While the film does fill the interest level for the near-2hr running time,
it's not a story that leaves you greatly satisfied and seems rather distorted,
given its tendancies to play to the obvious at times and the fact that it didn't
make enough of the partnership between the two leads as it should've done.
Often, especially when watching the extras, it seems like it's a film best
seen in chunks rather than in one full go.
Gratuitous nudity for the sake of it? Who cares.
The film is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen and is anamorphic. Rich, colourful
and detailed I can find nothing to complain about. Even the night-time
scenes are striking when lit up with neon.
The average bitrate is 5.86Mb/s, occasionally peaking at 9Mb/s.
Not only has EiV given us a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, but also DTS 5.1,
which makes good use of the few scenes that fill the speakers with loud sound
as well as complementing the ambient ones.
Dialogue is in English only.
Not only this but we also have a decent set of extras running for 85 minutes
beginning with two documentaries: True Tabloid Stars (15 mins), in which daytime chatshow
hosts such as Jerry Springer and Sally Jessy Raphael and other TV people from
the same background wax lyrical over what gets the ratings. Surprisingly, this
is presented in a matted 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio, mixed in with
similar clips from the film. The other doc, Does Crime Pay? (21 mins),
delves into the themes of the film and the motives behind what happens, but
to detail it here would ruin the plot of the film for those who haven't seen
it. This is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen.
Six Deleted Scenes, in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, are included lasting
between one minute and four and each have the option of director's commentary,
the longest scene being a chase between Jordy and Oleg which starts with two
busty blondes in the nude (above) and leads into a cinema playing the director's
aforementioned 2 Days in the Valley.
To enhance the reality of the film, the director asked actor Oleg Taktarov and
Director of Photography Jean Yves Escoffier to videotape two murder
scenes as they were being performed. I can't identify, for those who haven't
seen the film, who's being killed, but Oleg's Videos is actual unedited
material taken from his video camera. A main feature of the film itself, Oleg's
obsession with the camera can seem as sick as that experienced in the
incredible Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and the first one-take
scene is staggeringly eerie, but the second does have some jump cuts.
The DVD also contains a Music Video for a cover of David Bowie's "Fame",
performed by God Lives Underwater, a 2-minute Theatrical Trailer in
16:9 anamorphic widescreen and DD5.1 sound, five Rehearsal Scenes with
picture-in-picture showing the final version and Filmographies for the
director and most principal cast members. Finally the DVD includes a feature-length
Director's Commentary.
Subtitles are in English only, there are 21 chapters so the film could use a
few more and the main menu contains the thumping beat that runs throughout most
of the film and animation from film clips, but be careful as the third
thing Kelsey Grammer says on this will spoil part of the plot - and that
shouldn't have been allowed. However, given the amount of extras and the
inclusion of a DTS 5.1 soundtrack - neither of which we're used to on most
EiV DVDs - I'll forgive them.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
