems out of his element away from Vegas, roaming relatively subtle Seattle in a silver silk suit and squeezing chokehold confessions. But all the skeletons tumbling out of his late brother’s closet minimize the means. The moment of truth reminds me of why I’ve missed Stallone. He responds to a plea of "Revenge doesn’t work" with a callous, cold-blooded "Yes it does." Sly, you go, guy!
Rated R for bloody fisticuffs, car crashes, gunplay and foul language.
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