Based on a short story by Stephen King, this manqué misfire makes up in sheer dullness what it lacks in actual entertainment value. Christian Slater stars along with a D-list cast of actors who struggle valiantly to make something out of Director Jeff Beesley’s tedious vision.
Advertised as “A twisted tale of murder and revenge”, this direct-to-video tranquilizer twists all the suspense and intrigue out of King’s story. The original tale took a simple, basic revenge plot and made it interesting due to King’s amazing writing style and the way he took us inside the protagonist’s mind , describing a slow descent into insanity. Neither of these elements is on display in the film version, which only leaves us with the standard, unremarkable tale of a man who wants revenge for the death of his wife. As if there haven’t been enough films with that premise.
The story follows young, married school teachers Robinson (Wes Bentley) and Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier) who live a happy little life together. However, all that changes when Elizabeth is riding a horse through the desert and witnesses vicious Las Vegas gangster Dolan (Christian Slater) being evil. Dolan makes big bucks in human sex trafficking and when one of his “deliveries” goes off course, Dolan is Johnny-on-the-spot to settle matters with bullets and typical villain humor. Dolan then spots Elizabeth who rides away, conveniently dropping her cellphone to move the plot along.
After talking to the one-dimensional racist sheriff Bob, the couple are put into FBI custody. Dolan, however, has his sources and soon his main hitman, known as the Chief, has turned Elizabeth’s car into an explosives factory and Elizabeth into a corpse.
Robinson naturally wants revenge. He buys a gun that would make Dirty Harry shrink with envy and practices in the desert, even though the gun’s recoil knocks him off his feet. He starts to follow Dolan around, which is easy because Dolan goes everywhere in his flashy Cadillac SUV, so he’s not hard to spot. Robinson’s first chance to kill his enemy is foiled when a rival gang beats him to the punch. However, Dolan’s Cadillac is a bulletproof fortress and the attempt fails.
Dolan realizes that Robinson is following him and has the Chief slap Robinson around. Dolan gives one of those intellectual villain speeches that are so common among movie bad guys. (Think Kill Bill Part 2) After that, he obeys the laws of plot convenience, and allows his attempted murderer to live so Robinson can try again.
Not ready to give up yet, Robinson comes up with an alternate plan. Realizing that Dolan travels the same route from Los Angeles to Las Vegas on a regular schedule, Robinson joins a fortuitously placed road crew so he can set an elaborate trap for Dolan. The ambitious ambush is reminiscent of something Wily Coyote would have come up with.
Bentley does an adequate job as Robinson, considering how weak some of his dialogue is. I don’t know if lines like “When he looks at you, your prostate hurts” were in the book, but they certainly don’t come across well in Bentley’s angst-ridden voice over. Vaugier is pretty and a decent actress but she’s killed off early in the film so she makes little impact.
Christian Slater amps up his scenery chewing excesses and plays the villain with shameless gusto. Still trying to prove himself to be the next Jack Nicholson, Slater closely mimics Nicholson’s gangster performance from the Departed, but without a good script to hang his ham on, it falls flat.
The film fails to capture Robinson’s spiral into madness the way King’s book did. The only example we get in the movie is when Robinson sees his badly burnt and very dead wife, encouraging him to avenge her. King named his character Robinson because he becomes cut off from the rest of the human race like Robinson Crusoe stranded on his island alone. We don’t feel Robinson’s alienation here. Also, Robinson’s plan unfolds carefully in the book, whereas the film squeezes it into a stale standard montage.
The movie would have worked better as a short film or as one segment in a film with several stories, like Creepshow or Tales from the Crypt. Strangely, director Beesley and writer Richard Dooling have eliminated so much from King’s already brief tale when there wasn’t enough in it from the beginning to make a full-length film. They fill up screen time with useless racist rants from Dolan.
This is a hollowed out version of a Stephen King story that never manages to be interesting for a moment. It’s as low in originality as it is in budget. Beesley killed the spirit of the story even more completely than Dolan killed Elizabeth.
DVD Bonus Features
As if watching the movie wasn’t enough of a chore, there are extras on this DVD to bore you even further. It has a behind-the-scenes feature called “Behind the wheel of Dolan’s Cadillac”.
"Dolan's Cadillac" is on sale April 6, 2010 and is rated R. Crime-Thriller. Directed by Jeff Beesley. Written by Richard Dooling. Starring Christian Slater, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Wes Bentley.
