Customer Reviews

Shock to the System [VHS]

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Michael Caine is marvelous when playing a happy villain. He was impossibly beautiful as a young man, but middle aged Michael with serious bags under his eyes and a slight weight problem has an air of wounded vanity, as if he can't quite understand how things went wrong.

Caine, as Graham Marshall, is a fairly successful marketing director with an expensive home, an expensive and slightly boring wife, and is desperately anticipating a promotion for his many years of diligence. He is stunned when he is passed over for a young, brash associate. Graham has an epiphany when a particularly smarmy panhandler enrages him, and Graham impulsively shoves him off the subway platform in the path of an oncoming train. No one has seen him and Graham muses on his "magical" powers. He quickly and cleverly dispatches the wife and the business rival, gets rid of his white elephant of a house in the suburbs, boards the pets and gets a tasteful apartment in Manhattan. Though homicide Lt. Laker (Will Patton with a splendid Long Island accent) is suspicious, nothing can be proved. Graham not only gets the promotion, he has his eye on taking over the company, dispatching his rivals on his upward climb.

What keeps the tension intact is the victims are not cartoon-like villains. The wife is irritating, but not evil. The youngster who beat him out for the promotion is vulgar, but it is clear he is clever and competent. We just cannot help but cheer Graham on his nefarious way. Michael Caine's glee and satisfaction are catching.

There is more than a whiff of Alec Guinness's "Kind Hearts and Coronets" in Caine's performance, but Michael Caine has a knack for villainy all his own. "Shock to the System" may be a trifle of a movie, but it is a highly enjoyable trifle. ....

This is a witty, morbidly funny movie. It's weak in spots, andthe occult "magician" comments in Michael Caine's voice-over narration is perhaps a little misplaced. But it is an original movie, and entertaining, and as Michael Caine said when making it, "The thing is, this guy is murdering people, BUT YOU ARE ON HIS SIDE." After seeing this movie, you might find yourself looking at conniving rats in your life and thinking back to this movie! Even though Michael Caine plays an Englishman, it takes place in New York, and is a VERY American piece, in that it shows the absolute subtext of all American life is that you MUST be a success. I've seen this movie a number of times. The humor is twisted. But good...

Here's where Michael Caine shines, as a corporate exec who gets passed over for the promotion he's so feverishly expecting he'll get in favor of a young Turk--well played by Peter Reigert--who lords it over Caine's character in subtle (and not so subtle) ways. Caine's wife, also well played by Swoosie Kurtz, one of the great unknown American stage and film actresses, is a serious [problem] to him. So he has two people in his life who are supremely annoying.

What does he do? Well, let's just say that his solution to these two problems ends in the population of the world changing, shall we?

The dialogue in this very smart blackly comic thriller is sharp as a razor; it's a lot of fun to watch Mr. Caine give us his best as a put upon exec who's more than capable of flying into a rage at the drop of a hat and of executing his very sneaky and well thought out plans for revenge. Also on hand is Elizabeth Perkins, an equally intelligent office colleague who attracts Caine in more ways than one, but does not suspect him of any wrongdoing at all. That is, until...

One of the best office comedies around, A Shock to the System is a stinging portrait of greed and selfishness in America--for my money, far better than the somewhat overblown Wall Street. This is a movie that gives you a great evening's entertainment and part of the reason for that may be to secretly exact vengeance upon those corporate bigwigs who've prevented you from getting a job for so long, given this miserable economy.

Great job. Highly recommended.

You're here so you're probably a Michael Caine fan. So, the crux of the issue is; Is this a performance you need to see? The answer is yes. If you're a fan of Michael Caine's you HAVE to have this film. He is absolutely brilliant in it. No other actor could have pulled this off. The wicked, sly, dark humor, the subtlety, killing people and not only making you laugh about it, but actually root for him. Caine nails it. If you're a Caine fan, you're not looking for some big obvious slap-stick comedy, you're looking for something a little more off-beat and original. You found it. Enjoy.

Michael Caine stars in this winsome black comedy about his stagnating career and marriage, and how he uses murder to make them both more interesting (and profitable). Caine plays the anti-hero in this movie with just the right mix of cynicism and mirth to curry the favor of the audience as he plots his final moves to get "the corner office."

What a great piece of film. Superb performance, as always, from Caine and we have all been in the same situation to some extent. Climbing the corporate ladder only to find it was against the wrong wall. No more Mr Nice Guy, he decides to take the law into his own hands and kill anyone who gets in his way and anyone hanging on to his shirtails. Unusual for a film to end with the 'hero' getting away with the crime (he gets caught in the book)but would we want it any other way? Buy it, rent it but enjoy it.

Well, I surely missed this one in the theatres! This is probably one of Michael Caine's finest performances, and the screenplay by Andrew Klavan is superb as well. You could look on it as a modern riff on "Kind Hearts and Coronets." Black, black humor indeed! It's up there with "Gods & Monsters" as a film which deserves a wide viewing. And now DVDs and video downloads make it possible!!

A Shock To The System is one of my most fav black comedies!!! Michael Caine is top-notch in his performance of an executive who gets passed over for the position which is due him and then he just snaps!!Swoosie Kurtz who plays his nagging fish-wife just adds to this poor man's state.This film is done with such class,such panache! A must see for Michael Caine fans! I own a copy myself and think it is one of his best films.Entertaining and thought provoking to the end as Michael Caine narrates his views and maniacal plans for revenge!

When Rod Serling wrote "A Stop at Willoughby", his character, Gart Williams was a 38 year old executive that could not compete anymore in the rat race, dreaming of an age when things moved slower. He eventually is accounted as a suicide off a homebound train. In "The Emperor's Club" a teacher of long standing at a private school is passed over for a younger person to become the Dean. He resigns immediately but is compelled once again to return at the bequest of the younger Dean in pursuit of an alumni donation, where Mr. Hundert's services as a teacher are once again required.
This is the same storyline but with a different approach. Our executive is Michael Caine and he, like Gart Williams is in the advertising business. In a great reverse effect, the main character becomes a murderer /hero as at first he executes an agressive and violence prone subway beggar by accident with a subtle push as a train just happens to come by.
He leaves the subway like Paul Kersey in "Death Wish", climbing the stairwell amid the chaos as the Police run down the steps. This chance event now twists his mind and he begins to consider murder as a final solution with everyone in his way. Interesting and in some ways oddly funny, because you always know what is going through his mind at all times. The theme negates the term "You can't always get what you want" and it is somewhat of a fantasy of course. If there is anything negative to say perhaps it is that Caine seems very out of place using foul language here and there in the film. If you can overlook this over indulgence, it is an entertaining work.

in this low budget thriller starring michael caine as an ad exec who's worked worked all his life to please everyone around him finally sees his chance to better himself in a job promotion only to be passed over by a younger more ambiotus rookie. confused and distraught on the subway ride a penhadler bothers caine for money and pushes caine to his breaking point and in act of rage caine pushes the man in the way of subway. Now knowing this rage he uses well planed accidents to his fellow collegues and his nagging wife, and try to maitain his way back up the corparate ladder. Michael caine is back in the saddle of his villious persona, great film unitentally funny it really is quite a "shock"