Get Carter (The Remake, Unfortunately)

Get Carter (2000)

Runtime: 103 minutes

Directed by: Stephen Kay

Starring: Sly Stallone, Miranda Richardson, Rachael Leigh Cook, Alan Cumming

From: Franchise Pictures

I figured I should dive into one of the DVD's I purchased during the weekend from the tremendous new and used DVD store known as MovieStop. I've been there a few times and it's an awesome place to find DVD's and Blu-Rays on the cheap. One of the ones I got was this film, as it is not available at my local Blockbuster and it's a movie I've known for a long time is said to be not good by many, but I hadn't seen it... nor have I seen the original, shame to say. I know that is on YouTube (I know, I know...) so someday soon I need to watch it. I know that my review of this will help out the remake in that I can't compare it to the original, which many say is pretty damn awesome and I am sure it is.

The plot... Sly is Jack Carter, a big dude who works in Las Vegas for the casinos... in that he kicks ass if you don't pay up. His brother dies from a car crash but it's suspicious so he believes that his bro was actually murdered. He goes around to find out who was behind it and why.

After having watched this movie tonight, the first thing that comes to mind is... man did they ever try hard for this to be “cool”. You know, odd camera tricks, editing, the works. Much of it is distracting and doesn't seem worth the effort. Then, the musical score is fine on its own but I don't know if it works in the movie. I howled with laughter when I saw that Jellybean Benitez collaborated on that score. He was a big DJ... in the 80's and I don't know if he's really done anything since the 80's. Now, I do think he's cool; his version of the 70's song The Mexican is pretty awesome. I was just not expecting to see him have anything to do with this movie.

One thing I do know about the original is that Jack Carter in that was one ruthless SOB, not really any better than the people he went after. Here, he's a tough guy but he ends up being more of a normal dude who has a soft side. No wonder why various people dislike this movie in comparison to the original. That sounds like a major change. Oh, and here there's a main story about Jack finding out what really happened with his brother, and then there's a side story about Jack's boss in Vegas really wanting him to return back to his job, and a girl the both of them like (Gretchen Mol) and that is just a distraction more than anything else.

At least there are things to praise. There are familiar faces in the cast, like Mickey Rourke, Alan Cumming, John C. McGinley, Mark Boone Junior, and the original Carter himself, Michael Caine. There's nice acting all around. It sounds biased but I genuinely enjoyed Cook's performance. There are some sad moments with her and she did a nice job. Oh, and she was smoking hot too... even when she was smoking cigarettes. It's set in Seattle so of course there's not a lot of sunshine and a whole lot of rain. And there are some funny moments. So, I'll say that this was fine but I imagine the original is so much better.


This was half of a European film, in that you see a lot of smoking taking place. The other part, that there be a lot of nudity, was not present. I would not have minded that... just to follow that rule, not because the cast included ladies like Cook, Mol, and Rhona Mitra!

And I imagine the original doesn't have dialogue such as, “Like cat piss in the snow”.

I'll be back Thursday night.