Film Review: DOLAN’S CADILLAC (2009)

Director: Jeff Beesley
Based on a short story by Stephen King
Running time: 89 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Crime/Thriller
USA Release date: 6th April 2010 (DVD premiere)

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 16th July 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I admit to being a bit of a fan of the work of Stephen King, as such I am fully aware that there are many adaptations of his work out there that are less than average. Despite this, I live in hope that someday somebody will make a decent fist of one of his stories again. Unfortunately, this one goes on the ‘below par’ pile… along with too many others I’m afraid. I must say I haven’t read the story on which this one is based, but, knowing Mr. King, I’m sure it works perfectly well on the page. More of my thoughts after this brief summary.

A schoolteacher, Robinson, is devastated when his wife, Elizabeth, is murdered by crime boss Dolan. She had witnessed several murders committed by Dolan whilst out riding one day and ended up paying the ultimate price. With vengeance on his mind, Robinson gets himself a gun and stakes out Dolan for a long time. Thinking the time is right he prepares to kill him but a hit by a rival gang puts paid to his ambitions and demonstrates that Dolan’s car, a tripped out Cadillac is one tough motor vehicle! Eventually a plan forms in Robinson’s mind, one which will involve Dolan’s Cadillac.

There are elements of this film I liked, the fact that Robinson is haunted by visions of his wife after her death was a nice device. Shame they didn’t use it to its full potential. There were a couple of moments of humour in there, but not enough to give this film a boost it needed. Performance-wise, Christian Slater did an excellent job as Dolan, he really knows how to ‘chew the furniture’ when required. Wes Bentley was also pretty good as Robinson and finally, although she didn’t have an awful lot to do, Emmanuelle Vaugier did a decent job as Elizabeth.

I do enjoy a decent revenge thriller but unfortunately this one is a bit of a let-down. The plot loses a lot of steam very quickly and never really recovers. It’s a shame really because this one had some potential, but I can see why it went straight to DVD. Over all, despite a couple of decent performances, this one fails to live up to its potential… NOT recommended.

My Score: 4.7/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0963965/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dolans_cadillac/
Trailer: