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Title: |
The
Perfect Storm |
| Reviewed By: |
PJ Hruschak |
| Genre: |
Action |
| Video Format: |
Anamorphic 2.35:1
Widescreen |
| Audio Format: |
Dolby Digital Surround 5.1
EX |
| DVD Format: |
SS-RSDL |
| Language Tracks: |
English, French |
| Subtitle Tracks: |
English, French |
| Length: |
130 minutes (2 hours 10 minutes) |
| Rating |
PG-13 |
| Release Date: |
November 14, 2000 |
| Regular/Special Edition |
Regular Edition |
| Region Code: |
1 |
| Studio: |
Warner Bros. Pictures |
| THX: |
No, (… ? … though Dolby Digital
EX is a THX enhancement over the traditional 5.1 channel track
whereby a phantom rear center channel is created.) |
| Commentary |
There are 3 unique
commentaries available on this disk: 1. Wolfgang Peterson
(Director). This commentary is hosted by J. M. Kenny who periodically
guides the discussions with questions often unrelated the
current scene. Peterson describes how each scene is filmed
and how the sets were created. It is interesting to find out
approximately how much of each scene consists of computer
generated (CG) images and actual footage. Kenny is sometimes
annoying since he leads the discussion away from the scene
and Peterson will try to bring his comments back to topic.
2. Stefen Fangmeier (ILM Visual Effects Suppervisor) and Helen
Elswitt (Visual Effects Producer). Though this commentary
is not hosted by anyone in particular, the discussions between
Fangmeier and Elswitt are more informational than Peterson's
commentary, though a bit dry to the average viewer. This does
leave some audio gaps where the films sound track is periodically
raised to eliminate the awkward silence. Elswitt also becomes
long winded with rambling explanations of the meetings held
to discuss whether or not scenes will be shot, how they will
be shot and the industry terms they often use. Fangmeier's
comments are much more enjoyable and interesting, though he
tends to over emphasize how the water effects were created
throughout the commentary. The technical and background information
in this commentary would be most interesting to film students
and less interesting to the general viewer who will want to
tune out after 20 minutes. 3. Sebestian Junger (Author) This
is by far the best of the 3 commentaries. Junger describes
the background of the town, the townspeople and fishermen.
A former Glauster resident and author of the Perfect Storm
novel, Junger has the most insight into the characteristics
of the Andrea Gail crew and family. He openly admits where
reality and story liberties are taken, such as the addition
of prototypical attitudes or circumstances. His personal experiences
and insights lend more to the film than any almost any other
feature on the disk. Though his conversational style is a
bit dry at times, listen to his comments a few scenes at a
time and you will certainly enjoy the film a lot more. |
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| Documentaries |
"Witnesses to
the Storm" includes interviews and recounts from townspeople
who saw the storm and who knew members of the ship's crew,
lending very personal insights into the characters and film's
settings. |
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| Featurettes |
1. "Witnesses to the Storm"
(see Documentaries)1. "Witnesses to the Storm" (see Documentaries)
The "Witnesses to the Storm" featurette includes interviews
and recounts from the real people who live in Gloucester,
Massachusetts. There are also interviews with former Andrea
Gail crewmembers and captains. 2. HBO First-Look Special -
interviews with cast and crew This is the typical HBO-style
feature with quick interviews and celebrity anecdotes. This
is a great summary of the rest of the features on the disk
for those who do not want to watch all 6 or more hours of
commentaries, images and features. 3. "Creating an Emotion"
concentrates on the musical direction of the film by James
Horner and how he set the mood with his score for the film.
Though very short, it is well done and offers the right amount
of insight. |
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| Filmography
& Biography |
None |
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| Interviews |
The HBO special
has the most cast and crew interviews. Creating an emotion
features musical score concepts of the film. |
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| Trailers &
TV Spots |
Trailer (anamorphic
1.85:1 widescreen) HBO Special |
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| Alternate/Deleted Scenes
& Clips |
None |
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| Music Video(s) |
"Yours Forever" by John Mellencamp |
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| Other |
The "Eye of the
Storm" section also includes a Soundtrack promo, Storyboard
gallery, Photo Montage and conceptual art with commentary
from Wolfgang Peterson. |
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| Cast &
Crew |
| Cast
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George Clooney,
Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, Karen Allen, William Fichtner,
Bob Gunton, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, John C. Reilly, Allen
Payne, John Hawkes, Christopher McDonald, Dash Mihok, Josh
Hopkins, Michael Ironside |
| Written by |
Book - Sebastian
Junger Screenplay - William D. Wittliff |
| Produced By |
Duncan Henderson,
Gail Katz, Barry Levinson, Wolfgang Petersen, Paula Weinstein |
| Directed By |
Wolfgang Peterson |
| Score By |
James Horner |
| The Review: |
| In October 1991, a rare combination
of weather conditions form the "perfect" storm known as Hurricane
Grace in the North Atlantic. A fishing boat, the Andrea Gail,
sets out from Gloucester, Massachusetts, to recoup the previous
month's losses. The true-life drama This natural disaster
film is based on actual events and features special effects
by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). The first half of the
film sets the scene and helps to develop the characters so
you can later sympathize with crew as the are tossed throughout
the last half of the film. The love-story subplots, and some
strained relations between crew members and a subtle tug-of-love-war
between captains are attempts to help fill out the fairly
straightforward story line. Also paralleling the plight of
the Andrea Gail is a small sailboat with a prideful father
at the helm and the Coast Guard's attempts to rescue the sailboat
and the Andrea Gail. Even with all these underlying themes,
I found the effects to often be a obvious, unbelievable and
overwhelming. The crew's actual struggles with the hurricane
are unclear, and this film is an obvious glorification of
their plight. The early scenes of the film drag, whereas the
film takes a drastic upswing and does not relent for the last
half. This emotional ride is almost worth the effort, though
there is little joy offered throughout the film. This is certainly
a good film for pseudo-history buffs and natural disaster
film fans, but is certainly not meant to be an upbeat and
heartwarming experience. |
| Image & Sound: |
| The sound is great, with
each wave and creaking board being heard and sent whirling
around the speakers. You can certainly tell the digital mastery
in this film when listening to the waves and the special effects.
The voices are sometimes pushed behind and lost to the effects,
though it is not completely clear whether or not this is intended
or a defect in the audio quality. I tend to believe all dialogue
should be audible enough for most viewers. There are some
segments where the video breaks apart and become pixelated.
These breaks primarily occur during water wipe outs or underwater
scenes where there are large monochrome areas on the screen.
Also, the movie skips a beat between some chapters, which
is the sign of either a poorly compiled DVD, or a result of
the dual layering. The soundtrack is fabulously presented,
so crank up the best audio system you can for this film -
even consider adding that subwoofer you always wanted. |
| Extra Features: |
| This disk is jammed with
great extra features. With three commentary tracks to choose
from, you can spend days learning more about the film than
you even needed to know. Sebastian Junger's commentary is
by far the best of the 3, and well worth the length of the
film. The nearly complete filmography for each actor and the
primary crew is included (did you remember that George Clooney
was in the a Killer Tomatoes film?). The conceptual art gallery
includes director Wolfgang Petersen narration. There are also
black-and-white shots from the film included here sans narration.
Scenes/Chapters: 39 scenes, still preview DVD-Rom: Available
for PC only (not Macintosh) |
| Finals Words: |
| This disk is filled with
enough great background information and extras to warrant
at least a day or 2 to play with the various features. Though
I am not a huge fan of this film, I'd recommend at least renting
the DVD to learn more about the Andrea Gail. This film is
definitely a great addition for Clooney and Wahlberg fan's
collection. Clooney's bitter and determined captain, and Wahlberg's
love-struck fisherman rookie torn between his woman and the
sea (quite the sea cliché) are 2 caricatures that go
bit beyond the usual scope of each actor. The full filmographies
of the 10 main characters and 4 main crew members are a wonderful
addition I especially appreciate. The DVD's navigation scheme
is also fairly easy to follow, and the dripping water background
is wonderful to help set the mood for viewing this film. |
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