Sylvester Stallone feels his remake of Get Carter is one of his most underrated movies, but it really isn't. Towards the end of the '90s, the box-office dominance of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stallone movies began to wane. A series of critical and commercial duds chipped away at their bankability, and while Arnie moved to politics during the 2000s, Stallone famously had a rough few years when the new millennium began. After an uphill battle to get Rocky Balboa produced, he considered quitting the business entirely. Thankfully, the success of the latter led to a new chapter in his career.
A series of flops in the early 2000s like Driven or Get Carter even led to Stallone's work heading straight to DVD. In a 2022 THR profile, Stallone said of the latter that "Believe it or not, I think Get Carter was really underrated," before calling its reception disappointing. Get Carter remade the 1971 Michael Caine - who cameos in the Stallone version - thriller and saw a mob enforcer track down his brother's killers. Stallone - whose first action role was Nighthawks - gives a soulful turn and it has a great supporting cast, but the film is a bore. It's overstylized, shockingly low on action and deserving of its underwhelming box office.
Get Carter 2000 Misunderstood The Original
In the same THR interview, Stallone cites the problem with remakes and nostalgia with coloring Get Carter's reception. While this no doubt played a role, the truth is the blunt effectiveness and style of 1971's Get Carter make it one of Britain's best revenge thrillers. The filmmakers behind Get Carter 2000 at the very least envisioned a different take; instead of Jack Carter being an ice-cold assassin, he's haunted by his past and seeking redemption for his mistakes. In the movie's commentary, director Stephen Kay reveals he designed his version as an "anti-revenge" movie, and while a noble goal, a remake of Get Carter was the wrong vehicle.
In contrast to the likes of the Death Wish movies that positively revel in their heroes gaining bloody retribution, the original Get Carter portrays its title character as almost worse than the villains. While charming and suave, Caine's Carter is utterly ruthless in his quest and willing to kill everyone in his path. There's no glory in Carter's mission, however, and even when he kills his brother's murderer, the retribution is hollow. Still, the original at least delivered on its genre trappings, but the remake "subverts" expectations by... refusing to. This makes for a film that looks like a Stallone action thriller, while constantly underdelivering on genre conventions.
Copland Is Stallone's Most Underrated Movie
It's great that Stallone still sees the merit in Get Carter, which if nothing else, had more on its mind than most thrillers released during that period. As opposed to being underrated though, its tepid reviews and obscurity are earned. In the THR piece, Stallone - who was paid shockingly little for Rocky - also cited Copland as underrated, and in this case, he's totally correct. The actor gives one of his most touching performances as an overweight, partially deaf sheriff forced to confront a gang of corrupt officers. With taut direction and a stellar supporting cast (Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Harvey Keitel and more), Copland is deserving of more love from audiences.