Cat.no: 058 684 2

Cert: 15

Running time: 97 minutes

Year: 1999

Pressing: 1999

Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)

Chapters: 18 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: English, Spanish, Italian

Subtitles: English, Spanish, Italian

Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)

16:9-enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 5

Price: £17.99

Extras : Scene index, Trailer, Booklet, Interviews, Behind the Scenes, Biographies, "The Real James Macleane"

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Director:

Jake Scott

Producer:

Tim Bevan, Eric F and Rupert Harvey

Screenplay:

Robert Wade, Neal Purvis and Charles McKeown

Music:

Craig Armstrong

Cast:

Plunkett: Robert Carlyle (Carla's Song, Face, The Full Monty, Priest, Riff Raff, Trainspotting, TV: Cracker, Go Now, Hamish MacBeth, Looking After Jo Jo)
Macleane: Jonny Lee Miller (Afterglow, Hackers, Regeneration, Trainspotting)
Thief Taker General Chance: Ken Stott (The Boxer, The Debt Collector, Fever Pitch, TV: Rhodes, The Vice)
Lady Rebecca: Liv Tyler (Armageddon, Heavy, Inventing The Abbots, Stealing Beauty)
Lord Rochester: Alan Cumming (Circle of Friends, Emma, Goldeneye, Prague, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, Second Best, Spiceworld: The Movie)

Plunkett and Macleane marks the directorial debut of Brit Jake Scott, son of Ridley (Blade Runner, GI Jane, Alien). It's 1745 and thrown together by circumstances, two of the poor population, Plunkett (Robert Carlyle) and Macleane (Jonny Lee Miller), decide that the only way to attain any form of financial wealth is not to earn it, but to steal it. They are the "Gentlemen Highwaymen" that you're too scared to mention, they spend their cash on looking flash and grabbing your attention. Any puffed-up and bewigged aristocratic ponce covered in make-up are eligible to be on the receiving end of a shotgun up the nose.

Attempting to stop their practices, as well as of those who choose a similar vocation, is Thief Taker General Chance (Ken Stott) who frames our heroes for the forthcoming cold-blooded murder of Lord Gibson (Michael Gambon). There's a love interest for one of the highwaymen in the form of his niece, Lady Rebecca (Liv Tyler) and a likeable performance from Goldeneye's Alan Cumming as Lord Rochester.

Cameos are abound in this film including Shooting Stars's "The Man with the Scores - George Dawes" Matt Lucas as Sir Oswald, Gormenghast's Neve McIntosh and front-runners of the Armstrong and Miller Show, Alexander Armstrong, currently seen in BBC1's new Simon Nye sitcom Beast and Ben Miller, who isn't.

The picture quality is almost perfect most of the time but a number of scenes early on look a little hazy. The average bitrate is 5.56 Mb/s often peaking over 8Mb/s and it's also anamorphically-enhanced for widescreen televisions. Jake Scott copies his famous father in that he uses his preferred cinematic ratio of 2.35:1.

In keeping with the pairing of two actors from Trainspotting, Craig Armstrong's soundtrack is equally hip and, unusually but gratefully for a UK DVD with several languages, comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 flavours for English, Spanish and Italian. Throughout the film, be it in the soundtrack or through special effects, the speakers produce sounds that are alive and vibrant.

Extras :

Chapters :

Languages & Subtitles :

And there's more... :

Menu :

The problem with this film is that it appears to attempt to generate excitement given the pairing of two Trainspotters and its hip, techno soundtrack, but what's onscreen sadly couldn't be further from the truth. Director Jake Scott emulates his father's work well in that he knows how to compose the widescreen frame well with some impressive visuals, but also includes the periods that lull too long and the fun scenes don't draw the viewer in as they should.

Carlyle is fine as always, but Miller's character doesn't convince or work well in the partnership of the two leads. Once again, Liv Tyler proves the only things she can do is give a stark, vacant stare, have a famous father and needs to head off to acting school with Miller, but the worst travesty is that Ken Stott doesn't get nearly enough to do or enough scope to do it properly. Couple this with a stand-off of sorts between Carlyle and Stott that you can spot a mile off and a tremendously predictable film and the overall result is rather disappointing.