EYE SEE YOU aka D-TOX (2002)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Stallone is FBI agent Jake Malloy, who is on the hunt for a serial killer who targets cops. The latest victim is Malloy's partner, killed brutally with a drill to the eyes (hmmm, the title of the film is becoming clearer). Next victim is Malloy's wife who is killed the same way and strung up in their living room. As a result of two tragedies, Malloy becomes an alcoholic and is eventually recruited to a rehab clinic that looks like an impenetrable prison in the middle of a bad winter in Wyoming! All cops who have battled their inner demons go to this clinic but something is askew in this place - the killer might also be there and that means he is a cop!
The set-up for a slightly different take on the FBI-chasing-clever-serial-killers plot is actually well-handled in the first half-hour. Always watchable Robert Patrick appears as a brash, uncouth SWAT officer who laughs at other cops' misfortunes and past traumas, and he makes the movie come alive in brief spurts. There is also Polly Walker as the psychiatrist/nurse who shows a sympathetic eye for these beaten-down cops. Most of the actors that appear are favorites of mine, especially Robert Prosky, Sean Patrick Flanery, Charles S. Dutton, and they all shine when they appear, adding a little chrome to this clunky vehicle. Stallone also fares well, exuding a little more nuance than in the overrated "Cop Land."
What could have been a fairly psychological thriller ends up looking like the snowy climax of John Carpenter's "The Thing." The characters run up and down the halls of this most unsettling clinic, and run outside in the snow and warn each other and yell at each other. Lots of yelling but not much suspense. Once we discover who the killer is and that the movie is another mediocre template for the inevitable, "Eye See You" loses much in the way of potency or any vested interest in Malloy's inner demons. The only demon exposed is Hollywood mediocrity.
