Mort à l'arrivée

OK, so this film may not have won any Oscars, but it is not a bad film. The original "D.O.A." is undoubtedly a better film, but that does not mean this film is bad.

The film stars Dennis Quaid in one of his early roles, when he was first becoming really famous, after "The Right Stuff" made him a star, and a very lovely looking Meg Ryan, when she was still now quite famous.

This is more of an "update" of the 1950 film, rather than a remake, since the setting is different and the characters too, are different. The plot is pretty much the same. A man (this time an English professor at the University of Texas at Austin) is poisoned and he has only 24 hours to find out who poisoned him and why. Meg Ryan plays a young college student who tries to help him. Jane Kaczmarek plays Quaid's estranged wife, in a low key, but intense performance; she steals every scene she is in. Daniel Stern (also in an early role, before "Home Alone" made him famous) plays Quaid's colleague. Charlotte Rampling is fine too in a supporting role.

The entire cast is top notch; The film is stylish, with a quick pace that keeps you guessing until the end.

I think this is a film that is certainly worth watching as a thriller, and as a modern version of a classic film.

As this film opens Professor Dexter Cornell enters a police station to report a murder... his own. As he sits down to tell his story to the police the action jumps back thirty six hours.

Cornell is a Lecturer and novelist although he hasn't written a book in for years and can't be bothered to read a work written by a keen student. The next thing he knows that student plummets past his window and dies on the concrete below. That isn't the only thing going wrong; his wife wants a divorce and it later emerges was having an affair with the student. On learning this he decides to get very drunk. The next morning he wakes up in the bed of student Sydney Fuller with a killer hangover. In fact he feels so bad he goes to hospital and discovers that he has been poisoned with radium chloride and only has a day or two left to live. He is determined to discover who poisoned him and why.

This isn't really a remake of the 1949 film as it only takes the central premise of that film; here we get an entirely set of characters and motives. The opening is a great hook then the story takes its time getting to the point where Cornell discovers he was poisoned. This give us time to meet the various suspects, and student Sydney who will get caught up in the hunt for the truth. Once he learns what happened the tension rises quickly... so does the body count as he finds himself suspected of one murder and targeted by people who think he knows more than he does. Dennis Quaid is impressive as the doomed Professor Cornell and Meg Ryan is fun as Sydney; the rest of the cast is solid too. There are plenty of good action sequences and a few really good surprises... even if the identity of the killer and the motive aren't too surprising. The film has a great neo-noir look; opening in black and white before switching to colour in the flashback; colour that fades as his condition worsens. Overall I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to people wanting a good mystery.

I watched this about two weeks ago, and being a fan of the original, I always like to watch the remake and talk smack about the terrible changes they made. With that being said....This wasn't terrible. I really liked that even though the premise was the same (man gets poisoned, man goes to police to tell the story, movie unfolds in a flashback), I did not feel like I was watching the original movie after about the first 10 minutes of the film. Now the original is a noir classic, This movie though I would not say is a classic in the NEO NOIR category, it definitely is worth a watch.

Quaid gives a slightly manacle performance that is fun to watch, and he does a pretty good job of holding the movie together. Some of the other cast members, well they work but their motives to me do not lead up to the results that are laid out, but this is a movie, so who cares? The production is spot on. The lighting is what I always imagine a noir picture to be. Fan shadows, lights through blinds, lit cig smoke. All the stereotypes that make a Noir a Noir are here. It does work and looks spectacular. This movie would be a great movie if you were to be studying lighting techniques.

The end, I did see coming but it felt underwhelming. Noir is known for having some twist, or cool plot device that is set up without even knowing was set up, and then BOOM last ten seconds changes everything....not so much here.

Is it as solid as the original? Well the original is a classic, but to me is a different movie, and other than the set up and the title, are different and should be judged on their own.

I enjoyed it and will watch it again.

This movie is an awesome remake of the original by the same title. The movie was cool,despite the fact, I hate new ones! All of the cast was awesome . It has great cast and an awesome plot!! The main plot is a man is poisoned and he has to solve his own murder , neat eh?!Dennis Quaid is the man who is "D.O.A"(in other words Dead On Arrival).He finds help with his friends, but everyone is now a suspect!!Dennis's character has several hours to find out who poisoned him. The movie is quite fast and full of action. You can see two other big stars in Meg Ryan(City Of Angels,Courage Under Fire) and Daniel Stern(Home Alone, Very Bad Things,Bushwhacked) in supporting roles in this awesome ,cool remake of a classic movie!!

D.O.A. (1988) *** Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, Charlotte Rampling, Daniel Stern. Fast-paced and nifty remake of the 1949 classic about a man being poisoned with time his factor as he tries to solve his own murder. Quaid is top-notch as a college English professor trying to figure out just who his enemies are and Ryan is plucky student aiding him. Cool camera movements and some fine direction from the creators of tv's "Max Headroom", Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel.