The Movie Guys: Dissension lives for ‘Bringing out the Dead’

Friday, Oct. 22, 1999 | 10:12 a.m.

The Movie Guys, starring Jeff Howard and Dave Neil, appears Fridays in the Sun. newscast on KVVU Channel 5. You can also read their capsule reviews of movies in online at lasvegassun.com/sun/sunlife/movies and themovieguys.com.

Grades: Jeff, D; Dave, B+.

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore.

Directed by: Martin Scorsese.

Screenplay by: Paul Schrader.

Rated: R for profanity, graphic violence, drug use and adult situations.

Running Time: 142 minutes.

Playing at: UA Green Valley, UA Showcase mall, UA Rainbow Promenade, Regal Cinemas Texas Station 18, Regal Cinemas Village Square 18, Regal Cinemas Colonnade 14, Cinedome 12 Henderson, Century Desert, Rancho Santa Fe 16, Century Orleans 12.

Synopsis: Sirens screaming and lights flashing, a New York City ambulance speeds through the night. Its drivers are paramedics working the graveyard shift -- men who come face-to-face with the dead and the dying on a daily basis. Burned out from too many nights on the job, they are nearly as broken as the bodies they haul through the streets.

Jeff: Director Martin Scorsese has a reputation for depicting realism in his films, whether it be horrific violence in "Goodfellas," a costume period piece such as "Age of Innocence," or going 10 rounds of boxing in "Raging Bull." But for his new film, "Bringing Out the Dead," about stressed-out and overworked paramedics working in New York City, the realism is lacking.

Each of the calls that our paramedics arrive at seem boring and bland -- worse yet, staged and unrealistic. I've been conditioned by television shows such as "ER" and "Third Watch" and expect our doctors and paramedics to perform at a fast and furious pace, and Scorsese's approach is DOA. You could argue that the theme of the film isn't about the blood and the gore, but about the personal struggle of one overworked and cracked paramedic, Frank Pierce, but being a Scorsese film, it doesn't go far enough.

Dave: As high-maintenance as Jeff can be, I assure you, our faithful readers, that it comes as no surprise that he'd expect his fruit along with his cream, whatever that means. Arguably America's most respected filmmaker, Scorsese returns to his cinematic roots where his early films explored the persona of New York. However, unlike those films, "Bringing Out the Dead" is incredibly surreal and even psychedelic as it unfolds upon the mean streets of the City That Never Sleeps.

Nicolas Cage plays the tormented EMS paramedic Frank Pierce, who slowly has been going stir crazy from his strenuous nightly shift on the job. Particularly, he is plagued with grief over the deaths of helpless victims he could not save, and over the course of three nights he is on a path for either redemption or self-destruction -- whatever it takes to reach the peace that he is desperately searching for in his life.

Jeff: OK, problem No. 2 with "Bringing Out the Dead" is the casting. Cage as a paramedic? Scorsese would have served the film better by casting lesser-known actors in the parts or, to remain totally faithful to the material to cast unknowns. With such a delicate and stressful occupation, and the death of one particular girl, Rose, Pierce finally snapped. He's like one clown short of a circus, and the death and destruction in his job has finally taken its toll on his sanity.

Cage is a brilliant actor, granted, but his high-profile, celebrity status, I felt, was too distracting for the part. Pierce is not one of Cage's best characters to date and his interpretation is never fully realized. Don't blame him, blame the script. The love story between Pierce and Mary Burke (Patricia Arquette), sparked when medics arrived to treat her father, turns out flat and confusing with a sappy "holy resolution" ending. John Goodman is Larry, Pierce's sidekick, and spends little time on screen. Goodman's talent remained largely unused. Besides, who could ever believe that a 400-pound man would be in good enough health to perform a paramedic's job? I have only praise for Tom Sizemore, who was the only convincing actor in the entire film.

Dave: I think Jeff needs a paramedic, and quick! How in the world could we differ on this film while making the same exact points? To say Cage's "celebrity status" is a distraction is like asking, "Why should he ever bother making another dramatic film that allows him to experiment with his own unique talent?" Cage has not had a more challenging role since his Oscar-winning turn in 1995's "Leaving Las Vegas." His mournful look and ability to make himself terribly vulnerable allowed me to lose myself in his fall into delirium. Carrying a bleak appearance that transformed him to near-death lent itself to his quirky mannerisms and unusual oddities that Cage instills in every character he takes on.

Furthermore, an exceptional trio of supportive actors play Frank's nightly partners, metaphorically serving as outlets to his anxiety. Each performance is literally a standout: Ving Rhames as Marcus, a regular servant to God who allows death to take its natural course; Sizemore as Walls, a sociopath with his patients and himself; and, contrary to what Jeff might think, Goodman as Larry, who happily chooses to detach himself from his responsive duties through hookers and food.

Jeff: Scorsese uses every surreal technique and trick photography -- normally reserved for a Madonna music video -- to somehow convey the brutal streets of New York. These are the streets where paramedics risk their lives every day -- what with drive-by shootings, suicide attempts and domestic batteries -- but the message becomes lost and so does the honor of the men in white. Yes, the hospitals are overcrowded, the paramedics are underpaid and overworked, it's a jungle out there, but why didn't Scorsese use the same direct approach as Ron Howard did with firemen in "Backdraft"?

Even Scorsese's trademark -- using pop songs to accentuate the action -- didn't work. He went too far with his "blurred" vision and the end result was a dull ride-along: no account of authenticity, bad casting, dull story and a plot execution that needs its own defibrilator. A portrait of a day in the life of a New York paramedic demands excitement and the power of life and death in the hands of those trusted with our lives on the front line. This had none.

Dave: Unfortunately, there was nothing the paramedics could do for Jeff's critique by the time they arrived on the scene. So that leaves me to attest to Scorsese's dazzling nocturnal tale that possesses his signature touch. Reteaming with scribe Paul Schrader ("Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull") and cinematographer Robert Richardson ("Casino"), Scorsese has created a film that is a sharp, dark, neon extravaganza with a twisted sort of humor. More visually stimulating than his last historical epic, "Kundun" (1997), and even more innovative than anything in Scorsese's entire filmography, "Bringing Out the Dead" is a provocative display of symbolism that proves once again there is nothing this American cinematic master can not accomplish with a camera.

Name That Flick

What was the name of the musical/comedy film in which Edward Norton sang "Just You, Just Me" to Drew Barrymore? Branden Ledesma was the first to call and correctly guess "Everyone Says I Love You." Way to go, Branden! Now, with Halloween just around the corner, we thought we would get in the mood by asking some horror movie trivia:

How many times did Donald Pleasence actually shoot Michael Myers in the original "Halloween"? If you think you know, call the Movie Guys Hotline at 225-9026, or log onto our website at www.themovieguys.com. Be sure to spell your name and if you're the first to answer correctly, we will print your name right here in our column for the entire Las Vegas Valley to read.

Be sure to pick up this week's issue of the Las Vegas Weekly to read our interview with Las Vegas' own motorcycling vampire, Count Cool Rider. See you next week!

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