Merry Christmas honey. I want a divorce. Not a great way to start a movie because you know nothing about these characters, so there's little opportunity for sympathy, particularly for the wife Jane Kaczmarek who hands the papers to husband Dennis Quaid out of the blue. She's not cold. She's just tired of his alleged coldness which a bit of therapy could have brought out, not the sudden ending of a marriage where the two people seem to still be in love with her. But that's the least of Quaid's issues. The sudden alleged suicide of a student, a fling with cutsie pie student Meg Ryan and the discovery that he has a toxin in his system that will kill him within a matter of two days at the most. Now he's also wanted for murder when the wife is bludgeoned, and he grabs Ryan and takes her on the run so he can figure out what happened.

This is not a bad remake of the 1950 film noir classic. When it came out, I argued with friends over remakes of classic films, saying that it did sometimes get younger people to look at the originals after seeing the remake, thus serving a good purpose. This isn't the fiasco of other remakes, as it stands on its own with various plot elements that were not in the very complex original. But rather than being complex, this often gets convoluted, having jarring cuts and consistency and some really poor performances by supporting actors. Charlotte Rampling looks like a Spider Woman at the start as a supposedly nefarious woman of mystery, and at the funeral of the student who killed himself is seen wearing a veil that indeed looks like it has a spider on it. Nice touch, but it makes her look creepy. Robin Johnson as Rampling's daughter is another bizarre element tossed in to cause more mayhem and confusion.

Other characters pop in and out of the action as Quaid does his best to find out why he was victimized, and it goes into detail of some really confusing corruption at the University he works at. It's not just the desire for power. It's something much darker than that, and after a while, it's almost science fiction like in certain plot developments. Quaid and Ryan may have had chemistry in real life, but it's not visible in their scenes here. There's plenty of action and certainly some very thrilling twists, but this was a missed opportunity to become something great like the original. It's unfair to compare the two because all they really share is the fact that the hero knows he's going to die and wants to find out how come see ended up in this position and who was responsible. Definitely worth seeing as long as with you or is aware that there are many loyal e flaws and that doesn't just mean the scene where he fights with someone over a big ugly black abyss of dark muck.

Someone poisoned named Dexter Cornell (Dennis Quaid as an unsettling college professor) and he's got to find out who . He's got to find out why . He's got to find out now . In 24 hours, he'll be Dead On Arrival. He along with a friend student (Meg Ryan) frantically seek who is responsible and why he was targeted for death . His search for the suspect is further complicated by the fact that he is being sought by the police on phony charges of killing .

Mediocre remake of the 1949 Noir film that contains thrills , suspense , a complex intrigue and plot twists . The starring , Dennis Quaid , relates his own lethal murder become himself in detective and spend his ending moments trying to uncover his hit men . As his time runs out,he has only hours to identify , he desperately seeks to discover who is responsible his death . The search for the suspect is further complicated by the facts of numerous turns , deceits and a twisted intrigue . Passable acting by Dennis Quaid as a teacher becomes embroiled in a series of murders involving people around him and supported by Meg Ryan as a likable but reluctant student , both of whom married after shooting , though nowadays are separated themselves. Supporting cast in frankly enjoyable , such as Charlotte Rampling , Daniel Stern , Jane Kaczmarek , Christopher Neame , Robert Knepper , Jay Patterson and the deceased Brion James .

Colorful cinematography throughout the story , the color in the film begins to drain to monochrome, thus representing the central character's deteriorating health as the poison steadily takes it's toll until it is in black and white as in the opening - presumably showing the flashback catching up to the current time-line of the story . Screeching and inappropriate musical score composed by means of synthesizer .The motion picture was middlingly directed by Rocky Morton ans Annabel Jenkel , the same people who brought ¨Max Headrom¨to TV series . This story results to be a remake from ¨DOA¨ (1969) a dark B-thriller directed by Rudolph Mate with Edmond O'Brien , Luther Adler and Pamela Britton . It was also followed by a inferior remake as ¨Color me dead¨(1969) by Eddie Davis with Tom Tryon , Carolyn Jones and Rick Jason

College English professor Dexter Cornell (Dennis Quaid) stumbles out of the rain into a police station claiming that he has been murdered. Once upon a time, he was a promising writer. His friend Hal Petersham (Daniel Stern) is desperate to publish in the tough Publish or Perish environment. Nick Lang (Robert Knepper) is one of his best students. He is divorcing his wife Gail (Jane Kaczmarek). Lang crashes into his office window falling to his death in an apparent suicide. At a bar, he runs into adoring student Sydney Fuller (Meg Ryan). He wakes up the next morning in her dorm room with a hangover. He goes to the clinic where he's told that he's been poisoned with a maximum of 48 hours to live.

The original has perhaps the best noir opening ever. The fact that this movie opens with a black and white redux shows respect for that iconic scene. At least, we do not have a Psycho situation here. It's a completely different story and it's better for it. Even the original's story isn't top notch. This one has intriguing characters. It has bits of neo-noir style. It does suffer in the shadows of the original. It can never exceed it no matter how great it could be and I wouldn't call this great. At most, it's a good homage to the original.