THE MOVIE:

It's no secret that Stephen King is one of the most adapted authors of our time. However, even he isn't above the law of averages. We've seen successful interpretations of his work and some glaring misfires. The last few years have been good for fans of King with The Mist and 1408 coming through in a big way. With Dolan's Cadillac director Jeff Beesley has unfortunately managed to swing the scales back towards mediocrity. He has employed one of King's short stories from the Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection to give us a seething tale of revenge told in an oddly artsy manner.

Robinson (Wes Bentley) and his wife, Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier), are teachers in love who are attempting to start a family. Jimmy Dolan (Christian Slater) is a Vegas mobster who loves only himself and is attempting to expand his sex slave business. Their paths are about to cross in a most ugly fashion. When a truck carrying Dolan's latest human cargo runs into some technical difficulties, he decides to take care of matters by killing everyone on board. Elizabeth happens to witness the bloodshed while she is out horseback riding but manages to escape by the skin of her teeth when Dolan and his goons spot her. Despite knowing what he is capable of, Elizabeth decides to be a witness against Dolan after approaching the authorities. While Elizabeth and Robinson are holed up in a hotel room awaiting the trial, Dolan manages to extract information regarding their whereabouts. A misguided trip for a pregnancy test and a car bomb later, Elizabeth is no more and Robinson's entire world has come crashing down around him.

As he slowly drinks himself into oblivion, Robinson's school work starts to suffer. It is at this point that he decides to buy a gun 'three times as powerful as Dirty Harry's' and finish Dolan once and for all. His first assassination attempt on Dolan is rudely interrupted by a Chinese gang who has an equally burning desire to see Jimmy dead. While the attack ends very badly for the Chinese mobsters, it does demonstrate the kind of lethal power Dolan possesses when he is out and about in his impenetrable Cadillac SUV. From there, Robinson becomes increasingly desperate. He starts tracking Dolan during his business jaunts and becomes familiar with his favored routes. A moment of inspiration sets him on course to execute an idea that Wile E. Coyote would be proud to call his own. I don't want to reveal the details of Robinson's grand scheme in case you haven't read King's original short story. Suffice it to say that it's one of those audacious ideas that makes a piece of literature (yeah, I said it) instantly memorable.

Given the film's pulpy premise, it's disheartening to watch what could have been a propulsive, gritty little thriller repeatedly applying the brakes when it should be stomping the accelerator. Some may look at the film's 89 minute running time and wonder what the heck I'm complaining about. It's not a matter of duration. It's a question of pacing and tone. If a thriller has a central gimmick that sells itself, then it needs to be smart enough to get out of its own way. Working from a script by Richard Dooling, director Beesley doesn't see it that way. He weighs scenes down with gravity that they don't require, often allowing characters to spout nonsensical pseudo-poetry masquerading as deep thought. Not content with being efficient, he overreaches and looks silly in the process. This is most evident in a bit of narration by Robinson describing Dolan's character. It's a very particular line that was used by Tom Cullen to describe Randall Flagg in King's epic, The Stand. While the description was oddly fitting for Flagg's character since he is one of King's famous villains, Dolan simply doesn't earn it. It's a case of homage gone wrong.

The performances here are a mixed bag. We get a deliciously over the top turn from Christian Slater as Jimmy Dolan. He paints the character as a smarmy businessman who is focused on 'moving units' and isn't above occasionally taking the 'merchandise' for a test drive. I remember Sylvester Stallone being attached to this role for the longest time but after seeing Slater's performance, I can't imagine anyone else as Dolan. It's too bad that Slater doesn't have someone equally strong to play against. Bentley gives Robinson two speeds: bored and super duper intense. There's not much in between. Early scenes with the engaging Vaugier make it hard to fathom why Elizabeth would be with someone as flat and uninteresting as Robinson. After her death, Bentley improves a bit since he gets to switch gears and give the same brooding performance that he has given in all his previous movies. To be fair, he stretches during the darkly comic finale but this doesn't make up for what is an utterly average portrayal of a seemingly tormented character.

THE DVD:

Video:
The movie was presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio with anamorphic enhancement. Other than a few instances of moiré, I found the image to be fairly clear and sharp. Despite shooting in Saskatchewan, the color palette convincingly portrayed the Nevada desert. Daytime shots were bathed in yellows and browns while nighttime shots had a cool, gray edge to them.

Audio:
The English audio was presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround and 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo tracks. Both tracks were clear and free of defects. I chose to watch the film with the surround sound mix and found it sufficiently punchy especially during the explosions and shootouts. English SDH and Spanish subtitles were available.

Extras:
The DVD features a few extras, although only the first one proves to be somewhat informative. This would be the featurette going Behind the Wheel of Dolan's Cadillac (24:00). After an introduction by the director, this piece launches into details regarding the locations that were chosen for shooting the film and the difficulties associated with passing off Regina, Saskatchewan for Nevada. We get to follow Bentley and Vaugier as they walk us through the story stopping along the way to talk to the stunt and special effects crews to figure out how the climax was shot. If you plan on watching this before the film, be warned that Robinson's entire endgame will be spoiled for you. The next extra doesn't add much but it will satisfy any curiosity you may have about what the film shoot was like on a day to day basis. It features roughly 20 minutes of B Roll Behind the Scenes Footage. 9 scenes of the film are captured in this footage. The only one that I found interesting revolved around the planning of the climax. We close things out with 7 additional Trailers.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Dolan's Cadillac is based on a Stephen King short story where revenge meets asphalt. The tale was a convincing cover of Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado played by King in his own unique style. Director Beesley's take on the source material for this film isn't entirely unsuccessful but it features too many stops and starts coupled with odd artistic choices to be a truly efficient thriller. It's a good thing that the final device of revenge is a real doozy. It helps propel the film towards the finish line, even though the engine stalls a bit getting there. Rent It.