Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more

 

D-Tox (2001)

Director: Jim Gillespie

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

This killer-chiller isn't preposterous enough for laughs and is too sloppily directed and scripted to scare or surprise. The lead, Stallone, comes off lightly, however; he's the alcoholic FBI enforcer who takes the advice of his superior Charlie (Dutton) to go to a snowy Wyoming detox centre run by ex-cop Doc (Kristofferson) as the only way to recover from the gruesome murder of his girlfriend Mary. It ain't no ordinary clinic we have here, guys. The defunct nuclear command and control post is only accessible by snow-mobile; it's staffed by bitter and sneering loonies; the ex-cop patients vary from paranoid, through suicidal, to psychotically aggressive; the power generator's on the blink; the medication goes missing; and, worse, it seems there's a killer on the loose. The early action sequences prove the athleticism of Stallone's double; the man himself, falling to his knees in inarticulate suffering, could challenge German silent star Emil Jannings in the realm of gigantic pathos. The gratuitous violence is predictable; but so is the plot. Any student of American xenophobia will spot the villain as soon as he opens his mouth. Cinematographer Dean Semler's good eye is wasted on this hokum.

Author: WH

Time Out Film Guide


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields





Features

Chicago International Film Festival preview

Chicago International Film Festival preview

Mark Ruffalo cons us into liking The Brothers Bloom, plus early tips on films and surviving the fest.

Chain gang

Miranda July's "video chain letters" for women filmmakers get some respect at the Siskel.

Mister nice guy

Greg Kinnear brings his affability to a flawed hero.

Radical visions

British filmmaker Derek Jarman gets a much-deserved reconsideration at the Siskel Film Center.

Toronto International Film Festival

The Wrestler aside, the least-hyped films at Toronto were the most exciting.

Summer school

Six lessons we learned at the multiplex this summer.

Head trip

Fall preview: Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York is one of the most mind-bending films of the season.