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D-TOX **1/2 out of *****
 Genres
2002
Directed by Jim Gillespie Written by Howard Swindle (book Jitter Joint) Ron L. Brinkerhoff (screen story and screenplay) Cast Sylvester Stallone .... FBI Agent Jake Malloy Charles S. Dutton .... Hendricks Polly Walker .... Jenny Kris Kristofferson .... Doc Mif .... Brandon Christopher Fulford .... Slater Jeffrey Wright .... Jaworski Tom Berenger .... Hank
Whatever happened to Sylvester Stallone? It seems the last good film he did was 1997's Cop Land. Back then it turned out that Sly wasn't your typical muscle bound action star any more, but an actor who could actually deliver a damn good performance. And then just when you think Sly may actually return to his Rocky roots and start making decent films he churns out forgettable crap like Get Carter, Driven, Avenging Angelo, and of course D-Tox, to name a few. It seems that Sly just wanted a payday, unbelievable as it may seem he earned a cool 20 million each on those films! And I don't think that any of those films actually made any money. It seems that Sly will forever make big budget straight to video fluff from now on until someone in Hollywood decides to pull the plug.
 | How Stallone negotiates his $20
million pay days. Look at those
greedy eyes. | D-Tox or Eye See You, as it's known in the US , might have just been a straight to video release, it was shown theatrically in the US but here in New Zealand it was never given a chance and hit the shiny disc faster than you can say "Adriaaaaan!" in your best Rocky impersonation. What we get here is a thriller from Jim Gillespie who also directed I Know What You Did Last Summer. The basic plot follows F.B.I. special agent Jake Malloy (Stallone) as he investigates a series of serial murders where all the victims have been cops. What makes his investigation so difficult is that the killer has no identifiable "profile", nothing to suggest a pattern. Malloy unwittingly becomes the killer's next target. But instead of killing him physically the killer decides to kill him emotionally by murdering his fiancée (Polly Walker), and vows to continue to haunt Malloy for as long as he lives.
 | | Thrills and spills galore!!! | Three months later Malloy, now an alcoholic, attempts suicide because his grief is just too much. Of course he cuts his wrists across the tracks and not along them, so it's just a call for help. His good friend Hendricks (Charles S. Dutton) answers that call and decides to enrol Malloy in a special detox centre for strung-out law enforcement officers. And predictably the killer (gasp) turns out to be one of the patients! As one-by-one patients and staff at the centre begin to drop like flies and agent Malloy must find the killer before he's next, oh no!
 | I remember this level from
Goldeneye. | D-Tox is basically an average and predictable thriller that doesn't add anything new to the genre, the only saving graces that I could find in this film are its technical aspects. Let's face it, the photography is gorgeous, the editing is packed tight and keeps the film moving at a serviceable pace, and the sets and locations are very nice. Although the D-Tox centre is a bit weird, it's an old Military establishment that looks more like the villain’s missile command base from a Bond film. Kind of an odd and creepy choice for a place that's supposed to make people feel better.
There's nothing special here people, if you're a Stallone fan you may want to pick this up, otherwise it's only worth a rent if there is nothing else good to see.
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