Get Carter (2000)

Sorry, this movie sucks

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

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).

This is an update of 1971 "Get Carter" one of Michael Caine's finest movies. Michael Caine also appears here playing Cliff Brumby. Sylvester Stallone's movie is as much a remake as it is a re-imagination of the British movie. It goes in another direction. The main hero , his relationship with his family and the ending are all changed . In a way this version misses the point of the original movie .The 70's movie was a story about a bad man doing bad things in a bad world which ended with "who lives by the sword should die from the sword" message. Here we have a more Hollywood conventional movie about tough guy with good heart trying to punish the evil. That's what made the fans of the original angry. I feel that if this movie was made under different title it would receive much better reception.The screenplay keeps intact much of the original plot and quotes. The filmmakers do attempt to manufacture new catchphrases for Carter like "This is going to the next level." There was also more of a relationship between Jack and Doreen . On the bad sides the fate of one of the major characters is unknown and Michael Caine's character is underwritten.The Michael Caine's Jack Carter was ruthless and cold-blooded psychopath with wit and charm. This movie humanizes Carter. Stallone's Jack Carter is just a nice guy with a not-so-nice profession as the mob enforcer. Stallone has an imposing presence and is very OK here , however he keeps switching from "ruthless gangster" to "good uncle" mode which is distracting.Stallone is surrounded by (mostly) a very effective cast. John C. McGinley , Mickey Rourke , Alan Cumming , Michael Caine and Miranda Richardson. Especially McGinley and Rourke are great here and fun to watch. The minor characters are interesting and played really well. Only Rachel Leigh Cook as Doreen is rather dull and yet she has a nice chemistry with Stallone.Director Stephen Kay directs this movie with style , some even argue that it's a matter of style over substance. I don't agree. Stallone teaches family values. We get the sense that Carter is a real person who is hurting and filled with regret about not patching things up with his brother. It's about the search for truth and redemption, and the price all of those involved will pay while finding it.Beautiful photography by Mauro Fiore, dizzying editing (in style of Steven Soderbergh's "The Limey") and camera angles, a pulsating soundtrack by Tyler Bates & Jellybean Benitez creates the mood. "Get Carter" feels like a postmodern noir movie.This is not a typical slambang action film. It's a kind of stylish, noir, toned-down action film like Mel Gibson's "Payback". I would even call it a suspense drama. Of course there are some action scenes here as well – few fights and nicely done car chase.The low rating (5.1) might give you impression that it is a terrible movie , but believe me it's not . There are many bad , stupid and devoted of any ambition movies here on IMDb that have higher rating than "GC" that is just disgusting ( "XXX" , "Charlie's angels" , "Transformers" series, "Resident evil" series just to name a few). Also, don't believe the critics who say that this is the worst remake ever . I can easily list many remakes that sucked FAR worse, like "Planet of the Apes" , "Psycho" or "The Wicker man".There were plans to do a sequel which never materialized. Too bad , because "GC" does seem to have a potential for nice franchise , unlike "Hangover" , "Saw" or crap like that. "Get Carter" is actually a watchable film. It can't hold a candle to the original , it misses the point of the original , but on it's own it's not THAT bad movie. I give it 4/10.

Jack Carter (Sylvester Stallone) is a Las Vegas mob casino collector. He returns to Seattle for his brother Richie's funeral. Jack is suspicious and starts investigating. Richie's wife Gloria (Miranda Richardson) and daughter Doreen (Rachael Leigh Cook) are not close to Jack. Richie ran Cliff Brumby (Michael Caine)'s club. Cliff claims that the mysterious Geraldine (Rhona Mitra) is Richie's mistress. Jack finds bottom feeder Cyrus Paice (Mickey Rourke) now as a local porn king working for wealthy Jeremy Kinnear (Alan Cumming). Meanwhile Jack's boss back in Vegas is looking for him.Sly tries to be interesting and gritty. It's laying down some heavy style with limited success. The plot doesn't really move. There is a little bit of fun with Sly going up against Mickey Rourke. It would be better to give more drive to Jack's mission. It needs something that could raise the stakes like kidnapping Doreen. This needs to have a mission other than just investigating Richie's death. If that's all there is, then he should start breaking fingers and busting heads. It also means that he could drop the case at any time. This is a scatter shoot of villains and random dark stylistic choices.

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.