In fact, the implication that this 2000 US do-over is \u201cbetter than the original\u201d \u2013 and if Sly isn\u2019t talking about Get Carter<\/em> but other remakes that improve on their predecessor, then he should have made himself much fucking clearer \u2013 is even more of an insult than the movie itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the movie is pretty insulting, even if you\u2019re not an admirer of the Hodges-Caine version, which follows a glacial-blooded mob enforcer, Caine\u2019s Jack Carter, returning to his grim home town of Newcastle to investigate the death of his brother, only to find it\u2019s the tip of a very nasty iceberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, this is not to say that an American version of Get Carter<\/em> \u2013 or Jack\u2019s Return Home<\/em>, the Ted Lewis novel from which it\u2019s adapted — is impossible to pull off. After all, Roger Corman\u2019s brother Gene did just that in 1972 with Hit Man<\/em>, a Blaxploitation take on the material that relocated the action to Los Angeles and cast Bernie Casey as the story\u2019s vengeance-seeking antihero. (In an unwitting advertisement for Hit Man<\/em>, directed by the late George Armitage of Miami Blues<\/em> and Grosse Pointe Blank<\/em> fame, the National Legion of Decency claimed the movie\u2019s “dizzying spectacle of raw sex and supergraphic violence would horrify the Marquis de Sade”. It\u2019s amazing Corman didn\u2019t put that on the poster.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the 2000 Get Carter<\/em>, Stallone, director Stephen Kay (The Last Time I Committed Suicide<\/em>) and screenwriter David McKenna (American History X<\/em>) are paying slavish tribute to the \u201971 version, jamming in everything from Tyler Bates\u2019s techno-infused remix of Roy Budd\u2019s sinuous main theme to a supporting role for Caine (who originally signed on for a cameo as a favor to his friend and Victory<\/em> co-star Stallone).<\/p>\n\n\n\n One can see what drew Stallone to the project \u2013 after a stab at regaining his dramatic bona fides with 1997\u2019s Cop Land<\/em><\/a> didn\u2019t reinvent his persona, Carter must have looked like a chance for Sly to have the best of both worlds by playing a taciturn bruiser embarking on a righteous revenge trip while hinting at a more sensitive and introspective side as a caring uncle to his victimised niece Doreen (She\u2019s All That<\/em> star Rachael Leigh Cook).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s not a terrible idea. I mean, the tough guy with the heart of gold is definitely in Stallone\u2019s wheelhouse. But the title Get Carter<\/em> comes with certain expectations \u2013 the original film is cruel to the core, and any flicker of humanity in Caine\u2019s Carter is quickly tamped down and replaced by fury and violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So while McKenna and Kay valiantly attempt to give the story\u2019s corruption and degradation a new-millennium update and make their gloomy, rainy Seattle setting an analogue for the original\u2019s sooty, seedy Newcastle, there\u2019s still a sense that the 2000 Carter<\/em> is pulling its punches, even while it\u2019s talking tough (and sometimes inelegantly \u2013 in sizing up adversary Cyrus Paice, played by a mildly scummy Mickey Rourke, Carter calls his eyes \u201ccat piss in the snow\u201d, a strange revamp of the original\u2019s \u201cpiss holes in the snow\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what does a remake owe its source material and its audience? A slavish impersonation or cover version, with new players replicating all the familiar beats, may provide a fleeting thrill but we\u2019ve seen enough examples of faithful renditions \u2013 or even straight-up duplicates, like Gus Van Sant\u2019s 1998 Psycho<\/em> redux \u2013 that only reinforce appreciation and affection for the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main problem here is that Kay\u2019s film can\u2019t decide what tone it wants to strike. It\u2019s trying to split the difference between a sleek actioner as fresh as the year 2000 \u2013 get a load of that digital tinkering with color palettes, that jittery editing, that Groove Armada track over the closing credits — and a crime drama with freon in his veins.\u00a0It makes Stallone\u2019s Get Carter<\/em> a curio, a relic of an awkward time when the studios \u2013 and the superstars of the \u201880s and \u201890s — were figuring out how to reconfigure themselves, reconcile the old and the new. The irony in Stallone using Get Carter<\/em> as a way to do that was that the 1971 film, with all its cynicism and bleakness, felt like it hadn\u2019t aged a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Get Carter” is streaming on Kanopy<\/a> and is available for digital rental or purchase<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/get-carter2-1024x576.jpeg\")
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