Jason Maloney reviews

Distributed by

MGM

Cat.no: 15766 DVD

Cert: 15

Running time: 108 minutes

Year: 1999

Pressing: 2000

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 36 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround

Languages: English, German and Spanish

Subtitles: English, German, Spanish, Dutch and Finnish

Widescreen: 2.35:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £19.99

Extras : Scene index, Director's Commentary, "The Making Of A Masterpiece" Documentary, Theatrical Trailer, Music Video, 8 Page Booklet

Director:

John McTiernan

Cast:

Thomas Crown: Pierce Brosnan
Catherine Banning: Rene Russo
Michael McCann: Dennis Leary
Andrew Wallace: Ben Gazarra
Paretti: Frankie Faison
John Reynolds: Fritz Weaver
Golchan: Charles Keating
Knutzborn: Mark Margolis
Proctor McKinley: Michael Lombard
Psychiatrist: Faye Dunaway

Remakes...... the refuge of the creatively bankrupt and those devoid of imagination. Perhaps. They come in many forms, yet an update of the classic 1968 Steve McQueen / Faye Dunaway crime caper with *that* chess game would not appear - on the the face of it at least - to be one of the most obvious or necessary choices.

Thomas Crown (Brosnan) is a suave, sophisticated and extremely wealthy businessman located in the most luxurious section of Manhattan. Not even his jet-set lifestyle can alleviate the tedium of endless boardroom wheeling and dealing, so - for his own amusement - he hatches an elaborate plan to steal a classic Monet painting worth $100 million from the City's Art Museum.

Mission accomplished, he casually strides away from the crime scene. The police department - led by detective McCann (Leary) fall for Crown's cleverly organised faux pas, believing a gang of dubious Eastern Europeans to be the perpertrators. Advantage Crown, and surely game over.

Not quite. For in steps the sexy Catherine Banning (Russo), an insurance clerk investigating the case on behalf of her wealthy employers, who are now a $100 million Monet lighter. Besides turning more than a few heads in the police station, Banning swiftly concludes that Crown is in fact the one behind such an audacious stunt. Her intuition confirmed following a brief tete-a-tete with the enigmatic multi-millionaire, she sets about capturing her man.

What follows is a deliciously smouldering cat-and-mouse game of wits and cunning, with Crown and Banning quite clearly more than a worthy match for each other....in all respects.

To its credit, this new version does not blithely replicate the original frame by frame. Having said that, the basic premise and plot structure remain intact to a large degree. Some of the changes could actually be regarded as improvements, adding extra style and ingenuity, despite the obvious lack of that definitive 60s chic.

The opening sequences of 1999's model may lack the original's arresting intruige (in an ironic twist, the 1968 film's heist was more violent and threatening), yet where this reworking comes up trumps is in its pay-off scenes. By putting a new spin on the climax of the story, the conclusion becomes far more satisfying.

Brosnan takes a break from his 007 escapades to play a character who is....erm...a slick ladykiller with more than a few tricks up his sleeve. So, a complete change there, then. Of course, precious few leading actors in today's Hollywood can do this as well as he can. Russo, meanwhile, is perfectly seductive, sexy and sussed...

In keeping with the style of the film itself, the rest of the disc is a very high-quality package. The anamorphically-enhanced 2:35:1 widescreen picture is excellent, perfectly capturing the warm hues of the cinematography. The excellent 5.1 DD sound is offered in three languages (English, German and Spanish), with subtitles included for a further two (Dutch and Finnish).

The animated 3-D main menu is superb, designed in the form of a 360-degree pan around a mock Art Gallery, with each option "framed" on the walls.

There is also a full-length commentary from director John McTiernan (of the original Die Hard-fame), as well as a decent 24-minute doscumentary entitled "The Making Of A Masterpiece", which offers a mixture of behind-the-scenes footage and a dissection of the original 1968 Thomas Crown Affair movie.

Meanwhile, for all those Sting fans out there, a music video featuring his jazz-flavoured version of "Windmills Of Your Mind" is also included.

Not the pointless, superfluous vanity project it could have been, but a classy and cleverly enterprising one.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Jason Maloney, 2000.