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Cast
Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage)
Mary Burke (Patricia Arquette)
Larry (John Goodman)
Marcus (Ving Rhames)
Tom Walls (Tom Sizemore)
Directed by Martin Scorsese Written by Paul Schrader
Rated R for language, violence, drug use, nudity, and sexual
situations Running Time: 118 minutes Distributed by Paramount
and Touchstone Pictures
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the Poster!
Bringing
Out the Dead is a well made film that has a mild script. The
story follows the character of Frank Pierce (Cage), who is
a New York City ambulance driver. Frank's life begins to crumble
after too many nights of saving and losing lives. He can't
sleep, he drinks frequently, and he begins seeing the spirits
of his lost victims. Frank starts to believe that he has nothing
left to live for until Mary (Arquette), the daughter of a
man whose life was saved by Frank, gives him hope for life
and redemption.
Bringing
Out the Dead has nice acting and outstanding direction. However,
I found the script to be a little to long, even though the
story line was original and something different.
Nicolas
Cage is terrific as the worn out and spiritually collapsed
medic, Frank. Cage has great range from head to toe with this
character. I like seeing Cage continuously taking risky roles
in his career. John Goodman delivers an admirable performance
as Larry, who is one of Frank's partners. In addition to,
the whole cast was naturally effective. Small but pivotal
roles from Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore are memorable. Also
Cage's wife, Patricia Arquette, rebounds with a nice performance
after struggling in her last film Stigmata.
The
direction is vivid and intelligent by Martin Scorsese. Scorsese,
who is an acclaimed and very controversial filmmaker, brings
visionary quick cuts and traditional lighting to the film.
Scorsese previous credits include Raging Bull, Taxi Driver,
Goodfellas, and Casino. Scorsese is a director that knows
how to project unique stories on to film, and does so masterfully
with his work in Bringing Out the Dead.
Bringing
Out the Dead was adapted from Joe Connelly's novel by Paul
Schrader. Schrader previously worked with Scorsese on Taxi
Driver. The storyline in Bringing Out the Dead is similar
to Taxi Driver. In contrast, Taxi Driver is a scarier and
darker film. Schrader's script just seemed to drag on to me.
There were some aspects and scenes that are drawn out and
lengthy in the film. An example is when Frank encounters a
drug dealer that tries to get him to consume his product.
I know that the scene ends up being important to the film,
I just felt that the script could have been tighter.
I
do recommend Bringing Out the Dead, it is strange and weird
film that some audiences might not care for. However, I felt
for the characters in the film and came in touch with each
situation that Frank encountered.
Report
Card Grade: B-
Beastman's
Movie Reviews
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