Too much of everything

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

In post-production limbo for three years and then critically lambasted on release, this Sylvester Stallone-starring serial killer opus has been unfairly maligned, in my opinion. Sure, it's not a great movie, and it has its fair share of faults. The film is pretty poorly edited and paced and suffers from an over extensive supporting cast of interchangeable characters which robs the narrative of its lucidity; you're never quite sure who the latest victim is, so that ruins a lot of the suspense and tension they strive to create. But did this deserve to go straight-to-video when other rubbish Hollywood flicks were shown in the cinemas? I don't think so. For what it is, it works. It's one of those post-SEVEN serial killer movies in which tired, past-it cops attempt to track down psychopaths who always seem to be one step ahead. And you don't get much more down-on-your-luck than Jake Malloy, the lead character here. Driven to attempted suicide by the brutal slaying of his girlfriend, he's dispatched to a rehab clinic in the icy wastes to help him overcome his mental problems. Stallone takes this lead role, which led to a number of critics slating him. I really don't get their attitude. If he stars in an action flick they laugh at him; if he tries to do something different, like here, then they call him miscast. How about giving the guy a break? Stallone gives a typically excellent performance even though the script doesn't give him all that much to do, and you can really feel for his character's plight. I loved him to bits.The film starts off in a pretty grisly and unpleasant fashion and carries on from there. Once we move to the isolated detoxification centre it starts to pay homage to THE THING, what with the characters trapped in a single, snowy locale, and picked off one by one by an unknown menace. The twist that all the intended victims are cops makes it interesting to watch, as they're actually capable of fending for themselves and working stuff out, rather than the usual lame teenager running off into dark corridors type stuff we see.The last great thing about this movie is the fantastic ensemble cast. It reads as a who's who of character actors and takes some beating. Kris Kristofferson plays the clinic director with his customary Blade persona: all gruff and gritty; Christopher Fulford plays the British contingent; Jeffrey Wright is the on-the-edge, half-crazy guy; Robert Patrick is the wise-ass; Courtney B. Vance is the religious nut; also popping up are old-timers Tom Berenger and Robert Prosky. One of my favourites is Charles S. Dutton, who excels as Stallone's cop buddy. Female support is from Dina Meyer and pretty Brit Polly Walker who brings a lot of integrity to her part. Okay, so it's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but I had a good time watching – and you can't say fairer than that.

Continuing my plan to watch every Sly Stallone movie in his filmography in order, I come to 2002's D-Tox or (Eye See You) Plot In A Paragraph: FBI Agent (Stallone) falls apart whilst chasing a serial killer who is murdering police officers. He checks into a rehab clinic that specializes in treating law enforcement officials. Soon, he finds that his fellow patients are being murdered one by one.This movie gets a lot of hate (even from Sly fans) and Im not sure why. The first twenty minutes are fantastic, and Sly does some of his best acting, following his breakdown and arrival at the D-Tox centre, little things like the subtle shakes of his hand as he reaches for a bannister, go unmissed by casual movie fans, who lump this in with one of the worst movies Sly has ever done, simply because it was released between box office disappointments 'Get Carter' and 'Driven'Charles S Dutton, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Berenger and Robert Patrick stand out in the supporting cast, Polly Walkers character was fine if cliché. Sadly the rest of are as bland and cliché as the come in a by the numbers slasher pic, which the movie becomes by the end, with Sly saving the damsel in distress,Early press material credited both Ron Howard and Brian Grazer as executive producers. Their studio, Imagine Entertainment, was also listed as production company. The completed film neither features their names, nor Imagine Entertainment's name or logo. The movie was finished in 1999 before Sly started work on Get Carter. Test screenings of the first cut, got very bad reactions, and the film was then shelved while story changes and getting the vast cast reassembled for re-shoots were being done. A new ending was also filmed in which the main villain is killed in a different way - but even after re-shoots, Universal Studios still didn't have any faith in it. It sat on the shelves gathering dust, before it finally received a limited release three years after completion.

The first half an hour of this movie is actually really good and then it just turns into... well, something else. As soon as Stallone's character enters the "d-tox" facility this goes from being a cop movie to a slasher-thriller. We get clichéd characters, bad dialogue, cornball who-done-it with a little 'Shining' thrown in. Too bad. Stallone gives a great performance though, particularly in those opening scenes. I often forget that he can really act when he wants to. His character here reminded me of the one he portrayed in 'Copland'.Stallone is Jake Malloy, a cop who goes off the deep end after being toyed with by a serial killer (that kills cops) and witnessing some bad, bad sh*t. Jake can't pull it together, becomes an alcoholic and eventually gets sent to a secluded detox clinic in snowy Wyoming (Whistler B.C) that specializes in treating law enforcement officials. Seems the killer has also made his way to detox though and pretty soon patients start dropping dead.Lots of familiar faces in the supporting cast here, Charles S. Dutton, Kris Kristofferson, Sean Patrick Flanery, Stephen Lang and Tom Berenger. 03.13

D-Tox or Eye See You. Definitely recommend this. Decent movie with a very good cast: Tom Berenger, Charles S. Dutton, Stephen Lang, Robert Patrick, Robert Prosky, Sylvester Stallone, Courtney B. Vance, Jeffrey Wright and more.Should have been more successful at the box office but this group of actors is probably not very popular with the younger generation -- those who spend the most at the theaters.Believe this to be better than the current IMDb rating of 5 and the low Dish rating of *+.Quirky characters and a reasonable plot allow this movie to be intriguing enough for most cinema fans.Grab some popcorn, sit back and enjoy.