2000 release starring Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Mickey Rourke, Miranda Richardson, Rachael Leigh Cook, Alan Cumming

A remake of the 1972 film that starred Caine in the title role of Jack Carter.

This time around, Vegas mob enforcer Carter returns home to Seattle and investigates the death of his brother.

For the most part, it is a cliched gangster flick, but the scenes Stallone shares with Richardson and Cook show us a character who wants out of Vegas and the mob scene, and find something to redeem his battered soul.

When Doreen is brought against her will into the darkest parts of Jack's world, Carter "takes it to the next level," and the resulting blood on his hands are more atoning for Carter's sins than that of those who oppose him. Carter's justice rains heavily on Seattle, but he also grants mercy to one character who's bad choices spattered him with innocent blood.

Cook's sympathetic portrayal of Doreen gives Stallone a chance to act like a gentle and loving human, deconstructing the tough guy persona he's been playing all his career. The roof top dialogue between uncle and neice exemplify "the next level" that Carter has never been allowed to explore, but you suspect that it was always there, but locked away. In the final scene with Cook, Stallone's character has changed and is learning to be comfortable with his salvation, even as he plans to rescue one more lady in distress.

This film wasn't in theaters very long, which is kind of a shame. Since his Rocky and Rambo days, Stallone has been typecast as a larger than life tough guy spouting tough talk and punching or shooting his way through a variety of soldiers and villians.When he tries to mellow out and be a regular guy, the movie critics have been harsh. It's been difficult for him to move from two-dimensional characters into roles that allow him to be fully fleshed out. Hopefully the right part will come along for him that will get him accepted as "one of us."

Cook has played the victim before in Country Justice and The Defenders: Payback. This time, as Doreen, she plays a character with a rough edge to her. The nose ring, cigarettes and dark clothing suggested to me that Doreen was on the fringe of the goth scene. As details were added, I saw her less as a goth queen and more of being an alientated victim who didn't know how to deal with what happened. In Country Justice, Cook's character had the protection of her grandfather and the United Mine Workers. In The Defenders: Payback, it was the legal system. This character has no one to help her, except for the mythic wildcard of an uncle who was "a picture on a piano."

Overall, I didn't like this film as much as I could have. I saw it twice at the movies and rented it once on video. Eventually I will see it again, and my opinion of Get Carter might improve at that time.