Stephen King: Dolans Cadillac

Having read the short story by Stephen King before viewing this film, i can clearly confirm that for anyone who is hoping for a faithful adaption, you may find yourself in two half's.

The film itself is average. The pacing at the start is spot on and the story should be intriguing enough for you wanting more. This said, I watched this film with a companion and unlike me, he hasn't read the story. I'm not going to moan about how the film isn't better than the book cause it's never is but what i will say is that my friend must of got confused during the final parts.

The main character, Robinson, takes up a job on the highways to get a grip of the machinery which he'll be using to execute his plan. This also involves him creating a illusionary canvas and setting up a false detour. I know all this because i've read the book, however, the film does such a awful job showing the characters emotions and there purposes that i'll warn you not to get upset when you find yourself lost.

Long story short, film is a mess. Bently at times was laughable, Slater had no swagger and Robinson's Partner was idiotic. I dunno, i loved the story but even if had never read it before setting eyes on the film, it wouldn't of made much difference.

Robinson (Wes Bentley) and his wife Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier) are fellow school teachers. Elizabeth is horse riding in the desert and runs across human traffickers. The fans in the truck broke down killing some of the girls. Elizabeth witnesses gangster pimp Jimmy Dolan (Christian Slater) killing the drivers and one girl trying to escape. She rides away but loses her phone. The couple reports it to the police but he is uninterested in the illegals. They go home to find one of the dead girls in their bed and they go to the FBI. She's committed to testifying but is killed in a car bomb. Robinson falls into a deep depression and then aims to take revenge. Meanwhile Dolan is disagreeing on payment with the Snakeheads.

Christian Slater is chewing up the screen. He is a good bad guy. Wes Bentley has crazy eyes. He looks like he's permanently tense. It doesn't allow him to change his character's feelings and the character goes through a lot of changes. It's one of the big problems. The other problem is the general lack of production value. I assume it's due to a lower budget and won't fault the movie for it. It has the basis of a good psychological thriller but Wes is not able to deliver it completely.

I didn't need to see this movie. I don't think anybody did, but I read the short story many times over the years. It's one of my favourite Nightmares and Dreamscape shorts from Stephen King and I was intrigued to see how they stretched the plot to make it into a feature length film! You don't need a synopsis from me, not on IMDb. Jimmy Dolan is a criminal living and operating out of Las Vegas. When keeping his nose clean means dispatching of Robinson's wife, it destroys his life and leads him to act out on the urge for revenge as the authorities fails to pin the crime on Dolan and his goons.

What I liked about the King story was that there was nothing to like about any of the characters, all but Tinker. He wrote it from Robinson's perspective and it was nothing short of psychopathic, which is refreshing compared to most revenge stories.

In the movie, the likability factor pretty much stays the same, but the makers seem to have made a point of giving Dolan and his crew all the entertainment value and most of the screen time. Personally, I'd have watched an hour and a half of Robinson planning and executing his revenge trip, but we're given snippets of him going through his trauma and falling apart and, sorry to say, it bored me.

Wes Bentley has never been one to watch, for me at least. It might just be the angry kid scowl permanently etched into his face, but here he does a great job and pulls off some very natural but often overlooked acting.

Christian Slater is just Christian Slater as always. I'm not saying he's incapable of acting because he puts some great energy into his role, but he's one of those actors that isn't cut out for defining different personalities. His face is incapable of change, it seems.

The most important part of the movie, now that my problems are out of the way, is Bentley's Robinson giving up school to join the road crew in the Nevada desert. That's when King's storytelling really transfers well, and the addition of Tink and Danny really add texture to this film's character.

The revenge plot itself and how Robinson goes through with it are superb. I found myself smiling most of the way through it and feeling satisfied by the end credits. Odd that a film can be so generic and run-of-the-mill until the final half hour blows you away, right? If you ever give it a try, read the story first and just skip to the end, that's my advice!

It is really rare to have Christian Slater in such a nasty character role, and it is even more interesting to watch it out. It evokes the problem of illegal migrants and the business which is correlated to it. And stories where the lead character, especially a well know actor, is the evil dude of the story - TERMINATOR, COLLATERAL, M, UNHINGED - this kind of schemes have always interested me; an evil guy is always more interesting than a good one. In this movie, directing is pretty good for a B picture, Stephen King or not Stephen King. No length, only excitment and thrills. If you had seen THEY CAME TO ROB LAS VEGAS, a 1968 crime flick, also taking place in the vicinity of LV, you will notice some common elements with this one.

The movie is certainly worth a watch.It is the tale of a revenge seeking spouse's determined efforts to kill an almost untouchable criminal.It is based on a short story by Stephen King.There are a few changes,but it is true to the original story and the few changes in the story are effective.

The movie could be worth a rating of 9 or 9.5 if not for the first 15 to 20 minutes of the the movie.Emmanuelle Vaugier's dialogs are really bad and her acting is not great either.Wes Bentley as the protagonist was disappointing for the first 20 minutes but he is excellent thereafter as a determined,disoriented revenge-seeking monster. Christian Slater makes a lasting impact every time he is on the screen.

The music,editing,dialogs(barring the first few minutes),cinematography and performances are pretty good. Though the first 20 minutes of the movie are not noteworthy the last 20 minutes are in complete contrast and stand out.