Old actors don’t retire. They just go straight-to-retail. Deservedly so, in Sylvester Stallone’s case, with his continuing attempts at gritty reinvention scuppered by vanity. Resembling a steroid-mashed Bette Davis after 14 days in a tanning machine, the Italian Stallion mutates Mike Hodges’ definitive revenge flick into an unconvincing tale of personal redemption.
There’s the odd exciting moment – a brutal beating to Christmas lift muzak, clever sound editing in a moment of Sly vengeance – but an incoherent story and painful dialogue nix attempts to mimic the hard-edge of the original. Even with a supporting turn by original star Michael Caine, this is heroically dull.
DVD Extras:
Director's commentary, deleted scenes.The film itself feels like a string of deleted scenes, so that extra adds little. The commentary is more enlightening, though: director Stephen Kay is good with the techie stuff, and makes polite but pertinent references to how his attempt to create a "character piece" was hobbled by producer intervention.
