D-Tox (2002)

Director:

Jim Gillespie

Writers (WGA):

Howard Swindle (book)
Ron L. Brinkerhoff (screen story)

Release Date:

4 January 2002 (Denmark)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Survival is a Killer.

Plot:

Stallone plays a cop who comes undone after witnessing a brutal scene on the job. He checks into a rehab...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Alcoholic | Group Therapy | Wyoming | Serial Killer

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Nov. 25

3:30 AM

SHOW

Cast

Sylvester Stallone	...	Jake Malloy
Charles S. Dutton	...	Hendricks
Polly Walker	...	Jenny
Kris Kristofferson	...	Doc
Mif	...	Brandon
Christopher Fulford	...	Slater
Jeffrey Wright	...	Jaworski
Tom Berenger	...	Hank
Stephen Lang	...	Jack Bennett
Alan C. Peterson	...	Gilbert
Hrothgar Mathews	...	Manny
Angela Alvarado	...	Lopez (as Angela Alvarado Rosa)
Robert Prosky	...	McKenzie
Robert Patrick	...	Noah
Courtney B. Vance	...	Jones

Also Known As:

D-Tox (Australia)
D-Tox - Im Auge der Angst (Germany)
Detox (USA) (working title)
Eye See You (USA) (video title)
The Outpost (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence/gore and language.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:18 | USA:R (certificate no. 37474) | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:R | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Philippines:R-18

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

While Universal disowns this film now at least in the US, there is proof that the film was produced by them as several of their DVD's spanning from late 1999 to early to mid-2000 featured an brief introduction of recent films in their their DVD catalog. Quick shot of Sylvester Stallone from the film of him looking around with a gun in hand is seen after brief glimpses of other films such as The Mummy (1999), Snow Falling on Cedars (1999) to name a few. The "Big Kahuna" DVD is one of few in which you can watch the snippet of the film in this form.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Malloy is kissing his girlfriend after bringing her the toy monkey, his nose is on the right side of her nose. The POV changes and his nose is now on the other side.

Quotes:

[first lines]
911 operator: 911, what is your emergency?
disguised voice: I'm tired of the way things are, as opposed to the way they should be.
911 operator: Is this an emergency? Where are you located?
disguised voice: That really doesn't matter, so hear me out.
911 operator: Can we have your name please?
disguised voice: Of course, "Common Denominator", your man in the street. Now don't ask a another question or I will be obliged to do bad. Doing bad, you would have to assume responsibility. No interruptions. That's natural selection. Born to win, born to lose, born to die...

Movie Connections:

References The Thing (1982)

Soundtrack:

Love Is

Flawed, but not *that* bad

Well, having not only spent two years on the shelf but getting released straight to video AND the original studio - Universal - disowning it (removing its logo and "Universal presents..." as well as giving it to another studio to release on DVD and video) I was expecting yet another Stallone bomb. Actually, while I would never say it's a good movie, it nowhere as bad as you might think - it's certainly better than recent Stallone turkeys like GET CARTER.

It's actually starts surprisingly well. Not only is Stallone's character given a lot of dialogue, Stallone actually *acts* when delivering it. The subsequent events that traumatize his character are well done, with a genuine eerieness to them. Things continue well for a while longer, showing the utter pit of despair Stallone's character has fallen in, and Stallone once again is up to this challenge.

Then he goes to the detox center, and the movie quickly falls apart. The biggest problems are:

(1) WAY too many characters. It was extremely difficult to remember who was who with all these people walking in and out of the camera. It's also difficult to separate each person in your mind because we hardly learn a thing about each character - if we are lucky.

(2) REALLY bad editing. Scenes (and some individual cuts) go by so quickly that we often don't get the chance to properly digest what we're given to ponder. Two things happening at the same time (in different places) are cut back and forth with no seeming purpose, and no coherent flow. Though the DVD has eight deleted scenes, it's obvious that there was originally a lot more shot. I have to agree with another poster that there are signs there was a desperate effort to save the movie in the editing room.

(3) Once in the detox center, poor Stallone has almost NOTHING to do. He's given almost nothing to say, and frequently sits on the sidelines while things are happening. Not exactly a star vehicle, this movie.

Still, there is a good amount of atmosphere, the movie is briskly paced (though sometimes incoherent because of this), and the sets/production values are pretty decent. While I wouldn't have recommended anyone to see it at a theater if it had gotten released there, you have to remember there have been far worse films (with and without Stallone) that did get such releases.