October 8, 2000 -- "Get Carter" is a very stylish film starring action hero Sylvester Stallone (the Rocky and Rambo films) as Jack Carter, a mob enforcer. This film, however, is not your standard action film. It has the look and feel of film noire, a style that was briefly popular some 50 to 60 years ago, but which has never left the minds of directors and photographers, who love that dark, contrasty look.

Like those films of long ago, "Get Carter" wades through the slime of society, pornography and organized crime, featuring characters who are cynical loners, corrupt and corrupting. The dark mood of the characters is shadowed by dark, contrasty images, in both exterior and interior shots. Long ago, movies like "The Maltese Falcon" and "A Touch of Evil" achieved this effect with the aid of high contrast black and white film. "Get Carter's" director of photography, Mauro Fiore, uses color film, but utilized a bleach by-pass process to develop the negatives, helping to give the movie the look of film noire.

The film exudes the slime and seaminess of the archetypal urban underbelly. A lot of time is spent in back rooms and alleys behind the glitzy façades of Seattle (actually filmed in Vancouver, B.C.). The movers and shakers include a delightfully weasel-like software mogul, Jeremy Kinnear, (convincingly played by Alan Cumming of "Titus"), who is being exploited by a seamy porno king, Cyrus Paice, played by Mickey Rourke of "Rainmaker."

The steady drizzle of rain lends a sombre note to the film. In a lot of films, like "Seven" the rain seems phony because the films are being shot in desert locations where such rain is rare. The western slope of the Pacific Northwest, however, has almost non-stop rain during the winter, and that is when the film takes place, so it fits the mood of the film as well as the facts. Carter has come to Seattle from Las Vegas to look into the death of his brother. It was supposed to be an accident, but Carter doesn't think so. His niece, Doreen Carter, (Rachael Leigh Cook of "She's All That") also thinks it was not an accident. Stallone does a good acting job in this film. There is a very nice scene between him and Rachael Leigh Cook, that Stallone handles particularly well.

The visual look of the movie is enhanced with frequent use of stuttering fast-motion, similar to the effect used in the remarkable TV mini-series "Merlin." There are also some unusual shots of Stallone and Rachael Leigh Cook shot from outside a hotel room through wet windows, a very nice touch, indeed. There is also a highly unusual upside down camera shot. The use of very cropped extreme close up shots framed slightly off-level is also reminiscent of film noir. Granted, this is showy stuff, but it also advances the story.

Carter starts poking around, trying to find out who killed his brother, and naturally, there are all kinds of people who don't like that. These dark characters don't like bright lights being shown into the dimly-lit corners of their unsavory business dealings. On top of that, his employers in Las Vegas don't like the idea of Carter taking an extended vacation, so they try to terminate him, permanently (I wonder if that's in the employee handbook). There's enough plot here for two action movies. The Las Vegas part of the plot seems superfluous, and it is ultimately unresolved (possible grist for a sequel).

While the look of the film is very stylish and the actors, including veteran actor Michael Caine, are good, the story and characterizations are a bit thin. The idea is that Carter, by having his vengeance, is cauterizing the wounds in his soul. He is supposed to regain his humanity by killing people. Sorry, it doesn't track. It comes across more like he is trying to make up for all the time he spent away from his family. His murders are an attempt to provide salve for his conscience. If he really attained redemption, he might stop to consider the effect of his murders on himself and others, rather than continuing the slaughter. The whole tone of the film is wrong for the theme of redemption. This is more like the straight revenge theme of "The Limey." As mentioned earlier, the plot also has some annoying loose ends. This film rates a C.

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