Bringing Out the Dead – (1999)

Over the weekend I watched two movies, ‘Awakenings’ (Robert Di Nero and Robbin Williams) and ‘Bringing Out the Dead’ (Nicholas Cage). If you have been following my reviews in Satyam blogs then you’d be knowing that I am little biased towards Martin Scorsese’s movies, and this is the reason i’d review ‘Bringing Out the Dead’ first. Martin Scorsese tried to create another ‘Taxi Driver’ with ‘Bringing Out the Dead’ but, honestly speaking, failed at it. The movie is not that awesome but it is not bad either, rather it is a rare misstep for Scorsese. Unlike most Scorsese’s movies which have lot of bloodshed in them or are gangster movies this one is quite different although there are some scenes in movie which have blood in them. The movie revolves around Frank. Nicholas Cage plays paramedic Frank Pierce. Frank is in the midst of a serious downtime in his life. He hasn’t been able to save anybody from dying in several months and it’s starting to get to him. In fact it’s driving him crazy. Frank isn’t able to sleep well and when he’s awake he’s haunted by the face of Rose, a young homeless girl who died in his arms. Frank is at the brink and he is starting to lose his mind. Bringing Out The Dead does have it’s moments though and it isn’t a complete loss. The movie starts out really strong with a lot of dark humor and beautiful night time shots. Frank has a different partner each of the three nights in the movie and the differences between them are really interesting. John Goodman is the first partner and he has a really strong role here. Unfortunately he disappears and Ving Rhames (who is almost unrecognizable with his hair) steps in. I normally like Rhames but his character is so over the top in this movie that he just wasn’t very believable. Tom Sizemore, playing a psychotic paramedic, steps in to provide a little lift near the end of the film. ‘Bringing Out The Dead’ really doesn’t try to be the same movie ‘Taxi Driver’ was and so comparisons between the two are probably unfair. Unfortunately for Scorsese, the comparisons will be made, mainly due to the similarities of the two film’s respective protagonists. I think this movie showed a lot of promise early on but ultimately falters in it’s delivery. Recommended if you are a Martin Scorsese or Nicholas Cage fan.