Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone both made action movie riffs on the classic Agatha Christie mystery,And Then There Were None. Agatha Christie wrote some of the most famous mystery and thriller novels of all time, withAnd Then There Were Nonebeing one of the most enduring. The simple setup sees a group of strangers arriving on a remote island and then being murdered one at a time by a mysterious killer.TheAgatha Christie bookis ingenious, and its template has been recycled by other books, movies and television showscountless times.
This includesBodies Bodies Bodies, 2003’sIdentityand even the originalFriday the 13th. Those looking at Sylvester Stallone orArnold Schwarzenegger’s movieresumes won’t find too many adaptations of classic literature in either, but both action stars deliverdx their own riffs on Christie’s murder mystery.Arnie’sSabotageis a goryAnd Then There Were Noneriff, whileD-Toxstands as Stallone’s only real attempt at fronting a horror movie.
Arnie & Stallone Remade And Then There Were None As Sabotage And D-Tox
Sabotage and D-Tox both follow the Christie formula
Shot in 1999 and then shelved for three years,D-Toxarrived to poor reviews and box office, with the movie grossing just over $6 million on an estimated $55 million budget (viaBox Office Mojo). While it doesn’t fully work, the film has a few qualities in its favor; it features one of Stallone’s most vulnerable turns as a guilt-ridden, alcoholic FBI agent and has a supporting cast that includes Jeffrey Wright, Robert Patrick and Stephen Lang.
D-Toxhas a couple of effective setpieces, too. The plot sees a group of law enforcement officers being treated for addiction issues in a remote clinic being targeted by a cop hating serial killer. As they are killed off one by one, Stallone’s Malloy emerges as the leader and realizes the killer is hiding among the group.D-Toxplays like a bizarre mashup ofAnd Then There Were NoneandThe Thing, but one that also plays in Stallone’s action persona.
A fatal flaw ofD-Toxis the lack of suspense. None of the murder sequences are that creative (or even gory), and the reveal of the killer is less gasp-worthy than “Wait, who is he again?” The tone is also dreary, and the movie is largely drained of color, making it a grim watch. Fans of Stallone should check it out since it offers something very different from the star, though.D-Toxcame during a difficult period in Stallone’s career, where he was coming off the back of multiple bombsand was experimenting with the types of roles he took.
Needless to say, D-Tox is not a great take on And Then There Were None…
This led to more character-driven turns in hisGet Carterremake andShade, but likeD-Tox, those moviesalsoflopped. Needless to say,D-Toxis not a great take onAnd Then There Were Noneeither, but between the Stallone slasher and Arnie’sSabotage, at least it can be credited with being the more interesting.
Sabotage Was A Failed Effort To Reinvent Arnold’s Screen Image
Sabotage marked Arnold’s final time (to date) fronting an action movie
After his long stint as Governor of California came to a close, Schwarzenegger embarked on a movie comeback in 2013. He selected a trio of projects that provided the action and thrills he knew his fans wanted, but which were also tailored to his age and modern sensibilities. Sadly,neither Arnold’s modern-day WesternThe Last StandnorEscape Planwere big hits, whileSabotagewas an outright disaster. This David Ayer thriller is a bloody remake ofAnd Then There Were None, where corrupt DEA agents are offed by an unknown killer.
LikeD-Toxbefore it,Sabotagehas a great cast and, on the surface, a solid hook. Digging beneath the surface, the film doesn’t work for countless reasons.Arnold’s Breacher and his crew are an obnoxious, unlikable bunch, and not even seeing them getting offed in gruesome ways makes it enjoyable. Ayer also intended to dirty up Schwarzenegger’s screen image as the team leader, who sports an ugly haircut and has already damned his colleagues by making them steal money from a cartel.
Some early titles forSabotageincludeBreacherandTen.
Speaking withGeekTyrantin 2012, Ayer said of his intentions with the film that “We’re going to reinvent the guy. It’s going to be a new Arnold.” While it was certainly a different kind of role, it did little to help Arnie’s career, and honestly, he didn’t quite have the acting chops to pull off what was being asked.Sabotagealso went through a difficult production, whereafter a negative response to the original ending that revealed Breacher himself was the killer, the movie was re-edited.
The original finale was dropped, as were several subplots, and it was reworked into a more traditional action thriller. The end result was thatSabotageearned a meager $22 million worldwide on a budget of $35 million(viaBox Office Mojo) and terrible reviews (the film stands at 21% on Rotten Tomatoes). It was Arnie’s last swing at fronting a theatrical action flick, and he went on to do supporting roles in the likes ofTerminator: Dark Fateand the still unreleasedKung Fury 2.
D-Tox Is Stallone’s Only Horror Movie But It Doesn’t Work
Stallone has largely avoided the horror genre in his career
Once Stallone settled into his action niche, he rarely left the genre. WhileCobrahad slasher elements and he experimented with turningRambo 5into a creature featurebased on the novelHunter, his horror movie cup is rather empty. To date,D-Toxis his only real attempt at fronting one, and he was no doubt drawn to it due to theAnd Then There Were Nonecomparisons.Stallone is the highlight of the film - though he’s also part of the problemwith it.
It doesn’t feel right to see Stallone in a slasher movie, andD-Toxholds its punches because of that. It’s an R-rated slasher that avoids showcasing any bloodshed, and it doesn’t have enough red herrings to make the identity of the killer interesting.The finale fistfight between Stallone’s Malloy and the killer is a desperate attempt to toss some action into the film, right down to a cringeworthy (and kind of confusing) one-liner.
D-Toxis neither fish nor fowl; it’s not scary or bloody enough for horror fans, and it’s not mysterious or smart enough for thriller loverseither. Watching a group of great actors trying to outham one another is part ofD-Tox’scharms, and if nothing else, it’s a take onAnd Then There Were Nonethat at least tries something new. The movie’s failure set Stallone back another few years, though he eventually found his way back with 2006’sRocky Balboa.
And Then There Were None
Cast
And Then There Were None, a 2015 television adaptation, follows ten strangers drawn to an isolated island off the Devon coast. As they await their mysterious hosts, they become trapped by a storm and are killed one by one, mirroring a nursery rhyme that ominously hangs in every room.
Sabotage
Sabotage is a 2014 action flick starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger plays John ‘Breacher’ Wharton, the leader of a DEA task force that is hunted down by a drug cartel. Alongside Schwarzenegger stars Sam Worthington, Terrence Howard, Olivia Williams, Joe Manganiello, and Josh Holloway. David Ayer helms the film with a script written by himself and Skip Woods.
D-Tox
D-Tox is a psychological thriller featuring Sylvester Stallone as a troubled FBI agent. Released in 2002, the film follows his journey to an isolated detox clinic in Wyoming, where a snowstorm traps the patients and staff, leading to a tense confrontation with an internal threat.
