D-Tox

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.

Sly Stallone stars as an FBI Agent who turns to drink when the love of his life becomes the victim of a crazed serial killer who has been targeting cops for death. So struck by the tragedy, he is coerced into signing up for a rehab programme at a remote asylum facility, but soon it becomes clear that the serial killer is still in his midst.

Famously delayed from being released for quite some time, D-Tox is like an itch on Stallone's CV that he will never be able to scratch. In truth it's quite serviceable as a formulaic thriller, but it's so derivative and, yes, dumb, it's hard to recommend with any sort of confidence.

Any number of thriller films you have probably seen will spring to mind when viewing this, but in short it's like a "10 Little Indians" meets "The Thing", with a side order of "Seven" thrown in for good measure. The first half is actually well built by the makers, establishing Stallone's emotional chaos, his dive into the bottle, and then setting him up in an institution that is frighteningly monolithic in a grey and steely way. His co-patients are all troubled coppers in search of a dry run, and this also sets things up neatly for some rich characterisations, unfortunately it all descends into cliché hell and wastes what is a rather superb cast - while Stallone unfortunately shifts from a believable tortured soul into a muscle head with a gun. Cest la vie!

Good moody atmosphere and some heart jolting deaths keeps the pic on the boil, but ultimately the pandering of the norm renders a promising thriller to being distinctly average. 5/10

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Stallone and the director of I Know What You Did Last Summer sound like an intriguing combination.But this belated picture isn't really.Sly's performance works more thanks to the script than to him,thanks to some emotive scenes at the beginning,otherwise he's as blank as he was in the Rambo movies.Worse than that,the story is told in a really straight-forward,unoriginal way,you can see scenes coming before you've even seen them.There are few real jolts or surprises.There's some okay action in between,but to be honest,it's hard to understand why this didn't go straight to video.**

The movie has some terrific performances and a nice buildup. However, once you reach the wilderness..... it goes wild! The way they have made the last 15 minutes of the movie makes me feel that the story writer lost interest in the movie altogether. Stallone is top notch though he does look a bit tired in the first half of the movie.

There are two things a thriller needs: a strong sense of atmosphere, and a competent level of character identification. "D-Tox" has neither. It's hard to care about, much less like, a bunch of characters if you can't remember their names.

FBI Agent Jake Malloy (Sylvester Stallone) is tracking down a killer who is picking off cops. After his girlfriend Mary (Dina Meyer) becomes the next victim, his boss (Charles S. Dutton) gets him to go to a rehab for cops who had seen one too many bad things in their profession. But the killer is not finished with Malloy yet...

I'd address the performances, but to be honest, no one is developed enough to make that really matter. The actors do what they can, but the script is to paper thin and director Jim Gillespe is so inept that it doesn't matter. That's a real shame, because the cast members aren't exactly no talent hacks. Sylvester Stallone, Charles S. Dutton, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Berenger, Courtney B. Vance, Robert Patrick, the late great Robert Prosky, Sean Patrick Flannery. All of these actors have talent, but they aren't allowed to utilize them. Polly Walker still manages to be great despite her limitations, and Sly Stallone actually acts.

Given its star power and its great premise, it's hard to imagine anyone screwing this up. With a talented director at the helm and a few re-writes, this could have been the second coming of "Halloween." Alas, we have Jim Gillespie, whose only notable mark on his resume is directing "I Know What You Did Last Summer." I'll admit that making a suspenseful film is hard to do, but Gillespie is totally clueless. He has absolutely EVERYTHING he could need at his disposal, but he isn't able to pull it together enough to make it any more than watchable.

There are worse things you could do with your time, but if you want to get creeped out, watch something else.