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A DVD Review of...
 
Images (C) New Line |
Genre: Drama
Cast: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Ray Liotta, Franka Portente, Paul Reubens
Synopsis: "Blow is a high-velocity look at George Jung’s spectacular rise and fall - based on the true story of how powder cocaine turned into America’s biggest drug problem and how one man from the blue-collar suburbs became the 35 billion-dollar a-year conduit to the Colombian cartels. Ted Demme ("Monument Ave.") directs this riveting look at the manic allure - and dangerous reality - of a drug smuggler’s everyday life, and unfolds one of the great untold stories from the recent annals of American crime and culture
Film Review: Boogie Nights" and "Goodfellas" lite I've heard this being called and for the most part its an apt description. Like those films this is the story of the rise and downfall of a man involved in some rather questionable business - unlike those however this takes a lighter tone in its analysis. There seems to be two major reasons why people don't like this - the first is that it’s a clone of the aforementioned films which are, from a filmmaking perspective, certainly better movies. The other is the questionable morality that comes with the fact it makes you sympathise with one of America's biggest drug dealers - neither of those factors bothered me so I really quite enjoyed it.
Demme has created a solid and interesting character drama which draws one of the best performances out of Depp in a while - after the laughable "Sleepy Hollow", its good to see him finally tackle a role with a bit more substance. Penelope Cruz, I'm sorry I just don't see what it is about her that has made her the "hot thing in Hollywood" and her bitchy role here isn't performed well either. Faring better in about 1/3 the screen time is "Run Lola Run" gal Franka Portente as the stewardess Depp falls for, and Paul Reubens steals every scene he's in with the part of the flamboyant Derek Foreal. Rachel Griffiths and Ray Liotta are really great as Depp's mother and father, and the list continues. From an acting standpoint, Cruz is the only weak link amongt the bunch.
The style of the movie is also very authentic with a killer soundtrack, wardrobe and some effective makeup that ages Depp in different periods (check out the frighteningly authentic mid-40's beer gut in some scenes). Then there's the story itself, which is where the faults do lie. Does it glorify drugs? In the first act it most certainly does. If you leave at the 30-minute mark you'll want to break right into the world of trafficking. Like all these tales of course, Depp's character goes downhill and thus one begins to see it as a little hazardous. But whereas "Boogie Nights" turned dark and tragic to such a level it really did "put the fear in you", "Blow" never really gets that dark - the ending is sad, but throughout the movie it rarely makes moral judgements about the actions of its characters (much like most of "Traffic"). Its a solid film, certainly a lot better than the crap out there this month, but it certainly isn't anything new - deriving bits and pieces from all sorts of previous films in the genre without establishing a style of its own. You won't find any insight to the drug trade here but you will find a decent movie. - Garth Franklin
"Blow: Infinifilm Series"
DVD Details In Brief (Region 1)
Rating: R
Runtime: 124mins
Versions: 16:9 Enhanced Widescreen, 4:3 Letterboxed
Aspect Ratio: 2.35: 1
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0 Surround
Language & Sub-Titles: English
Commentary: Track by Ted Demme and George Jung. Fact Track
Documentaries: George Jung Interviews, Two Featurettes
Clips: Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary), Character Outtakes, Music Video - "Push and Pull", Trailers
Other: Production Diary, Script-To-Screen, Website
Region 1 vs. Region 4: No Region 4 DVD Available. |
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DVD Review: Another winner from New Line with the underrated "Blow" coming to disc in a spectacular way. Kicking off with the "Boogie Nights" esque menus, the transfer is beautiful - I really can't find a fault with either the audio or video and its right up there with their previous Infinifilm transfers. The commentary track is certainly not what one expects. Demme talks quite fast but is very legible and says some interesting stuff about how the film was translated. As for Jung its hard to make out what he's saying but when he does speak its quite captivating as your fascinated to hear this very infamous guy commenting on what is wrong and right about events in the flick. More interesting is the interviews Demme conducts with him in the Otisville jail about various topics such as the rough cut, Johnny Depp, the 60's and so forth.
"Lost Paradise" is a fascinating 25-minute documentary about Columbia and the drug trade over there that includes interviews with historians, local filmmakers, priests and journalists who speak very frankly on the issue whilst at some points graphic footage is played of the unrest there. "Addiction" is a 6-minute vignette with various addicts along with experts in religion and science weighing in with their opinions on general topics like 'Nurture', 'Body' and 'Soul' - its fine but not as interesting. There's the fact track standard to all Infinifilms though due to the film's nature this is probably the best one they've had of this type so far as the shifting of time and locales keeps things interesting. There's approximately ten deleted scenes altogether adding up to about 20 minutes of new footage (with optional commentary) - the highlights are an alternate beginning with Jung in jail, a longer version of the George/Pablo initial meeting and the pair talking outside Pablo's mansion after George is beaten up, and a 7-minute sequence involving a court trial of Diego.
"Production Diary" is about 15 minutes of video diaries taken by Ted Demme - each one about a minute long and taken 5 days or so apart during the production - in each one he just basically gives a short update about what they're currently doing. "Character Outtakes" is a quite original feature - around a dozen actors in the film 'in character' giving short home video testimonials about George - kind of unusual but good fun. Capping it off is the EXCELLENT teaser trailer, the good full trailer, Nikka Costa's unimpressive music video "Push and Pull" (though the song is ok), and standard biographies. Its a real solid disc once again, right up there with "Thirteen Days" - fantastic work. - Garth Franklin
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