Distributed by
Film Four

Cert:

Cat.no: VCD 0043

Running time: 85 minutes

Year: 1999

Pressing: 2000

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 17 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: English

Subtitles: English for the hard of hearing

Widescreen: 1.85:1

16:9-enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £19.99

Extras : Scene index, Trailer, Behind the Scenes, 2 Audio Commentaries, Cast & Crew Interviews, Isolated Music Score

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Director:

Steven Soderbergh (Gray's Anatomy, Kafka, King of the Hill, The Limey, Schizopolis, sex lies and videotape, The Underneath, YES 9012 Live)

Producer:

John Hardy and Scott Kramer

Screenplay:

Lem Dobbs

Music:

Cliff Martinez

Cast:

Wilson: Terence Stamp (The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Alien Nation, Bowfinger, Hud, Legal Eagles, The Limey, Red Planet, Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Superman 1 & 2, Wall Street, Young Guns, TV: The Hunger)
Elaine: Lesley Ann Warren (Burglar, Choose Me, Desperate Justice, Going All the Way, The Limey, Love Kills, Pure Country)
Ed: Luis Guzman (The Hard Way, The Limey, The Substitute, TV: Oz)
Avery: Barry Newman (The Limey, Vanishing Point)
Valentine: Peter Fonda (Easy Rider, Escape from LA, The Limey, Love and a .45, Nadja, Ulee's Gold)

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Over there he chats to her best friend Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren) and Ed (Luis Guzman), who has some information, which leads him to Terry Valentine (Peter Fonda) and his gorgeous girlfriend, Adhara (Amelia Heinle, who resembles Denise Richards at times). An early encounter gives Wilson the chance to exact justice but in a very public way. Thankfully, he chooses not to so the film can run its full length.

I'll say no more so you can find out for yourself how the situation pans out, although I will give a mention to the hand-held shakey camerawork sometimes used. Another technique is that as conversations mention other people, footage featuring those are dropped in to punctuate the piece and there are many quick-cut moments used, all to good effect.

The picture quality is typical of most VCI releases: an anamorphic print, here in a 16:9 ratio, but it has a tinge of fuzziness in certain scenes, mostly ones earlier on. The average bitrate is a superb 8.3Mb/s, often peaking over 9Mb/s.

The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is fine, but is mainly used for just dialogue and atmosphere, with some tunes dropped in from time to time.

Extras :

Chapters :

Languages/Subtitles :

And there's more... :

The Behind the Scenes section is a 7-minute featurette containing shots of work in progress on-set with no dialogue, just the backdrop of Cliff Martinez's score, which you can hear all of in the Isolated Music Score.

The package is nicely rounded off with two feature-length Audio Commentaries, one from the film's director and writer and the other featuring Stamp and Fonda.

Menu :

Overall, this is a fairly decent film, but no-one really stretches themself and Stamp overplays his cockney accent. The disc has some decent extras, but I'd recommend a rental first before committing to a purchase.

What I want to know is, why isn't the tagline used, "Tell Him I'm Coming" ? That's what he says in the film.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000