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A DVD Review of...
  
Images (C) MGM |
Genre: Drama/Comedy/Action
Cast: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Troy Garity, Stacey Travis
Synopsis: The suave, irresistible Joe (Bruce Willis) and his hypochondriac partner Terry (Billy Bob Thornton) have escaped from prison. Cutting a swath from Oregon through California, these fugitives rob banks in order to finance their scheme for a new - and somewhat legitimate - life south of the Border. In their wake, they leave a trail of chaos, disguises, wrecked automobiles - and an adoring public. Their operation is running smoothly until an unexpected run-in with Kate (Cate Blanchett), who is drawn to the thieves as a way to escape her ordinary life. Together Joe and Terry are the most successful bank robbers in U.S. history, and to Kate, they also make the perfect man.
Film Review: What in the world happened? After what starts out with a promising first 30-40 minutes, this new Barry Levinson film just slides into inanity - I can't recall any film I've seen recently fall so far so fast. Its a true shame considering the strong start in which smooth talking Willis and the eternally nervous Thornton escape jail in a quite funny concrete mixer chase sequence. At first the pair's opposing personalities play well off each other, the film never takes itself too silly and the sequences grow increasingly fun when they finally dream up their robbery plan of staying over at a bank manager's house the night before in order to get him and his family to open the vault early the next morning. The scenes at the first manager's house are a hoot, especially revolving around the panicing wife who ends up swapping recipes with Thornton. The sequences grow increasingly creative till they hit the high point - Cate Blanchett's first scene which must be one of the best comedic moments of the year as she performs in her kitchen to "I Need a Hero" - the versatile actress goes all out in this scene and it works brilliantly as its something many of us (incl. me but not to that song) have done at one point or another.
After that sadly its a long slide down as the comedy is lost to an increasingly boring love triangle subplot. At first Thornton's nervous streak was endearing, at this point it quickly becomes irritating. Blanchett's unloved trophy wife routine is believably played, but the character is so frustratingly submissive and keen not to make decisions for herself it becomes increasingly hard to sympathise with whilst Willis' character charm suddenly takes an arrogant streak. The robberies are nowhere near as fun, the action is limited to one car chase side-swipe, and situations start becoming unbelievable. There's scenes like Blanchett and Willis bonding over Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", a song Blanchett is shocked Willis knows the words too, one wonders why as its one of those songs that's universally known and been redone numerous times (and prisons do have TVs showing music videos last I heard). More annoying is that the drop-off lasts right up till the end, leaving us with maybe 20 minutes of really good scenes in over two hours of footage. A big disappointment. - Garth Franklin
"Bandits: Special Edition"
DVD Details In Brief (Region 1)
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 127mins
Versions: 16:9 Enhanced Widescreen, 4:3 Pan & Scan
Aspect Ratio: 2.35: 1 & 1.33:1
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Language & Sub-Titles: English, Spanish, French, Portugese
Featurettes: "Creating Scene 71" and "Making Of"
Clips: Deleted Scenes, Alternate Ending, Trailers
Region 1 vs. Region 4: No Region 4 Available. |
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DVD Review: "Bandits" comes to MGM Special Edition DVD and the company continues its tradition of delivering high quality discs with this fine effort. The transfer is excellent with good use of color, blacks and edges - the film contains scenes which constantly shift between stark outdoor lighting and darkly lit interiors, the visuals never once lose their lustre in grain or aliasing. Dialogue is nice and clear, the occasional use of sound FX shine through perfectly, and the surround is made of use (though not greatly). The extras kick off with four deleted scenes, the first one proving quite long (7 minutes) and serious as Willis convinces a mistress not to continue helping a bank manager cheat on his wife - the actress in these scenes is quite good, one with Cate (in pink glasses that'd make Tim Burton envious) warning the guys they'll eventually be captured and killed, one with Willis & Thornton acting macho in a bar, and the highlight - the second one (a botched robbery) simply for the goofy disguises.
The alternate ending (with optional but uninteresting Cate Blanchett commentary) is basically the same as the original with the added twist of Cate being pregnant, an interesting idea (ie. whose the father?) but adds nothing to the storyline, the "Making Of" 20-minute featurette features a good range of interviews with the major cast & crew talking about why they did this project - there's a few interesting anecdotes. Much better is a study of the Bruce/Cate bedroom scene and how that evolved and changed while they were shooting it, complete with alternate takes and outtakes of the scene in question (combined with input from cast & crew). Capping it all off is trailers for this film, "Hart's War", "Windtalkers", a soundtrack TV spot and the "Rocky: SE" DVD. A nice disc with one or two interesting extras, shame about the film though. - Garth Franklin
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