Dolan's Cadillac

The movie is certainly worth a watch.It is the tale of a revenge seeking spouse's determined efforts to kill an almost untouchable criminal.It is based on a short story by Stephen King.There are a few changes,but it is true to the original story and the few changes in the story are effective. The movie could be worth a rating of 9 or 9.5 if not for the first 15 to 20 minutes of the the movie.Emmanuelle Vaugier's dialogs are really bad and her acting is not great either.Wes Bentley as the protagonist was disappointing for the first 20 minutes but he is excellent thereafter as a determined,disoriented revenge-seeking monster. Christian Slater makes a lasting impact every time he is on the screen. The music,editing,dialogs(barring the first few minutes),cinematography and performances are pretty good. Though the first 20 minutes of the movie are not noteworthy the last 20 minutes are in complete contrast and stand out.

source: Dolan's Cadillac

In Las Vegas, the school teachers Robinson (Wes Bentley) and his wife Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier) are trying to have a baby. While riding a horse through the desert after hours, Elizabeth witnesses the execution of two coyotes and an illegal immigrant by the human trafficker Jimmy Dolan (Christian Slater) and she decides to report to the police. However, she loses her cellular and Dolan tracks her address and threatens her. Elizabeth goes to the FBI with Robinson and they move to a safe house under the protection of two agents. When Elizabeth sneaks from the house to buy pregnancy tests, her car explodes and she dies. The disturbed Robinson decides to buy a powerful revolver and learn how to shoot to revenge Elizabeth killing Dolan. But the mobster and his henchman find him in a bar and beat up on him. Robinson goes to the rock bottom of his life but he retrieves and plots a sophisticated revenge. "Dolan's Cadillac" is a dark tale of revenge based on a short story of Stephen king. Christian Slater is a great sadistic villain but unfortunately Wes Bentley with his wooden expression and Emmanuelle Vaugier with her cynical smile are not convincing in their roles of school teachers that have their lives destroyed due to the sequence of stupid attitudes of Elizabeth. Anyway, movies about revenge are usually engaging and this one is above average. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "Sede de Vingança" ("Thirsty of Revenge")

This movie totally rocks!! Especially for all of you who fell in love with Christian Slater's performance in "Heather's". He has this "face" that just cannot be duplicated- the eyes, that grin, the eyebrows, the wicked voice. But he never could really grasp that perfection again. Oh, he was GREAT in "Murder in the First"; GOOD in "Untamed Heart", "Hard Rain", "Broken Arrow", and "True Romance"; OKAY in "The Contender", "Young Guns 2", "Robin Hood"; and although "Pump Up the Volume" was a little weird, it was actually enjoyable. My point is, after "Heathers", it took Slater 22 YEARS to again reach that perfect character. He (being the bad guy), performed his BEST acting ,since "Heathers", in this movie. Very memorable performance. And the perfect role for him. Then there's Wes Bentley- mostly known for his "dark" roles ( I mean, look at that face, those eyes- he just screams those types of roles!). But after great performances in movies like "Ghost Rider", "American Beauty", "Soul Survivors", "The Ungodly", and "P2", you will be pleasantly surprised with Wes' role in this movie. He's a man in pain, after losing his wife to a killer, yet he's kind of hard to figure out. Yeah, he's gonna go after the guy for revenge, but it's his methods that kind of confuse you. You're actually completely unsure of Wes' full intentions until THE very end of the movie. If you're a smoker, you'll want to go for a smoke, if you're not, you might want a cigarette anyway! The cool thing about the movie as a whole is, the fact that there's not fifty characters running around , to keep up with. Just a handful of great performances from beginning to end. And the movie does us the favor of going straight from the beginning to the end, without a lot of bullshit, stalling, or boring periods of time to endure. I couldn't think of anything that I would change, or add to this movie. It was moving, exciting, sad, eerie, unpredictable, and definitely original. No, I haven't read the book, and I don't intend to- I haven't had a movie "grip" me in this way in a long time, and I don't want to chance altering that. I have to add, that Al Sapienza, who I had NEVER heard of in my life, was also excellent in this movie. He has a certain "it" factor going on, and he played his role well.( Nice on the eyes, as well). My opinion: If you like a good thriller (not horror), with continuous entertainment from beginning to the end, then you have got to check out this movie. ( Especially those of you, like me, that have been desperately waiting for Christian Slater to "push" that "bar" again- HE FINALLY DID IT!! GAVE IT 100%!!). Enjoy.

This was a "straight to DVD" and it shows. The dialogue ranges from OK to pretty bad at times, the acting is nothing special but acceptable, and the directing is mediocre. I almost turned the movie off 30 minutes into it, but I'm a big Stephen King fan, so I thought I'd stick it out. It actually picks up and gets more interesting about halfway through. It's still not fantastic, but the second half has a satisfying Edgar Allan Poe twist to it and is fairly entertaining. If you are a major fan of Stephen King and/or Edgar Allan Poe and you're short of new movies to watch, give Dolan's Cadillac a shot. If you're still watching when you hit the halfway point, you'll surely enjoy the rest even more.

I feel I should start the review by saying whether I had previously read the Stephen King short story before watching this movie. As a matter of fact, I had. I didn't find it one of his better stories, namely because the story early on reveals exactly what the protagonist is planning, and subsequently does it. No surprises or twists. The screenplay for this movie does fix this, not revealing what the protagonist is planning until it happens (though there are a few hints along the way.) However, the screenplay does still have some flaws. It runs too long, a pitfall many movies adapted from short stories have. There are many scenes with Dolan that don't seem necessary. And there are some plot holes, like how the protagonist got Dolan's cell phone number. Another flaw is with Slater. He tries REALLY hard, enough that he deserves an "A" for effort. But he's still the last person you'd imagine to be a gangster. Had someone older and more weathered been in his role, I think the movie would have worked better. Still, there is some merit to be found. The production values are really good - this is one shot-in-Canada movie that actually manages to make you think it was shot in the United States. And the last half hour of the movie is very good, tense and gripping. If you can't find a better movie, and have the patience to sit through a so-so first hour for a really good last half hour, then I would recommend this movie.

Recap: Life is looking good for Robinson and his fiancée Elizabeth. But one day everything changes. Elizabeth is out riding in the hills and witnesses the brutal murders of a whole group of young women by trafficking mobster Dolan. Dolan is known for getting rid of all competition and threats but Elizabeth is determined to witness. Despite getting protection from the FBI Dolan manages to murder her and Robinson goes on a quest for revenge. But Dolan's car, a Cadillac, is a fortress in itself, armored and bulletproof, so Robinson must think of something special. Comments: A rather bad movie that actually is rather hard to put into a genre. It got a little action but not enough to make it an action. It is probably supposed to be a thriller, but it doesn't got much of suspense. And it certainly isn't a romance, comedy or drama. It got a little of everything, but it is nothing in the end. The story is very simple and divided into three parts. First, the setup. Show the happy couple, kill the girl and give proper motivation for Robinson's quest. Then, the plot. This is where Robinson plans his special revenge, which plays out by him working as a road-worker. Not very exciting at all. And last, the revenge. Which is not very exciting either, because it is very single sided. Oh, I'm sure Robinson got a kick out of it, but to watch it. Nah. Unfortunately, but not very surprising, the acting is nothing to remember either. Well, I suppose there wasn't much to do with the material at hand, but still. The cast is mostly unknown, to me at least, with the exception of Slater. I have higher expectations on him, although his recent work doesn't promise much. Vaugier was the only one that showed some promise, and I hope she gets another shot. In conclusion, not a good movie, but not too bad either. Nothing to remember, and there are many better movies out there. 4/10

This is really hard for me to do,as Christian Slater is my favourite actor,but this movie was,well terrible. As well as being a Slater fan,i also like Stephen King,but this really disappoints,It starts off with Jimmy Dolan killing a couple of immigrant's,as he is a trafficker and burying them alive in the Nevada desert,whilst being watched by a school teacher played by Emmanuele Vaugier(check spelling),so Dolan order's her death,she is put into protective custody along with her partner,Wes Bentley,she ends up dead and Bentley goes on the hunt for revenge,he has numerous opportunities but fails to take them,the same being said for Slater,who also has the opportunity to get rid of Bentley,but makes a mistake by not doing so. I only gave it a 3 because Slaters performance was good enough,but i'm sorry to all Wes Bentley fans,as i get angry when people slag Slater,but this guy really can't act,the last 10 minutes of the film,he gets a pass from me,but up until then,he is like a lump of wood,again,i apologise for being negative about him,but in this movie,he deserves it. I beg you not to watch this,even if your a Slater fan.

The director of DOLAN'S CADILLAC, Jeff Beesley, was told by his agent, "If you can't knock this movie outta the park, you might as well forget it - go back to pumping gas." Uh, Jeff, I got some bad news.... From a Stephen King short story of the same name (from the 1993 collection, Nightmares and Dreamscapes), screenwriter Richard Dooling misses the point completely and somehow thinks he can improve on a writing legend's plot elements - much like the rewriters of THE SOUND OF THUNDER (2005) had the brass balls to think they could improve on a Ray Bradbury story. DOLAN'S CADILLAC - a straight-to-DVD release - is another great Stephen King story wasted onto the small screen. Robinson (Wes Bentley) and wife Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier) are a regular Las Vegas couple, whose life is upended when Elizabeth witnesses human-trafficker Dolan (Christian Slater) execute people in the Nevada desert. Dolan has her killed. Robinson gets revenge in a very unique, exacting way. Dolan is chauffered around in a bulletproof Cadillac as fortified as a tank. In the short story, Robinson uses this fact to entomb Dolan in a highway grave, the first person narrative pathologically taking us through the meticulous life-planning and interesting physics of devising the trap. In the book, the "arc of descent" becomes a blueprint for Robinson's subterranean trap and a metaphor for his psychological and physical deterioration. While in the movie, the arc of descent is something that Dolan pulls out of thin air while standing at a pee trough. Was that the writer's subliminal message to us?: I'm URINATING ALL OVER STEPHEN KING! King's characters are efficiently made two-dimensional by leaden Wes Bentley (whose terrifically vapid performance in GHOST RIDER must have scored him this role) and Christian Slater, getting drunk on Jack (Nicholson, not Daniels). The highway trap is merely a flat drop covered with tarpaulin. No science required. In trying to extend King's story to movie length, instead of inserting all those interesting master plan elements, which would have drawn out the time compellingly, screenwriter Dooling puts in banalities: Robinson buying a Dirty Harry gun, Dolan extending his trafficking to children, Chinese mobsters, an FBI guy (Al Sapienza from THE SOPRANOS) and loads of black mascara for Wes Bentley in lieu of acting. To hear director Beesley speak of his filmic debacle in the DVD Featurette is to wonder whether he has ever viewed his own film: "...extremely entertaining... a great ride... a Saturday night popcorn movie..." And here's the one that made peanuts fly out of my nose: "At its heart it's very much an art film." Choke. Gasp. Bwohahahahahaha! King's story was an homage to Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado in subtle, disturbing ways; story described in detail how Dolan's highway grave could never be discovered. Beesley's movie gives us a scene of Robinson shifting a final stone slab into place over Dolan's screaming face, for the sole reason to echo Poe's (and King's) words, "For the love of God, no!" But this final homage is Beesley's final illogical mistake. The manner in which Beesley's trap is built is rife for discovery by authorities; the final stupid stone over Beesley's own face. Poe and King have assured themselves their places in history. Beesley has assured himself a career at the Shell Gas-N-Go. Fill 'er up please, Jeff.

10 lines? this is going to be tough this is cheap rubbish boring predictable not worth going out of your way to watch skip it you will not regret not watching this movie i persevered till the death like i always do no excitement at all who cares! you don't give a **** what happens anyone in this AVOID!10 lines? this is going to be tough this is cheap rubbish boring predictable not worth going out of your way to watch skip it you will not regret not watching this movie i persevered till the death like i always do no excitement at all who cares! you don't give a **** what happens anyone in this AVOID!10 lines? this is going to be tough this is cheap rubbish boring predictable not worth going out of your way to watch skip it you will not regret not watching this movie i persevered till the death like i always do no excitement at all who cares! you don't give a **** what happens anyone in this AVOID!