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Movies / On DVD / Bringing Out the Dead
Bringing Out the Dead

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Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

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Reviews Counted: 103

Fresh: 74

Rotten:29

Average Rating: 6.8/10

Consensus: Stunning and compelling, Scorsese and Cage succeed at satisfying the audience.

Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Martin Scorsese exhilaratingly adapts Joe Connelly's novel about Frank (Nicolas Cage), a paramedic working among the filth and mental desolation of New York City's Hell's Kitchen in the early... Martin Scorsese exhilaratingly adapts Joe Connelly's novel about Frank (Nicolas Cage), a paramedic working among the filth and mental desolation of New York City's Hell's Kitchen in the early 1990s. Lately he has been haunted by the visions of a beautiful 18 year-old girl whom he was unable to resuscitate. Soon after, another image begins to torment him, that of Mary (Patricia Arquette), a recovering drug addict who enters Frank's life when he attempts to save her father. His spiral into even further confusion is paralleled with his three driving partners: Larry (a boisterous John Goodman), whose advice to Frank is not to think about all the death and violence; Marcus (a scene-stealing Ving Rhames), a religious fanatic who uses his medical skills as propaganda for the Lord; and Walls (a maniacal Tom Sizemore), a loose cannon who has no sensible grounding whatsoever. In order to escape the madness that is consuming him, Frank asks, unsuccessfully, to be fired. He must ride out the nightmare, trying to redeem the lives of Rose, Mary, and himself in the process. Scorsese uses his camera to capture Frank's wavering mental state with tilted angles and fast-speed photography. In portraying the tormented Frank, Cage dives wholeheartedly into character, delivering another fiery performance. [More]

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, Ving Rhames, John Goodman

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, Ving Rhames, John Goodman, Tom Sizemore, Marc Anthony, Mary Beth Hurt, Cliff Curtis, Nestor Serrano, Aida Turturro, Cynthia Roman, Larry Fessenden, Afemo Omilami, Queen Latifah, Martin Scorsese

Director: Martin Scorsese

Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenwriter: Paul Schrader
Producer: Barbara De Fina, Scott Rudin
Composer: Elmer Bernstein

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Bringing Out the Dead

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
Arrange By: Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

A frankly disturbing experience since Cage is at his most manic, the images are brutal, the documentary-style background intense and the (inevitable) theme of redemption a long time emerging.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/17/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

An exciting, invigorating return to old preoccupations. Welcome home, Marty.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Ian Freer
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Of course, it's immaculately crafted and exhilaratingly paced, but in the end it's never as emotionally involving as it could and should be.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A very different and, in many respects, very impressive film.

Full Review Source: Sight and Sound | comment Comment
12/02/02
Kevin Jackson
Sight and Sound

It's the harsher images that stick in our minds, because Scorsese makes us feel like we're seeing them first-hand.

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
01/01/00
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic

Its hard-to-pin-down tone is frighteningly original -- simultaneously world-weary and adolescent with an aura of perpetual anxiety, as if the characters and filmmakers were in pursuit of a catharsis everyone knows will never come.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
09/17/08
Lisa Alspector
Chicago Reader

Scorsese is married to a script that drags him down, keeps him from taking wing as a pure artist.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
08/11/07
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Martin Scorsese is a wonderful filmmaker. And he loves New York. He is at his best, though, when he has an interesting story to tell.

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
10/14/06
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

However muddled the story gets, Scorsese guarantees Bringing Out the Dead remains a pulsating trip.

Full Review Source: Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) | comment Comment
12/23/05
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

It's assuredly the work of a master filmmaker.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
04/09/05
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

It's another burnout role for Nicolas Cage, to which he brings his vast repertoire of grimaces and shuffles, as if he were variously impersonating a gargoyle on amphetamines and late Elvis on downers.

Full Review Source: Nation | comment Comment
03/03/05
Stuart Klawans
Nation

I don't recommend it, unless you care to see the best Nicolas Cage performance in several years, or some more of Scorcese's brilliant camera work.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment Comment
12/06/04
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer

Scorsese doesn't trust the power of simplicity to rock us.

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
08/07/04
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine

Everyone looks dead and they speak as if they live in a nightmarish dreamworld. Well, they do.

Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) | comment Comment
06/23/04
Judith Egerton
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Overlooked Martin Scorsese movie has grim humor, grit and grace.

Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
11/07/02
James Rocchi
Netflix

Give it to Martin Scorsese to keep coming back and hitting one out of the park.

Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal | comment Comment
09/10/02
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

Bringing Out the Dead fails on almost every level at which Taxi Driver succeeded.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
06/05/02
Wade Major
Boxoffice Magazine

Um filme sobre solidão, medo e angústia que jamais fornece respostas fáceis para os dolorosos dilemas de seus personagens.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
05/31/02
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

The auteur has definitely left his distinctive mark, but too seldom and too narrowly.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
03/19/02
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
all

Latest News for Bringing Out the Dead

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