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, with And Then There Were None being 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. The Agatha Christie book is ingenious, and its template has been recycled by other books, movies and television shows countless times.
This includes Bodies Bodies Bodies, 2003’s Idenтιтy and even the original Friday the 13th. Those looking at Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie resumes 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’s Sabotage is a gory And Then There Were None riff, while D-Tox stands 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
SH๏τ in 1999 and then shelved for three years, D-Tox arrived to poor reviews and box office, with the movie grossing just over $6 million on an estimated $55 million budget (via Box 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-Tox has 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-Tox plays like a bizarre mashup of And Then There Were None and The Thing, but one that also plays in Stallone’s action persona.
A fatal flaw of D-Tox is 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-Tox came during a difficult period in Stallone’s career, where he was coming off the back of multiple bombs and 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 his Get Carter remake and Shade, but like D-Tox, those movies also flopped. Needless to say, D-Tox is not a great take on And Then There Were None either, but between the Stallone slasher and Arnie’s Sabotage, 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 Western The Last Stand nor Escape Plan were big hits, while Sabotage was an outright disaster. This David Ayer thriller is a bloody remake of And Then There Were None, where corrupt DEA agents are offed by an unknown killer.
Like D-Tox before it, Sabotage has 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 тιтles for Sabotage include Breacher and Ten.
Speaking with GeekTyrant in 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. Sabotage also went through a difficult production, where after 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 that Sabotage earned a meager $22 million worldwide on a budget of $35 million (via Box 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 of Terminator: Dark Fate and the still unreleased Kung 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. While Cobra had slasher elements and he experimented with turning Rambo 5 into a creature feature based on the novel Hunter, his horror movie cup is rather empty. To date, D-Tox is his only real attempt at fronting one, and he was no doubt drawn to it due to the And Then There Were None comparisons. Stallone is the highlight of the film – though he’s also part of the problem with it.
It doesn’t feel right to see Stallone in a slasher movie, and D-Tox holds 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 idenтιтy 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-Tox is neither fish nor fowl; it’s not scary or bloody enough for horror fans, and it’s not mysterious or smart enough for thriller lovers either. Watching a group of great actors trying to outham one another is part of D-Tox’s charms, and if nothing else, it’s a take on And Then There Were None that at least tries something new. The movie’s failure set Stallone back another few years, though he eventually found his way back with 2006’s Rocky Balboa.
Source. Box Office Mojo, GeekTyrant, Box Office Mojo, Rotten Tomatoes
