Get Carter Information

Get Carter is the 2000 remake of the 1971 crime film of the same name, starring Sylvester Stallone in the title role. The film also features Miranda Richardson, Rachael Leigh Cook, Alan Cumming, Mickey Rourke, and Rhona Mitra. Michael Caine, who starred in the original, plays a supporting role. The film was released by Warner Bros., which had recently acquired the distribution rights to the original.

Plot

Mob enforcer Jack Carter returns home to Seattle when he hears that his brother, Ritchie, has been killed in a drunk driving accident. While he starts investigating Rithcie's murder, his mob partner in Las Vegas, Con McCarty, covers for him with the mob boss, Fletcher. Carter was having an affair with Fletcher's girlfriend, Audrey.

His first stop in his investigation is with loan shark Cliff Brumby, the owner of the club that Ritchie managed. Brumby does not believe Jack's allegations of murder, but does tell him that Ritchie was having an affair with Geraldine, an associate of local boss Cyrus Paice.

Jack cannot get anything from Paice, who unknowingly leads him to Jeremy Kinnear, a wealthy computer mogul. Although he cannot get any straight answers, Jack continues to pursue the truth, carefully examining the surveillance tapes from Brumby's club, looking for any sort of clue.

Jack discovers that Paice had made an amateur porn movie where he and Geraldine would pick up different young girls, drug them and rape them. Jack watches the film and learns that Doreen was one of the victims. Paice and those who helped him make the disc did not know that Doreen was Ritchie's daughter. Before he died, Ritchie was given the disc by Geraldine. Ritchie was murdered as he was taking the disc to the police, with Paice having it set up to look like an accident.

After getting a call from Audrey, who breaks up with him, Con and a fellow gangster from Las Vegas track Jack down and confront him after Jack says he is done with Vegas. After knocking both of the men out, Jack has a talk with Doreen about what happened.

Intending to settle the score, Jack begins a path of vengeance. He gets a frantic, apologetic call from Geraldine, who tells him Cyrus is coming to kill her. After he finds Geraldine's body, Carter heads to Eddie's apartment, and throws Eddie off of a balcony to his death. Carter gets involved in a car chase with Con and the other gangster, only to lose them when he causes them to lose control of their vehicle. Visiting Kinnear's house, he confronts Cyrus, who tells Jack that he should be going after Kinnear, because Kinnear is the man behind Ritchie's murder. As Cyrus starts to walk towards the glass doors, Jack attempts to hit him from behind, but Cyrus sees him in the reflection and ducks. Jack crashes through the doors, and is unable to recover as Cyrus then pummels him to the ground. Cyrus comments that Jack's brother put up more of a fight, and then leaves to join some women on the busy dance floor.

Bloodied, Jack gets up and follows Cyrus onto the dance floor for a second confrontation stating "You should finish what you start." Cyrus agrees, and as it seems like he is turning to walk away again he tries to sucker punch Jack. Jack catches the punch and floors Cyrus with one punch. Jack proceeds to beat Cyrus as he is on the ground. He then pulls his pistol and puts it to Cyrus's face and they stare at each other. It is unclear whether Cyrus is already dead, as he doesn't seem to be blinking or breathing, or that Jack is going to shoot him. Regardless, given the previous events, and Cyrus's admission that he killed his brother, it's obvious Jack killed him one way or the other.

He then confronts Kinnear, who says that all he told Cyrus to do was get the disc back from Ritchie, not kill him, and that it was Cyrus and Brumby who committed the murder. Carter decides to show Kinnear mercy.

Carter catches Brumby attempting to steal the disk from his rental car. Brumby admits that he was involved in the murder, and he warns Jack that killing him will force him to run for the rest of his life. As Brumby is walking away Carter calls out to him, but Brumby says he won't turn around. Jack shoots him in the back.

After settling the score for his dead brother, Carter meets Doreen one last time at Ritchie's grave. He is clean shaven, and explains to her that he has to go away for a while. He tells her to remember that she is special, and they say their goodbyes. Carter is next seen getting in his car, and opening a map that leads to Vegas.

Cast

• Sylvester Stallone as Jack Carter
• Miranda Richardson as Gloria Carter
• Rachael Leigh Cook as Doreen Carter
• Alan Cumming as Jeremy Kinnear
• Mickey Rourke as Cyrus Paice
• John C. McGinley as Con McCarty
• Michael Caine as Cliff Brumby
• Rhona Mitra as Geraldine
• Johnny Strong as Eddie
• John Cassini as Thorpey
• Mark Boone Junior as Jim Davis
• Gretchen Mol (uncredited) as Audrey
• Tom Sizemore (uncredited voice) as Les Fletcher

Reception

Critical reaction was negative. The film received a 12% favorable rating among the critics tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. It did not do well at the box office, with worldwide takings of approximately US$19 million, less than the production budget of nearly $64 million.

Among the positive reviews, JoBlo.com praised "the sharp turn given by Sly Stallone, its groovy tunes, and its generally dark and gritty nature." Rob Blackwelder of SPLICEDWire called the film "a stimulating visual showcase of stylish film making that keeps a viewer's attention." Chuck O'Leary of FulvueDrive-in.com said that "the original Get Carter is better, but this is quite watchable as far as modern-era remakes go".

Shawn Levy of the Portland Oregonian gave an average review, saying that while "the film doesn't touch the original, it doesn't hit rock bottom, either." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times said the film is "not a terrible movie" but "too routine for its own good." Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle said that "the film itself is a muddle, [but] what is good is Stallone". Bob Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle said the film "is murkier than it needs to be, through no fault of Stallone's".

Among the negative reviews, Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "a useless remake." Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times said that the film is "so minimally plotted that not only does it lack subtext or context, but it also may be the world's first movie without even a text". Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News called the film "a throwaway story hidden beneath a messy jumble of weird camera angles, worthless editing tricks and an ill-placed, obnoxious score".

The film was nominated for Worst Actor (Sylvester Stallone) and Worst Remake or Sequel at the Golden Raspberry Awards in 2000.