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BRINGING OUT THE DEAD Drama Thriller There's nothing like saving a life; it's a high like no other.

An excellent cast highlights this Martin Scorsese film. Nicholas Cage, John Goodman, Ving Rhames and Tom Sizemore play EMS paramedics in the early 1990's in New York. This New York is dark, gritty and dangerous. These men portray overworked, stressed out and on the edge paramedics. Their main ambition is their desire to get fired. The story follows Frank Pierce (Nicholas Cage) over the course of 2 days and 3 nights on the job. During this time he will reach the very brink of spiritual and emotional collapse and then we will see his redemption. I enjoy pretty well all of Scorsese's films and I did this one as well but then it just started to meander all over the place. While each segment or story line was interesting the film itself seemed to lack a coherencey that would make it an excellent film. The ending itself was really medicore and quite lacklustre. Frank Pierce's nervous breakdown is caused by the ghost of a young girl he could not save. This just does not seem to be important enough to cause his problems. The other characters balance off his near insanity with humour and insightfullness. The best is Ving Rhames playing Marcus who seems to be a religious man with religious beliefs that add much humour to the story. i found myself like many others wanting to see more scenes with him. Rhames walked away with this movie as did Cliff Curtis, a drug dealer. These two made the movie otherwise it would not have had much of interest. Scorcese's gritty filming style added a surreal feel to the film but it was not enough to make me give this film a hearty round of applause. The idea of watching men on the graveyard shift trying to save lives on a daily basis is the thing that makes this film worth going to see, but, do not expect a classic. Oh yes one thing that the film made me want to do is look up Joe Conelly's original novel to read it because I have the feeling it will be much better than the film.

Cast and Credits: Starring: Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore, Marc Anthony (I), Cliff Curtis, Mary Beth Hurt, Aida Turturro Directed by Martin Scorsese Written by Joe Connelly (II) & Paul Schrader Produced by Barbara De Fina Distributed by Paramount Films Rating USA... Rated R for gritty violent content, drug use and language. Rating Canada... AA for violence, drug use and language Read Another Review Of This Film Read Still Another Review Of This Film

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BRINGING OUT THE DEAD

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