The impossibility of making good films in the 21st century is perfectly illustrated by this perfunctory remake of the 1971 Mike Hodges classic which starred Michael Caine as 'Jack Carter', a gangster who travels to the north of England to find out how his brother Frank died. This version shifts the story to America, and casts Sylvester Stallone in the main role. Caine himself plays 'Cliff Brumby'. The end result is a routine crime drama whereas the original is a classic. But what really takes the breath away is the ending. Instead of being shot on a beach, Carter jumps into his car and drives off. Presumably it was changed because American audiences hate films with unhappy endings. I take it then that if ( heaven forbid ) 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' ever gets remade, it will climax with 'McMurphy' building a jet pack and escaping from Nurse Ratched's institution by zooming Rocketeer-like over the fence. Have movies ever been quite as bad as they are right now?
37 Reviews
run away as fast as you can
krispaulric2 January 2003
Avoid this movie at all costs. If someone asks you to watch it with them, give them a smack and run away. This is the worst movie I've ever seen. I paid $4 to torture myself with this horrible mess of a film. Don't make the same mistake I did! Run away, far, far away!
Another cash grab garbage
jordondave-280854 March 2023
(2000) Get Carter
ACTION/ DRAMA
You know a movie is really bad when RT can't even produce a correct synopsis for this forgettable remake of the 1971 classic starring Michael Caine whose talents were greatly wasted and exploited, which by using Caines's presence was nothing more than to be used as a tool to sell this picture! According to RT,(it may have been changed since then) it says Stallone's character was a hit man but upon watching it, he was more of a debt collector for some gangsters or another which it was hardly a factor throughout! The movie claims this film was based on a novel written by Ted Lewis called 'Jack's Return Home' but it's more like a return home to the garbage dump. Stallone stars as Jack Carter who after arriving at his brother's funeral, becomes obsessed by finding out how and why he died which turned out to be more than what he thought it'd be! The only action one would see is a few ho-hum brisk brawls for the first 1 hour and 10 minutes for he's always seems to conveniently find them whenever he wants to- no one seem to press any assault charges by the way! Two car chase scenes which're lame with no policeman on sight despite wrecking havoc they created, no police intervention of any kind or that the gangster's goons setting a hit on the Stallone character for shafting his original duties! One scene in particular which absolutely makes no sense whatsoever showcases one of the bad guys whose suppose to be a young millionaire of some sort because of pornography on-line, and says on a phone that he wants Carter dead and the best he's done was sending one person to do the job, and he doesn't even complete doing the job or succeed killing anybody for that matter since it occurred at the family home, as opposed to sending out a lot of hit man's, assassins or trained professional killers! As an action fan, this was a complete waste of my time! Some good dialogue exchanges occur at the beginning completely ruined by the second half especially the fact that the film turned the Caine character into one of the villains, making it even less sense! I've got so much to say about this film except that I don't feel to waste the space.
You know a movie is really bad when RT can't even produce a correct synopsis for this forgettable remake of the 1971 classic starring Michael Caine whose talents were greatly wasted and exploited, which by using Caines's presence was nothing more than to be used as a tool to sell this picture! According to RT,(it may have been changed since then) it says Stallone's character was a hit man but upon watching it, he was more of a debt collector for some gangsters or another which it was hardly a factor throughout! The movie claims this film was based on a novel written by Ted Lewis called 'Jack's Return Home' but it's more like a return home to the garbage dump. Stallone stars as Jack Carter who after arriving at his brother's funeral, becomes obsessed by finding out how and why he died which turned out to be more than what he thought it'd be! The only action one would see is a few ho-hum brisk brawls for the first 1 hour and 10 minutes for he's always seems to conveniently find them whenever he wants to- no one seem to press any assault charges by the way! Two car chase scenes which're lame with no policeman on sight despite wrecking havoc they created, no police intervention of any kind or that the gangster's goons setting a hit on the Stallone character for shafting his original duties! One scene in particular which absolutely makes no sense whatsoever showcases one of the bad guys whose suppose to be a young millionaire of some sort because of pornography on-line, and says on a phone that he wants Carter dead and the best he's done was sending one person to do the job, and he doesn't even complete doing the job or succeed killing anybody for that matter since it occurred at the family home, as opposed to sending out a lot of hit man's, assassins or trained professional killers! As an action fan, this was a complete waste of my time! Some good dialogue exchanges occur at the beginning completely ruined by the second half especially the fact that the film turned the Caine character into one of the villains, making it even less sense! I've got so much to say about this film except that I don't feel to waste the space.
Testosterone- and cliché-soaked junk.
imap-052329 October 2021
Stay away, you've seen it much better before.
After 5 minutes you know how the story will go, namely as an endless succession of trivialities and predictable fighting.
If Stallone, being 54 years old at that time, but looking like 60, isn't smashing heads, he makes a serious face, supposed to be intimidating, or secretes pompous language on illiterates.
Hard to believe that a real actor like Michael Caine joined this mediocre misery.
Waste of time.
After 5 minutes you know how the story will go, namely as an endless succession of trivialities and predictable fighting.
If Stallone, being 54 years old at that time, but looking like 60, isn't smashing heads, he makes a serious face, supposed to be intimidating, or secretes pompous language on illiterates.
Hard to believe that a real actor like Michael Caine joined this mediocre misery.
Waste of time.
Totally Unenjoyable
Cristi_Ciopron24 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
In our times, the idiots, cretins, imbeciles seem to prevail; yet it is still astonishing that a movie like this crap ,this megacrap, ever gets being made, released ,etc.. Our times are maybe poor for the Hollywoodian cinema, with several trends of lifeless flicks occupying the first ranks; yet this Stallone flick is outrageous even being given that. What kind of morons, of retards, of cretins are those who dared to get this rubbish on the market? (Let alone any comparison with one of the masterpieces of the thrillers, the Caine film I mean. Is Stallone the man to replace
Caine? How dumb must one be to even dream of this?) It is bad AS exploitation, violence, brutality, etc.; it is an outrageous movie for its genre. Its problem it's not its genre; on the contraryit is its failure as a genre movie. It completely fails to be a genre movie. It is not for those who like genre films.
disjointed and very poorly done.
DClarke-216 October 2000
I always thought that I'd refrain from commenting on a bad movie but this one is especially bad. If the people that made this had any intention of actually telling a story, I see no evidence of their efforts. Perhaps a comic book story board would have helped. Perhaps some honest people should have stood up in the screening room and said something, anything. Stop this. Don't release this. Go back to the cutting room floor, maybe you dropped something there. Maybe someone spilled a cup of coffee and shuffled some papers and kaboom, a chunk of the movie was lost. Honest mistakes happen. Don't tell me that this was deliberate. This can not happen. This makes the "New Coke" and "Ishtar" look reasonable. I watched scenes of Stallone's next movie "DRIVEN" being shot when it was called CHAMPS here in Toronto. The movie making machine was spinning during the MOLSEN INDY here in Toronto and right across the street from where I live. Bright lights on into the night here in Toronto as Stallone gets his next movie together. If its anything like "Get Carter" then the curiosity of the neighbour will not be enough to get me into the theatre. I got into "Get Carter" with free passes and it was worth every cent.
Bad Remake
jeff_allen9 October 2000
Stay clear of this remake. Two years ago I helped preserve the original for WB. I had to watch the film several times and came to enjoy it. I saw the remake this weekend and come home very p***ed. Everything you liked about the original has been removed and only the worse parts have been left and are over developed. The worst part of the charactor development is that the negative life that Carter has lived never really catches up with him as it did at the end of the original. The only saving grace for this film is that smidgens of the original music sound track were used. Save your money and see the original even if only on video tape.
Really????
pkeenor14 March 2021
My most hated movie of all time
Mumsworth1 June 2002
If i could give it negative points i would but since i can't i will just do everything in my power to get you not to watch this movie. Not only is it bad but it literally hurts me to think about it but i must now for the good of the children and the children's children. the actually movie is just bad but throw in the pointless music, disturbing camera angles and messed up colors and now you have a movie so bad it still haunts me.
Should of called it Forget Carter
eckhouse2425 January 2001
They should have called this movie Forget Carter. The One Liners were really bad. This movie was too short and it was really hard to follow the plot. There was no suspence, and it appeared as if Michael Caine served no purpose in this film. If there was one Stallone Movie that should have never been made, this is it. This makes Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot look like an Oscar contender
I prefer the original. This re-make was awful..!
smiley-3225 October 2005
Get Carter! I've seen the original.. But I think Michael Caine should'n't have gone for a part in this film. Being in a re-make.. That's the problem with Hollywood right now.. Why are there so many re-makes..? Not all of them like do so well in the box office.
And this one is a right example.. Same old storyline.. Now we have Sylvester Stallone playing the title role..
What was really off putting.. was the way how Steven Kay try to direct this film unlike the original which was directed by Mike Hodges..
Hodges direction had class, but this one didn't.. There wasn't one of those 'shots' that Hodges did with the original.. and basically, it all went downhill from there..
Having Michael Caine playing a bad guy in this film was also a bad move..
In fact, he shouldn't be in it at all.. But who can blame him..? Michael Caine, I respect him for being one of the best British actors around.. But this was like 'No! Not this one..!'
Well needless to say.. This was not a good film.. It was totally boring! A disappointing 1 out of 10!
And this one is a right example.. Same old storyline.. Now we have Sylvester Stallone playing the title role..
What was really off putting.. was the way how Steven Kay try to direct this film unlike the original which was directed by Mike Hodges..
Hodges direction had class, but this one didn't.. There wasn't one of those 'shots' that Hodges did with the original.. and basically, it all went downhill from there..
Having Michael Caine playing a bad guy in this film was also a bad move..
In fact, he shouldn't be in it at all.. But who can blame him..? Michael Caine, I respect him for being one of the best British actors around.. But this was like 'No! Not this one..!'
Well needless to say.. This was not a good film.. It was totally boring! A disappointing 1 out of 10!
Stephen T. Kay is a big man, but he's out of shape. With Mike Hodges it was a full-time job
jnarimbaud17 February 2007
Do not see the remake of Get Carter. I did in a moment of weakness & ended up shouting at the television for an hour & a half. Imagine Get Carter with everything that made it different (the violence, the culture clash of London to Newcastle, the cool soundtrack, the emotional detachment of all characters, & the ending) missing, & you have the remake. They even try to make Carter & his niece bond in the most sickeningly turgid scenes of mush evah!! & Guess what? Carter drives off at the end into sequelsville...only he doesn't because only two people saw this movie. & Now three with me, but I would spare you this pain.
But don't blame Sly!!
But don't blame Sly!!
An appalling, over-sentimentalised, made-for-Americans piece of crap
chowdhmi28 April 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Stallone's 'acting' - Terrible. Wooden, lacking emotion. Adding overtly sentimental 'family' scenes to a film that was supposed to be gritty and unpleasant just shows how the American film market is saturated with homogenised, heavily-censored twaddle.
I'm so angry after watching this pile of steaming dog diarrhoea that I can barely string together a coherent thought that doesn't need to be expressed purely as a scream of rage and frustration.
Anyone who thinks the remake is better than the original should be shot. I normally tolerate others' opinions, but as far as this film goes I'm as militant as an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist.
One of the worst films I've seen in my life.
I'm so angry after watching this pile of steaming dog diarrhoea that I can barely string together a coherent thought that doesn't need to be expressed purely as a scream of rage and frustration.
Anyone who thinks the remake is better than the original should be shot. I normally tolerate others' opinions, but as far as this film goes I'm as militant as an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist.
One of the worst films I've seen in my life.
Dear God, what next......?
Shempz21 November 2000
I could not believe it when I heard that Hollywood was doing another remake of the British Gangster classic 'Get Carter'. There was a blaxploitation movie along the lines of 'Shaft' which was a direct copy of 'Get Carter' and that was enough to make your skin crawl. However my dismay that Hollywood was trying to recreate this tremendously atmospheric movie turned into sheer disbelief when I heard that Sly Stallone was going to be the main character. In the English original, Caine gives an excellent performance of a London villain tracking down his brother's killers in the north of England (Newcastle). He plays Carter as a menacing but well spoken and confident character.
Stallone unfortunately couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. Those who think his acting in the dreadfully boring 'Copland' was great, obviously believe that the ability to put on 50lbs and occasionally move your lips while mumbling incoherently, makes you a good actor. Wrong. To quote Dennis Pennis, 'He was so wooden, I thought someone had thrown a chair onto the screen'.
Not only that, but did they raid Don Johnson's old Miami Vice wardrobe for Stallone's suits?
The ending is also a typical Hollywood cop-out. Watch this movie, then watch the original to find out how a film should be made and how it should be ended.
Still, in its favour the film does have the ever gorgeous Rachel Leigh Cook. Its not much, I know, but its a start.
Overall I would call this film sacreligous. What next, are they going to to do a remake of another British classic 'The Long Good Friday' and have Adam Sandler playing Bob Hoskins' character, Harold Shand !!!
Stallone unfortunately couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. Those who think his acting in the dreadfully boring 'Copland' was great, obviously believe that the ability to put on 50lbs and occasionally move your lips while mumbling incoherently, makes you a good actor. Wrong. To quote Dennis Pennis, 'He was so wooden, I thought someone had thrown a chair onto the screen'.
Not only that, but did they raid Don Johnson's old Miami Vice wardrobe for Stallone's suits?
The ending is also a typical Hollywood cop-out. Watch this movie, then watch the original to find out how a film should be made and how it should be ended.
Still, in its favour the film does have the ever gorgeous Rachel Leigh Cook. Its not much, I know, but its a start.
Overall I would call this film sacreligous. What next, are they going to to do a remake of another British classic 'The Long Good Friday' and have Adam Sandler playing Bob Hoskins' character, Harold Shand !!!
a real plot mess
trajan-36 November 2000
This movie could have been something. Viewers rely on the Stallone name for a certain style and quality. The plot was a confused and illogical mess. Stallone, a mobster from Vegas, travels to Seattle to find out who killed his brother. Subplot, his estrangement from the brother's family. a creepy high-tech nabob, mobster low-lifes, who did it? by the end of the movie, who cares?
DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY
sfav17 July 2001
This is the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. I LOVE movies, even some that others hate, but this has got to be the biggest hunk of junk I have ever watched (and I have seen LOTS of movies!) If I could put my vote in negative numbers, I would. Maybe Stallone owed somebody a favor?????
Stallone's Worst Film yet
existenz-61 June 2001
Stallone has really outdone himself. If you thought Cobra or The Specialist or Assassins was bad, you need to see Get Carter. This is bottom of the barrel trash. The crappy script, the incompetent directing, the bad acting, the incoherent action and nonexistent plot -- personally I am baffled as to the preponderance of people on the IMDB who think this was a good film. Maybe they watched the 1970s version on accident. Stallone should be able to find much better scripts than this, and as we saw with DRIVEN he shouldn't try to write them himself. DO NOT rent this movie, DO NOT pay money to see it, DO NOT waste your time.
Forget Carter!
amcbzarag25 November 2020
Horrible
lolligagger9 March 2001
Scenes that go nowhere...nothing makes sense...no improvement on the original...no wonder it wasn't screened for critics. Sheesh. Sly had two good lines. That's it. Other than that, you can tell that (a) they had to re-shoot the ending, (b) Michael Caine look embarrassed to be there, (c) someone smart enough to have $900 million would have more than one security guard, or at least should. The movie doesn't stand up to a moment's scrutiny. And I'd rather watch Sly, Michael Caine, Mickey Rourke, and Miranda Richardson have lunch than watch this. Plus there was too much of director Stephen Kay showing us what a cool guy he is with funky camera movements that add nothing. Haskell Wexler, where are you? This movie is not good. You'll want those two hours of your life back - I do.
Where's my library card?
Glecoff26 February 2001
Luckily, a really good pizza helped us get through this effort. In fact, the leftover crust was more compelling than Sly's performance as Carter. The tough-little-puppy-that's-just-been-beaten-but-is-still-ready-to-face-the-wo rld mask Stallone hides behind throughout this timewaster wears thin all too quickly. If it weren't for the car chases and crashes, sleep would have mercifully shortened this experience. How is it that a guy who has bucks to burn can't come up with a better film? The Rocky mystique is over Sly ... it's time to either create some decent cinema or get out of the game. Please, no more disappointments like this one.
It is considerably worse than Battlefield Earth
Snake-1322 February 2001
This is, to date, the worst movie I have ever seen. Most bad movies have at least a little bit of campy value, but not this one. It's way too somber. Stallone really gives off an ugly impression in this movie; I'm sure he's a very nice guy in real life, but after watching him here, I have an acute desire to NEVER see him in a movie again. Anyone who praises this movie for it's style should go watch FIGHT CLUB or RUN LOLA RUN again and come back later, since the MTV-tricks in that movie had a purpose. Not here. Was I the only one thinking "what the hell?" when the director skipped frames or put the film on fast forward speed. Totally unnecessary. The more I think about it, the more GET CARTER really does resemble BATTLEFIELD EARTH. Both movies have minimal yet messy plots, not to mention horribly edited action sequences. The difference is that at least BE had John Travolta and Forrest Whitaker hamming it up and having a good time despite the all-around stupidity of the script. Here, everyone takes the movie DEADLY SERIOUS. This isn't fun at all, it's just boring and agonizing. After seeing the movie, I knew that Stallone fans everywhere would be severely let down, and while most of them were, I'm surprised that there are people out there who actually like this garbage. If you own this movie on video or DVD right now, I have to ask, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?!?
Should be renamed Forget Carter
eckhouse2425 January 2001
This Movie should be renamed Forget Carter. There are too many bad one liners, and the plot line does not seem to flow. I like Stallone, but it appears that he tried to hard on this movie, or he didn't try at all. I thought Stallone was much better in Copland or Rocky. It also appeared that Michael Caine had no point in this film at all. Some movies should not be remade, and this is one of them.
Get another video!
vpa211331 September 2001
Get Carter (2000) is awful. The plot is so thin, the running time of this movie should have been less than an hour, instead of an hour and 45 minutes. Maybe if Stallone actually spoke English instead of constantly mumbling in a low monotone, it would have been possible to figure out what was going on. The basic plot is, Stallone finds out his estranged brother has died in a car accident, goes to his funeral, and concludes that his brother has been murdered. He decides to stick around and dispense some frontier justice. Why he decides to investigate instead of going to the police, is never explained. Why the brother's family doesn't investigate either, is also not explained. Why one character who claims to be a Harvard graduate acts as if he has the IQ of a frog, is also not explained. Get the picture? Unless you are a die-hard Stallone fan, don't rent this video. Even if you are a Stallone fan, be advised that (in my opinion) this is one of his worst efforts.
This is now takes the top spot as the worst movie I have ever seen, surpassing Johny Pneumonic and Wild Wild West.
mroseberry9917 March 2001
This is now takes the top spot as the worst movie I have ever seen, surpassing Johny Pneumonic and Wild Wild West. Good god is this movie bad. Usually, I guess I should say sometimes, in a Stallone movie there is a captivating beginning that sparks some sort of interest through an action scene or something but this movie he's pounding on this guy tied up in a chair ranting about his brother. The next thing you know he's on a plane and that's it they start displaying the actors and the intro music comes on. The guy in the chair we never see again in the movie, there are people that pop in and out of this movie with no link to the plot whatsoever. I think the director realized how terrible this movie was and just tried different things just for the hell of it, like this one scene all of a sudden he slowly turns the camera upside down and I'm like why?? One seen it's at a 90 degree angle. Was I supposed to go "man that was cool". Whatever. Actually I think that this was a ploy to put the final nail in Stallone's career. One liners were terrible, no continuity. I'm not even big into special effects, I like a good story, plot etc., but if you're not going to have that especially with Stallone, blow something up or have some special effects or something. This movie had none of that. If you watch this movie you are going to really have to have discipline to watch it in it's entirety.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
