Recap: Life is looking good for Robinson and his fiancée Elizabeth. But one day everything changes. Elizabeth is out riding in the hills and witnesses the brutal murders of a whole group of young women by trafficking mobster Dolan. Dolan is known for getting rid of all competition and threats but Elizabeth is determined to witness. Despite getting protection from the FBI Dolan manages to murder her and Robinson goes on a quest for revenge. But Dolan's car, a Cadillac, is a fortress in itself, armored and bulletproof, so Robinson must think of something special.

Comments: A rather bad movie that actually is rather hard to put into a genre. It got a little action but not enough to make it an action. It is probably supposed to be a thriller, but it doesn't got much of suspense. And it certainly isn't a romance, comedy or drama. It got a little of everything, but it is nothing in the end.

The story is very simple and divided into three parts. First, the setup. Show the happy couple, kill the girl and give proper motivation for Robinson's quest. Then, the plot. This is where Robinson plans his special revenge, which plays out by him working as a road-worker. Not very exciting at all. And last, the revenge. Which is not very exciting either, because it is very single sided. Oh, I'm sure Robinson got a kick out of it, but to watch it. Nah.

Unfortunately, but not very surprising, the acting is nothing to remember either. Well, I suppose there wasn't much to do with the material at hand, but still. The cast is mostly unknown, to me at least, with the exception of Slater. I have higher expectations on him, although his recent work doesn't promise much. Vaugier was the only one that showed some promise, and I hope she gets another shot.

In conclusion, not a good movie, but not too bad either. Nothing to remember, and there are many better movies out there.

4/10

Robinson (Wes Bentley) and his wife Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier) are fellow school teachers. Elizabeth is horse riding in the desert and runs across human traffickers. The fans in the truck broke down killing some of the girls. Elizabeth witnesses gangster pimp Jimmy Dolan (Christian Slater) killing the drivers and one girl trying to escape. She rides away but loses her phone. The couple reports it to the police but he is uninterested in the illegals. They go home to find one of the dead girls in their bed and they go to the FBI. She's committed to testifying but is killed in a car bomb. Robinson falls into a deep depression and then aims to take revenge. Meanwhile Dolan is disagreeing on payment with the Snakeheads.

Christian Slater is chewing up the screen. He is a good bad guy. Wes Bentley has crazy eyes. He looks like he's permanently tense. It doesn't allow him to change his character's feelings and the character goes through a lot of changes. It's one of the big problems. The other problem is the general lack of production value. I assume it's due to a lower budget and won't fault the movie for it. It has the basis of a good psychological thriller but Wes is not able to deliver it completely.

In Las Vegas, the school teachers Robinson (Wes Bentley) and his wife Elizabeth (Emmanuelle Vaugier) are trying to have a baby. While riding a horse through the desert after hours, Elizabeth witnesses the execution of two coyotes and an illegal immigrant by the human trafficker Jimmy Dolan (Christian Slater) and she decides to report to the police. However, she loses her cellular and Dolan tracks her address and threatens her. Elizabeth goes to the FBI with Robinson and they move to a safe house under the protection of two agents. When Elizabeth sneaks from the house to buy pregnancy tests, her car explodes and she dies. The disturbed Robinson decides to buy a powerful revolver and learn how to shoot to revenge Elizabeth killing Dolan. But the mobster and his henchman find him in a bar and beat up on him. Robinson goes to the rock bottom of his life but he retrieves and plots a sophisticated revenge.

"Dolan's Cadillac" is a dark tale of revenge based on a short story of Stephen king. Christian Slater is a great sadistic villain but unfortunately Wes Bentley with his wooden expression and Emmanuelle Vaugier with her cynical smile are not convincing in their roles of school teachers that have their lives destroyed due to the sequence of stupid attitudes of Elizabeth. Anyway, movies about revenge are usually engaging and this one is above average. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Sede de Vingança" ("Thirsty of Revenge")