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Cage Brings This Dead Movie to Life

Scorsese has gone back to his Taxi Driver days with this dark, yet pleasantly comical piece. This is truly his best work of recent years. From the time the movie begins, Nicolas projects an agony in his own realization that he has been unable to save lives of the dying on the streets of New York. He is miserable in and with life. You can feel the disparity emanating from the screen. Cage brings this movie to great lengths with his wonderous ability to change his manners in a matter of seconds. This is by far his best work since "Leaving Las Vegas". My only question is, "Where is the Oscar nomination?"

raising arizona meets er

this movie starts out like a straight film but by halftime turns into a black comedy that looks and feels like "raising arizona" (coen bros) meets "er" (george clooney). the second half works better. in fact, the movie really only comes alive after john goodman exits. i don't know if that's a coincidence, but of cage's 3 sidekicks, goodman was the least interesting.

it's exaggerated, but scorsese does uncover another seedy side of the big city that we "normal" people usually don't see. worth a watch.

This should win Scorcese his long-deserved Best Director award.

There wasn't a single scene I would change in this masterpiece by one of America's finest directors.Watching Nicolas Cage deteriorate in "Leaving Las Vegas", I thought he was a better actor than he was allowed to be by the script he was given. Watching him go crazy in this film convinces me of how good he really can be.There are some intensely disturbing scenes in this film -- not the usual blood and gore kind of disturbing scenes so popular with the kiddies, but scenes of the dark side of NYC street life that are all too real. The cinematography, directing and editing of these scenes are masterful. Counterpoint to all this is found in the tenderness and humour woven seamlessly into the fabric of the plot.Arquette: "What's wrong with the doctor in there (emergency)? He keeps mumbling and poking his eye when he talks to me." Cage (great deadpan, brief pause, and says, as if it should be obvious): "He's working a double shift." Calmly, like talking to someone who clearly should see how all this is normal and to be expected. Hilarious.Cage, in ambulance with IV line, O2 mask, seeing his partner staring at him, only then aware of how he might appear: "These are hard times, Tom." Had to laugh out loud.This is a great piece of work that entertained me by involving me in the characters and the story line, disturbed me by the content and travails of the people I saw, and uplifted me ever so gently, not by speechifying but by stubborn nuances of human compassion in the midst of, well, hell.This film is a 10 out of 10, and should earn Scorcese the Oscar for Best Director that he has long deserved. I'll see it a few more times.

NYC Medic who worked the area of the film during the era.

Joe Connelly's novel is visually representative of the underbelly of a gentrified New York in the late 80's and early 90's.Paramedics and EMT's working theWest Side and Hell's kitchen faced two health epidemics concurrently; Crack cocaine and AID's (pre-antivirals, when patients were often isolated, stigmatized and wasting away in single room occupancy hotels with ironic names like Malibu Suites and Hotel California. Joe draws from the rich texture of the first generation of medics in NYC that included many vietnam combat medics and hippie's - all true 'characters', with individualized coping mechanisms for the stress and burnout associated with the job. Convincing heroin O.D's that they were touched by Jesus after reversing their OD, suburban fire buffs who had near sexual experiences while watching tenements burn to the ground, trauma junkies who were not satisfied unless covered in blood and even the medic who takes his frustration out on the same patient who he must transport each time he drinks or abuses drugs - are all true. Cage underplays Frank well but the real treat are the cast of hypomanic characters dancing around him. The 'Rose' sequences are fantastic. while the Cage - Patricia Arquette scenes don't work as well. Not for all, but if you dig ER, Trauma on TLC or other medical reality shows or interested in EMS then or now, enjoy.

Surely, the worst ever Scorsese film

I rented this film out the other day. How could it be bad? Martin Scorsese, Nick Cage, good supporting cast. The film was so bad, I turned it off about 20 minutes before the end! It was the first time that I had ever rented a video and failed to watch it all the way through! Scorsese seems to have tried to create a stylish, trippy, visually stunning movie, but, alas, all he has created is a shambolic mess! I'm sorry, but it just doesn't work. The film has no real plot, and is just plain confusing and uninteresting. I've got nothing against films that are fairly hard to follow, but quite frankly, this film does not have enough going for it to make you want to keep track of what's going on. Very disappointing. Can it really be true that this film was made by the same talented director that gave us such classics as "Goodfellas" and "Casino"? You wouldn't have guessed it to watch it!

Waste of time!

One of the worst movies I've ever seen. Portrays paramedics as wasted, burnt-out people who refuse to answer when the dispatcher calls and drink on the job. Outside of this negative portrayal the movie is just as listless and dull as the character Nicolas Cage plays. Don't go see it. Don't pay for it when it comes on pay-per-view. Don't even rent it when it comes out on video.

Disquieting film, forcefully presented

This is a disturbing and realistic character study of Frank Pierce (Nicholas Cage) a burned out paramedic, who is slowly succumbing to the depressing reality of his job and the city he lives in. He is tortured by the futility of his efforts and haunted by self blame about a young woman named Rose whose life he was unable to save. We witness about a week of his life, mostly at work handling medical emergencies. There really isn't much of a plot here. It is mostly a succession of events in the life of an EMT and a psychological study of a man losing his grip under the crushing stress of his vain attempts at saving the dregs of humanity.

Martin Scorsese brings his trademark stark realism to the film, with authentic images of the sleazy underbelly of New York City. As always, his camerawork, lighting, sets and locations were delivered with raw power and great dramatic impact. Having grown up in NYC, I was amazed at his ability to capture so perfectly the essence of the city's street life.

Unfortunately, the story diverged too often into the bizarre antics of some of the surrounding characters like Noel (Marc Anthony), and fellow paramedics like Larry (John Goodman) and Marcus (Ving Rhames). In heavy handed stories like this one, it is often necessary to have some comic relief, but Scorsese takes this concept around the bend far too often.

Nicholas Cage was superb as the self doubting paramedic at the end of his rope. His sense of torment and bipolar mood swings were compelling and potent. Patricia Arquette played a pathetic young woman, the daughter of one of Frank's rescue victims to whom he takes a shine. Makeup did a great job of making her look unbelievably plain and mousy and her portrayal was extremely effective, playing the part with a good deal of angst and despondency.

I rated this film a 7/10. It is a disquieting film that is manic-depressive in its presentation and very downbeat and pessimistic in its general tone. Its greatest assets are Cage's performance, and its realistic presentation of raw emotion and the feel of the New York streets. Its flaw is its meandering flow and its excessive and often bizarre digression from the central character study. If you can appreciate a very dark and gloomy film with forceful and poignant portrayals, it's definitely worth a look.

Very bad movie !!!

This film is nothing marvellous !!!

Nicolas Cage could'nt make a great performance in this terrible movie. This boring and soporific movie without screenplay is the worst movie of Nicolas Cage. Watching this movie during two hours is almost an impossible mission, it's a waste of time.

Don't buy this horrible movie !!!

Worst Cage film ever

I am a Nicholas Cage fan, with all of his quirkiness and odd stuff he does, but this movie sucks,is boring, and not worth a free watch. Did i say very boring.
If you want a movie to go to sleep to this is the one.

Some of the best people in Hollywood can't save this script!

I have been a fan of Martin Scorsese and Nicolas Cage, but I thought the story line was beyond any help. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the whole storyline is two paramedics driving out to emergency calls, and not being able to save the person. They go back to the hospital, and then wait for another call. And the movie keeps repeating this every 5 minutes... Drive to call, watch another person die, drive back to hospital, wait... When I left the theater, I could have sworn that the movie was 4 hours long, when in fact it was 90 minutes.

The dialogue was dry, and spending half the time watching 2 people drive around gets old fast too. Imagine a film about watching your dad drive to work. That would be more interesting. I'm just trying to save you 90 minutes that I wasted on this film. -Ciao

Even Scorsese's bad days yield good movies

Man, Scorsese has it rough - make a merely very good film instead of a great one and it gets trashed. True, BOTD is not on a par with "Raging Bull", but it still packs a wallop.The film features all the traditional elements of Scorsese - the pop music (some of which didn't work so well and some of which was perfect - I particularly liked the use of UB40's "Red Red Wine"), themes of guilt and personal redemption, rampant Catholic imagery, even some frozen beef carcasses a la Goodfellas in one scene where Frank (Nicholas Cage) tries to resuscitate a hypothermia victim.The film features some absolutely gorgeous camerawork, and a good script (albeit not Schrader's best), but hopefully Scorsese's next work will break some new ground. This is his home, and he knows it well, but I'd like to see him tackle something different in the future, like he did with "Kundun".

A little Less Conversation A Little More Action Please

Has anyone noticed the main fault of Martin Scorsese ? It`s this : Every now and again Scorsese does a very obvious reworking of a previous film . CASINO for example is a reworking of GOODFELLOWS while THE KING OF COMEDY is a reworking of TAXI DRIVER . BRINGING OUT THE DEAD is another obvious - And another inferior - reworking of TAXI DRIVER , it has the same screenwriter , the same night time locations and the same type of narration , it even has the same central plot of the anti hero trying to rescue a young woman from a life of vice . But TAXI DRIVER is the superior film simply because it`s original . It`s impossible to watch BRINGING OUT THE DEAD without comparing it with its predecessor . Maybe it would have worked better with Robert De Niro Harvey Keitel and Jodie Foster and had a higher body count . That`s the problem with this film , there`s not enough scum getting blown away. Oh and has anyone noticed that Nicholas Cage sounds more and more like Elvis the older he gets ?

Bore!

This movie is a terrible bore. The script was bad. Am I expected to believe that an ambulance man would drive a patient's relative home? Hey if that did happen I am going to complain that it is the wrong use of resources. An ambulance is not a taxi. It is used to save lives, not to pick up the girl you like.What is even worse is that, I had to endure two hours of Cage's expressionless face. That was torture. Avoid this film!

Bringing Out Boredom!

"Please! Please! Help! Help!" Call an ambulance! Hurry! Because I am in a state of disarray! I have just seen one of the worst film of 1999- "Bringing Out The Dead." Also, my heart is in a state of shock because I can't believe such a great director like Martin Scorcese would make such a pitiful film. By the way, the movie is about a New York paramedic and his downward spiral to nervous breakdown hell. Nicolas Cage, who lately has been bringing out the deadest of characters to his films, plays the neurotic paramedic. What the paramedic characters in the film should be really doing is going to every movie theater and bringing out the bored to death viewers who chose to watch this stinker.
** Needs Improvement

T.B. Sheets

Scorsese takes an only an average script and turns it into an entertaining movie. Ving Rhames,Tom Sizemore and Cage all give great performances. Patricia Arquette on the otherhand seemed to have no character at all. Some unique and amazing camera techniques made the movie for me, especially when driving in the ambulance. THis movie wont appeal to everyone though, the guy next to me was asleep and I had use the army wakeup thing on my phone to get him to stop snoring. The only weak points of the movie that I saw was the performance of Arquette, along with this wierd ghost named Rose that seemed really cliche as far as ghosts the come back to haunt people. And some scenes early with John Goodman were a little dull and pointless. Not that he was bad its just his character didnt seem to very well written. Throw in a great soundtrack and some suprisingly wicked humor and you got yourself a good movie. 8 thumbs up (out of 10) :0

hill street blues for ambulance drivers

This flick is a little like "Fort Apache: The Bronx" meets "Apocolypse Now".
It is almost TOO gritty and too intense to be realistic. However, it is so well done and so original that it's very worthwhile. Especially enjoyable as black comic relief are Nicolas Cage's unbalanced partners Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore. Film deals with heavy subjects like euthanasia, suicide, and drug addiction. Not for children.

Scorsese's unique blaze of light and color is under-appreciated.

Right away, this film is being criticized for being to similar to Scorsese standards such as "Taxi Driver" and "Mean Streets." Let me put this to rest right away. The only similarity is the setting. Scorsese uses slow-motion shots of smoke rising out of manhole covers to tease us. He makes us think he's losing his edge, and can't find another unique angle to his often-visited Hell's Kitchen, but he certainly does. Everything is centered around Nicholas Cage's character, Joe Connelly. Most of the events that come about stem from the overcrowded, understaffed ER where this paradmedic brings his patients.Though the setting may seem grim, this film is packed with effective comedy, like "GoodFellas," that offsets our first impression. It puts the viewer in an awkward and uncompromising position to accept the warped frame of mind that possesses Connelly for the entire three days. He is burnt-out, on the edge of his tether, and heading nowhere fast. The remarkable-as-always production design and cinematography set us reeling into a hyperactive, intense, and hallucinatory mission for Joe to settle with the ghosts in his head.A very unique cast of supporting players grabs our interest from minute one. John Goodman, Ving Rhames, and Tom Sizemore are all excellent. This film has been criticized for not having a plot. I won't try to pretend there is one. Paul Schrader's screenplay uses very implicit causality to submerge the viewer into the world of not only a paramedic, but a man struggling to make sense of his profession and his life. Even though Nicholas Cage isn't as much of a presence as Robert DeNiro, but we can feel for his character as much as we can for Travis Bickle. The final fact of this movie is that it is one of the most artistic and interesting Scorsese has ever done. It is, by no means, a half-baked project. An intense array of light and color creates a dream-like atmosphere in a world none of us has ever been, even though Scorsese has taken us to this very LOCATION before. It is a very intense, entertaining, funny, and thought-provoking film. And as a side not, this is by far the most effective of Scorsese's pop music soundtracks. It is not so much a narrative film as an excursion into the nether regions of the senses, like "2001: A Space Odyssey." Don't let the negative reviews scare you away.

haunting drama that works

Half of everybody I know who has seen Bringing out the Dead doesn't like it. I compare it to Taxi Driver and After Hours. Nicolas Cage plays a strung out ambulance driver who desperately needs to save someone. His job has taken a toll on his mind and health. After receiving a call to help a junkie's dying father, Cage gets involved in her life. Most of the action comes from Frank interacting with with the hospital doctors and nurses and dealing with deranged patients. The film had great acting aside from Patricia Arquette. She is extremely beautiful it just so happens she hasnt had a great role since True Romance. John Goodman, Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore brilliantly play Cage's co-workers. This film portrayed the streets like it should, tough, gritty and mean. One of the best scenes of the film is when Ving Rhames gets a group of neo-goth weirdos to hold hands and pray to God to awaken their overdosed pal. Haunting and in some ways touching.***1/2 ****

Atmospheric, disturbing, funny, the superlatives can't come quickly enough!

Being a huge Cage fan I have been disappointed by his recent pictures, whilst none of them have been 'bad' per se, they have been not up to his usual standards.Partnering such a versatile actor with such a determined director like Scorcese hitting the subject matter that Scorcese does the best, social breakdown in New York equals a masterpiece.All through the film you are bombarded with rich visuals and each character has a real depth of their own. The film follows Cage as a New York paramedic over 72 hours of his life and battles with his own fears and insecurities.The thing that makes this film stand out is the depth that each character has, even the smallest parts are presented in such a way that you are able to build up a complete mental character about them, especially the hospital staff, the security guard and triage nurse in particular.There are parts which should be harrowing but are incredibly funny, as you are definitely seeing life as a medic from a medics point of view and as such you sink into their very black sense of humour.All in all the film is beautifully scripted and directed by the only person who could have made this film possible.Watch out for the cameos by Scorcese himself and Queen Latifah as the radio dispatchers, they are worth the price of admission alone.One to watch at the Oscars...

Scorsese scores again

Martin Scorsese is in my opinion the best director working today and one of the greats of all-time. Bringing Out The Dead joins the list of brilliant pictures he has made which includes Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino and The Color of Money.It tells the story of a hellish weekend in the life of a NYC paramedic (Nicolas Cage). He is troubled by visions of a young girl who he was unable to save. Cage is brilliant, as usual. Ving Rhames, John Goodman and Tom Sizemore are very good as the rowdy paramedics Cage rides with. The lovely Patricia Arquette (Cage's real-life wife) is good as the daughter of a patient Cage brings to the hospital. I don't think I'd ever seen her in anything before.Scorsese continues his tradition of making engrossing films with strange and interesting characters with a great choice of music. He is a great New York storyteller, with Spike Lee and Woody Allen right alongside him. This is a very good film. It's not Scorsese's best and maybe not even in his top 10, but well worth watching. Even one of Scorsese's lesser films would be better than alot of other director's best.