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Review
Archives
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Today's
Date is:
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The
Quick & The Dead: Superbit
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Reviewed
by: |
Charles
J. Amadori |
| Genre: |
Western
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| Video: |
1.85:1
anamorphic widescreen |
| Audio: |
English Dolby
Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 |
| Language: |
English
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| Subtitle: |
English,
French |
| Length: |
105
min |
| Rating: |
R
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| Release
Date: |
08/05/2003
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| Studio: |
Columbia
Tristar |
| Commentary:
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None |
| Documentaries:
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None |
| Featurettes:
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None |
| Filmography/Biography:
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None |
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Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
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None |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Sharon Stone,
Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobin Bell,
Lance Henrikson & Gary Sinise |
| Written
By: |
Simon Moore |
| Produced
by: |
Robert Tappert, Toby
Jaffe |
| Directed
By: |
Sam Raimi
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| Music: |
Alan Silvestri |
| The
Review: |
The plot may sound like your conventional
Western…
Ellen, an unknown female gunslinger
rides into a small, dingy and depressing prairie town with
a secret agenda. Shortly after her arrival, a local preacher,
Cort, is thrown through the saloon doors while town folk are
signing up for a gun competition. The pot is a huge sum of
money and the only rule: that you follow the rules of the
man that set up the contest, Herod. Herod is also the owner,
leader, and "ruler" of the town. Seems he's arranged this
little gun-show-off so that the preacher (who used to be an
outlaw and rode with Herod) will have to fight again. Cort
refuses to ever use a gun to kill again and Herod, acknowledging
Cort as one of the best, is determined to alter this line
of thinking... even if it gets someone killed...
But thanks to Sam Raimi's energetic
experimenting, what could be a run of the mill western turns
into Evil Dead meets Unforgiven. With his trademark tracking
camera shots and awkwardly enjoyable camera angles, Raimi
is able to turn this into an interesting piece of entertainment.
Unfortunately, that's all it is… there's no life changing
inspiration to be found here.
Stone is her usual dry self. Hackman
as always is in top form. It was nice to see Millenium's Lance
Henrikson getting some film work (to think at one point he
was gonna play the Terminator!). DiCaprio tries awfully hard
but falls a bit short and Russell Crowe, still fresh of the
boat at this point shows promise, but given better material
and he may win an Oscar (something like Gladiator - Oh wait,
he did win an Oscar for that).
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| Image
and Sound |
Being a
Superbit release I'm sure you know what to expect… crystal
clarity, perfect contrast, minimal picture noise, a booming
DTS 5.1 track and fancy menus.
Well folks,
that exactly what you get. The picture is flawless with absolutely
no grain or pixelization. The DTS audio track is outstanding.
The gun fights had some great distribution on the channels.
I think a bullet buzzed by my head at one point. The DD track
is nearly as good, in fact only a trained ear using a good
sound system should notice the difference.
|
| The
Extras |
None!
I'm serious… this sucker is bare bones! |
| Commentary |
None!
I'd love to sit through Raimi and Tappert's usual roasting commentaries,
but not on this release. |
| Final
Words: |
I
wish the studio would cease from this incessant practice of
double dipping the well. This is the second release of Quick
and the Dead…sadly it's also the second bare bones release!
Where is the infamous Crowe/Stone love scene that remains on
the cutting room floor… no extras whatsoever! I've heard claims
that the DTS track takes up too much room on the disc and yada
yada yada… Then these superbit releases should contain two discs,
one for the feature and one for the extras. The picture and
sound may be great, but most DVD collectors buy DVDs because
of the bonus materials as well. This practice is just deceitful
business practices designed to make the most money possible.
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