" my name is jack carter , and you don't want to know me " says our brooding anti-hero ( sylvester stallone ) . take his advice ! to know this guy is as rewarding as being thrown over a terrace . and to watch this film is almost as painful . " get carter " is a gloomy looking , unimaginative film that offers no joy . jack carter is as tough as tough guys come . he works out of vegas as a self-described 'financial adjuster' . explaining his duties , he says , " people make promises and break them . i help them remember . " he has a chiseled body full of tattoos . he has the weathered look indicative of a man who has seen his share of hard times . he speaks in a hushed but menacing tone of voice . in other words , this is sylvester stallone acting like . . . sylvester stallone . and like most of his previous roles , his character is a shallow , one-dimensional thug whose modus operandi is to talk tough , hassle a few hapless people , find out what he needs to know , and then dispense his own kind of justice . with the charisma of a pit bull , being tough is all that jack carter knows . yet , even tough guys know when to put family first . as the story begins , we learn that jack's little brother has died in a car accident . the police attribute it to heavy drinking . however , jack is suspicious , believing that he was 'taken out' . he takes a break from his vegas duties and tries to see if he can find the truth . as he pokes around , he runs into several lowlife characters . they include a shady business partner , a prostitute , a dweebish millionaire molded after bill gates , and an oily owner of a porn website . any one of them may know something about his brother's death . all of them have the means of carrying out the deed . but don't expect an exercise in sleuthing where well-placed clues lead carter to the truth . he's all brawn and no brains , so there are no epiphanies during his investigation . instead , he uses intimidation to muscle his way forward , cycling through this circle of suspects . flustered with his lack of progress , he cycles through them again and again . this all gets tiring fairly quickly . by the time the film launches into its final act , we're numb from its pedestrian pace . oddly , as a tough-guy thriller , it starves us for action . admittedly , there is one nifty chase sequence , but this is related to a tangential and needless plot ( carter's vegas ties send thugs to retrieve him ) . the story also fails to generate any kind of emotion . stallone has the personality of a slab of stone . and the look and feel of the film is perpetually downcast . the weather is constantly overcast or rainy . meanwhile , most shots take place at night , in dimly lit rooms , or in dark alleys . it's just impossible to get stirred about that kind of atmosphere . as a result , " get carter " amounts to nothing more than a flat thriller , bereft of clever moments and devoid of any excitement . you're better off leaving this guy alone .
