Get Carter
Directed by Stephen T. Kay
Las Vegas debt collector and general-purpose thug Jack Carter (Sylvester Stallone) returns home after many years’ absence for the funeral of his brother who died in a car accident. Innately suspicious, Carter tries to learn if there was a more sinister reason for the death. Revisiting the seedy world of his youth, he uncovers a grim exploitation ring involving his niece Doreen (Rachel Leigh Cook) and takes brutal revenge.
Stallone, goateed and granite-faced, carries off his role reasonably well, though his expression of character and emotions when with his niece varies from unconvincing to contrived and painful. Alan Cumming as Jeremy Kinnear has clearly found his niche playing smug slimy wimps with flaccid morals (he was previously Saturninus in Titus).
Based on the 1971 Michael Caine film (which I haven’t seen so I can’t make a comparison), this is the well-worn story of the outcast returning home to exact vengeance, redeeming himself from his estrangement by — perversely — using the violence that he aims to leave behind. There are lots of graphic fight scenes, car-chases, gritty seediness, immoral arrogance and corrupt opulence. There are also plenty of loose ends and obscurities, particularly Carter’s relationship with his employers — why exactly are they so keen to kill him off? A dynamic just for the sake of it? The thing that the film attempts to distinguish itself by is its extremely arty style. Scenes are drenched in rich and pungent colour, reminiscent of films like Chopper and Gossip. Action is accompanied by energetic music. Jump-cuts are used liberally. One scene, between Carter and his adversaries in a hotel lift, is interspersed with forward cuts to what’s about to happen, presumably to heighten tension. These techniques are generally effective though often rather self-conscious, unnecessary (the forward-cuts I’ve just mentioned serve to underline the pointlessness of the scene) and hackneyed. In general, Get Carter is watchable but not much more.
Guy
