November 17,1999
Meredith Herald
Campus Extras 7
Don’t come out for Bringing Out the Dead
Thea Park
Guest Wrrler
If you are looking to see a
new drama. Bringing Out the
Dead is not the film to choose.
This Him has a great cast and a
fabulous soundtrack, but that is
all it has. Unfortunately, it is
lacking a plot and any charac
ter development.
The movie centers around
Frat^k Pierce (Nicholas Cage)
who is an EMS paramedic in
New York City in the early
I990’s- Ii follows Pierce
through two days and three
nights of his troubled life.
Bringing Out The Dead
opens with Pierce and his part
ner (John Goodman) speeding
through the night on the way to
the next call. What Picrcc does
not realize is that this call will
change his life. When they
answer a call about a man in
cardiac arrest, they arrive on
the scene to find an uncon
scious man and his hysterical
family. It is here that he meets
Mary Burke (Patricia Arquette),
his patient’s daughter. Pierce
brings the man back to life,
though he stays in a coma
throughout the movie. Pierce
and Burke form a bond as he
goes to and from the hospital,
and she is there for her father.
The audience hears a voice
over of Pierce’s thoughts, which
explain the past months of his
life. This monologue returns
several times throughout the
story, giving viewers a glimpse
into how troubled Pierce really
is. He is hopeless in his life
because of the strain his job
puts on him. He sees dying peo
ple every night and can only
deal with the stress through
alcohol. He sleeps and eats very
little, but he smokes and drinks
excessively.
One of the stranger aspects of
the film is a recurring hallucina
tion Pierce has. Throughout the
movie, he sees the face of a
teenage Latino named Rose.
She was a runaway whom he
failed to save one night. For
reasons never explained, she
haunts him continually through
the movie. He also hears her
voice and imagines her talking
to him. She .seems to be at the
rootofhisemotional problems.
Bringing Out the Dead has
very few high points, but the
one pan of the movie that is
enjoyable is the humor. Ii is
sprinkled throughout the film
and makes what would other
wise have been an unbearable
experience at least semi-bear-
able. If not for the funny lines,
I would not have made it
through Che movie.
Cage and Arquette give sat
isfactory performances in the
film, but this is not the couple
at their best. The chemistry
between them is good, but it
should be a lot better consider
ing their real-life marriage. 1
have seen them both in roles
that I consider much more
impressive, such as Cage in
Face/ Off and Arquette in Stig
mata .
Bringing Out the Dead did
neither of these talented actors
any justice. Their characters
were underdeveloped, probably
due to the lack of plot. While
both looked terrible, the make
up artists really outdid them
selves on Cage. During the
whole film he looked tike a
corpse himself. The film did lit
tle to show off the talent of this
couple, which is a shame
because they both have so much
potential.
For those who are going to
see this film because they are
Martin Scorse.se fans, be pre
pared. This is no Goodfe/las or
Casino.
This movie is more of a
strange head-trip. There is much
use of flashing lights and fast-
forwarding cffects while Cage
is driving the ambulance. Truth
fully, it almost made me car
sick. In the middle of the movie
there is a very odd sequence
inside the head of Pierce while
he is drugged. While it goes
with the rest of the movie, it
seemed pointless and useless to
the story line. It would not have
adversely affected the movie if
the whole sequence had ended
up on the cutting room floor.
All in all. Bringing Out the
Dead was a big disappointment
and a wa.ste of money. It is
depressing and sad, with few
bright spots. I left the movie
broken and frustrated with a
feeling that the world is hope
less and altogether miserable.
This film does make you
think about life but only to hope
that yours is never as depressing
as the ones portrayed in it.
Unless you enjoy movies that
are unhappy, dark and have lit
tle plot, I highly .suggest that
you buy your ticket for a differ
ent movie.
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