Today’s quick review: Get Carter. After the death of his brother, London criminal Jack Carter (Michael Caine) heads north to his hometown to find the men responsible. There he checks in on his orphaned niece Doreen (Petra Markham) and butts heads with Eric (Ian Hendry) and Kinnear (John Osborne), a pair of local criminals. But as Jack keeps prying into his brother’s death, the culprits make escalating attempts to run him out of town.
Get Carter is a British crime drama about one man’s attempts to avenge his murdered brother. Get Carter begins as a mystery, with Jack hunting down leads in a town that’s reluctant to give him any. But the film gradually morphs into a revenge flick as Jack pays back those responsible. As a result, Get Carter skews dark even for the crime genre. The film has a decent plot, but its dark content and unsympathetic protagonist deal it a severe blow.
As a mystery, Get Carter has the pieces it needs but doesn’t assemble them very tightly. The early part of the movie is a jumble of vague leads with little immediate payoff. Jack shakes down anyone and everyone he knows for information and comes up all but empty. Later revelations make sense of what’s going on, but the unfocused build-up hurts the eventual payoff, and the answers are less something that Jack earns than something he stumbles on.
As a revenge movie, Get Carter comes across more as vindictive than cathartic. Jack Carter is a cruel, uncaring protagonist whose sole redeeming trait is his cunning, and even that is used primarily to cause suffering. He takes advantage of the people around him, shows humanity only towards Doreen, and doles out vengeance in ways that are shocking, even when deserved. Get Carter is a tale of bad versus worse that lacks the fun of an action flick.
Get Carter may be worth a watch for those interested in the darker side of the crime genre. Its callous protagonist and his sprawling investigation do put some meat on the film’s bones, while its late-game revelations and brutal acts of revenge give it a skewed form of payoff. But mystery fans will find that there’s little to sink their teeth into, while those looking for a vengeful romp will leave with a bitter taste in their mouth.
For a budget action movie with a similar premise and somewhat less execution quality, try Rage or I Am Vengeance. For a more cheerful use of Michael Caine, try The Italian Job. For a British crime movie with a similarly complex, sordid plot, try The Bank Job. For a more sympathetic criminal protagonist, try Layer Cake.
7.5 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 for decent execution quality, hurt by an overly dark tone and a mediocre mystery.