Review by Jack Kost.
You’re never more alive
than when you’re on the edge of death.
– Dennis Quaid, as
Dexter Cornell.
What
would you do if you were told you had maybe twenty-four hours to live … no more
than forty-eight?
How
would you react if you were then told you’d been deliberately poisoned?
You’re
still alive, the poison ingested into your system, working through you.
Your
life slowly and painfully ebbs away, and you are fully aware of every moment of
it.
In
your last hours, you know you’ve been murdered.
What
would you do?
How
would you spend that remaining time?
Counting
every second … minute … hour …
This
is the intriguing premise of D.O.A. (1988), directed by Annabel Jankel
and Rocky Morton, their debut movie, released in the United States on March 18,
1988.
A
remake that becomes a reimagining of the 1949 original.
In
a nostalgic homage to classic noir thrillers, this neo-noir update opens with a
night scene, shot in grainy black and white.
Dexter
Cornell (Dennis Quaid) walks through a torrential rainstorm.
His
jacket is torn.
He
looks beaten.
The
title acronym: D.O.A. is short for Dead On Arrival.
That’s
what Dexter is on the verge of being, as he stumbles into a police station, and
knocks over a Christmas tree when he approaches the Desk Sergeant (William
Johnson).
Dexter
is visibly in pain, as he tells the cop he’s there to report a murder.
“Who
was murdered?” the Desk Sergeant asks.
Dexter
raises his head, looks him in the eye, and declares cryptically: “I was!”
In
an interview room, Dexter relays his story to Detectives Ulmer (Brion James),
and Brockton (Jack Kehoe), who record his statement onto video tape.
The
rest of the story is then told in retrospect and in color.
A
neat switch on some movies where flashback sequences are shown in black and white,
or a hazy color filter.
The
movie switches to color, as Dexter, now teaching his college class, writes the
word COLOR on the chalkboard.
Dexter
asks his class for references to the color green.
Star
student and aspiring novelist, Nicholas Lang (Robert Knepper), offers the most
intelligent answer with a quote from Othello, by William Shakespeare:
O,
beware my lord of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the
meat it feeds on.
Jealousy
is a driving theme of the movie.
Jealousy
triggered by an extra-marital affair.
Jealousy
of other people’s achievements.
Jealousy
of status.
It’s
the Christmas season, but there’s no good cheer going around.
Passions
and tempers are as hot as the unseasonal sweltering heat.
Dexter
Cornell is not happy with his life.
He’s
a chain-smoking, alcohol-guzzling, depressive.
His
marriage has failed and, despite his attempts at reconciliation, his estranged
wife, Gail (Jane Kaczmarek), has long since given up.
Whenever
they talk, she pesters him to sign the divorce papers.
His
success as a novelist secured him the respected position of college English
Professor.
Afraid
of failure, he simply stopped writing and settled into teaching.
Dexter
gave up on what was truly important to him.
His
lack of passion then affected all aspects of his life.
Dennis
Quaid is convincing in the role.
A
cynical everyman.
Weighed
down by life.
Looking
ever more disheveled, shaky, and sweaty.
The
first body on the pile is Nicholas Lang.
His
on-campus death, at first thought to be suicide, is later discovered to be
murder.
The
script is intelligent.
The
caustic dialogue is wry and humorous, particularly in the scene when the cops
question Dexter in his ex-wife’s home.
Gail
has been murdered, and it is revealed that Dexter has been deliberately
poisoned.
Brockton:
Careful,
Cornell. You’re upset.
Dexter:
You’re
damn right I’m upset. I find out I’m a murder victim and a suspect all in one
goddam day.
Dexter
evades arrest for the murders of Gail and Lang.
The
cops refuse to believe he’s not the culprit.
Dexter
then sets out to solve the mystery himself.
The
plot has effective twists, turns, and red herrings along the way, as Dexter has
dealings with Sydney Fuller (Meg Ryan), an admiring student Dexter gets
literally stuck on.
Mrs.
Fitzwaring (Charlotte Rampling), a shadowy Black Widow, and Lang’s benefactor.
Bernard
(Christopher Neame), Fitzwaring’s Chauffeur and violent right-hand man.
Cookie
(Robin Johnson), Fitzwaring’s daughter.
Hal
Petersham (Daniel Stern), Dexter’s friend and colleague.
Graham
Corey (Jay Patterson), Dexter’s disgruntled colleague.
Annabel
Jankel and Rocky Morton’s previous experience with directing music videos is
evident in the nightclub scene, where Dexter and Sydney get drunk at the bar,
downing endless Martinis, and the on-stage Rock band, Timbuk 3 (1983-1995),
sing: Too Much Sex, Not Enough Affection.
Their
other directing credits include Super Mario Bros (1993), and the Max
Headroom TV show (1985).
This
neo-noir mystery thriller successfully has all the elements and atmosphere of a
classic noir:
Rain-soaked
streets.
Light
cutting through Venetian blinds.
Suspicion
and mistakes along wrong trails and dead-end leads.
Hard-nosed
cops, hardboiled dialogue, and sardonic wit.
Unscrupulous
characters chasing their own selfish motives.
A
killer lurking in the shadows, his motive as-yet unknown.
An
ordinary man, who doesn’t consider himself extraordinary, thrown into
extraordinary circumstances.
The
production company, Touchstone Pictures, set the tone for an old-style
thriller.
Their
logo and name appear on screen in monochrome black and white, with a thunder
crack and lightning flash, before the movie even starts.
Two
suspenseful cliff-hanger set-pieces involve the off-camera killer indulging in
some nail gun fun, while Dexter and Sydney get unstuck in an ascending elevator
car, and a violent confrontation with two characters ending up dead in a tar
pit.
The
cinematography and editing are also effective, particularly in the scenes where
Dexter looks out of a high-rise dormitory window, the poison in his system
taking hold, inducing in him a reaction of acrophobia.
Dexter
sees himself plummeting to the sidewalk.
A
sense of what Lang might have glimpsed in his last moments, as he plunged from
the college rooftop.
Dexter’s
panicked and aimless run through the crowded streets, after he has escaped the
cops, and wonders where to go and what the hell to do next.
The
final wrap-up is well handled.
The
reveal is a sudden, but logical twist, with an insightful statement on the real
value and reward of what it is to be a writer.
In
the climactic fight scene, as Dexter’s energy and life ebbs, so the color also
drains back to black and white.
Dexter,
transitioned from college English Professor to Private Detective in his own
murder case, then comes full circle, as he finishes relaying his findings to
the two detectives.
It’s
no surprise that Dexter accepts his fate.
He
has no other choice.
We
know from the first scene that he’s a dead man walking, searching for the
motive and culprit behind his own murder.
His
story and quest are told with gallows humor and energetic pacing.
The
color green is always there, hanging over them, dooming them all.
The
green-eyed monster of jealousy, poisoning minds, like the luminous green poison
slowly killing Dexter.
Dexter’s
departure to the afterlife, is shown as a final walk down a dimly lit corridor,
towards an open, light-filled door.
The
light intensifies and his silhouette vanishes.
As
the end credits roll, it's a cinematic fade to black for Dexter and the
audience.
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