...

You know the saying Too many Cooks spoilt the Broth.  well, too many critics can ruin a movie.  Quite often when movies are previewed to a "test audience" of mr and Mrs Joe average, their opinions can dictate how the rest of the movie going world will see it in its final form.  Fatal Attraction's original ending was far more depressing with Glenn Close's Character committing suicide with a really big knife while listening to Madame Butterfly.  The Test audience on that film didn't feel it had enough kick so the ending was reshot with the psycho in the bathtub sequence.  X-files helmer David Nutter's Disturbing Behaviour was totally butchered my MGM after test screenings and turned out crap!  it totally bombed at the box office with a storyline that had no room for character growth, and no storyline to boot.  what a mess that was.   There's not much chance of us ever seeing the director's cut either but let's hope it does happened one day as the original vision of this teenage mind experimenting horror/drama sounded pretty cool)

Director John Frankenhiemer received a similar experience with one of his more recent films, Reindeer Games.   This film was cut for theatrical release by approximately 20 minutes!  Thankfully, the DVD version from Roadshow is the director's cut, and understandably a much better film overall, with characters fleshed out a bit more and a more cohesive storyline. 

The gist of the story is that Rudy (Ben Affleck) and Nick (James Frain) are prison cell mates. Both are due for release in a few days time,  Rudy just wants to go home and have some Hot Chocolate and Pecan Pie, whereas Nick is all psyched up to meet his new girlfriend Ashley (Charleze Theron) who he met through an ad in the Lonely prisoner seeks sexy [obviously brainless] bombshell section of the paper :)
During a prison riot, Nick is Killed when he protects Rudy from a big mutha named The Alamo (USA's NFL player Dana Stubblefield).
When Rudy is released from prison he sees Ashley waiting for Nick, though she is unaware Nick is even dead.  Rudy initially ignores Ashley, then in a moment of weakness, lies to Ashley and pretends that he is Nick (all for a bit of sweet lovin' ).

So after a quick jump in the sack all is happy for "nick" and Ashley, then out of the blue Ashley's psychotic brother Gabriel (the ever reliable Gary Sinise) and his goon squad kidnap them both.  The reason?  the REAL Nick use to work in a Casino and Gabriel read the letters Nick sent to Ashley and has hatched a plan to get Nick to help them break in to the casino and steal the money....

So how does this transfer hold up?

...

VIDEO
It's a gritty hard hitting movie and the Anamorphic Widescreen transfer reflects this quite well.  Colours are intentionally muted (more so in the beginning than the end of the film in the casino sequences), and Black Level is darker than your average movie.  Sharpness is generally very good (close-ups are particularly excellent with very fine detail and only the slightest bit a noise reduction).  Image depth is also quite good, and alaising only pops up now and then with little distraction.  Tis a fine transfer overall.
Something of interest about this transfer, it wasn't until the Video/DVD release that the Director was able to re-edit the film to his original vision.  As a result the re-editing of sequences isn't quite seamless.  The first time I watched this film I noticed some 3 or 4 bad cuts (a double frame causing the shot to "jolt", a frame or two missing and so on), the second time I watched this film I noticed a few more of these sloppy edits, I counted 15.  The THIRD time around, I stopped bothering after counting 20.  Because some of the onscreen action is incredibly quick, half the edits will probably go unnoticed by most, like the one at 24:52 as Rudy/Nick is about to get punched in the stomach, whereas the ones like at 66:50 where these a double frame then the following frame is dropped), stand out a bit more.  (The USA DVD version has the exact same editing problems (so this is NOT a region 4 DVD authoring error)

Spread over an RSDL DVD, the well placed layer change occurs at chapter 12 (66:24) between separate closeups of Rudy and Ashley.

...

AUDIO
Complimenting a very nice picture is a very impressive Dolby Digital 5.1 sound track.   Alan Silvestri's music score is particularly wicked sounding (though all his soundtracks always remind me of Predator :) and this one has low down dirty Bass, and expansive music cues which fill the room from all around.
Dialogue is always incredibly clear and intelligible and remains very natural sounding throughout (they've done a very good job on the ADR here)

...

EXTRAS
You have to love the idea behind a commentary track, and I'm sure Director John Frankenhiemer must love them  after doing one for Reindeer Games as he gets to explain quite a lot of the goings-on and problems (like the film cutting) with getting Reindeer Games made.  Surprisingly he does not come across as being at all bitter for having to accommodate his film by editing out and reducing sequences for the theatrical release. 
He's a true professional and obviously understands how to get the best out the "system" when his hands are somewhat tied. 
I was a little distracted by the comm track sounding a bit choppy.  With some passages being louder than others, and a change in sound quality throughout (some sounding distant, some quite in your face) one can only assume this was recorded over several sessions and not very well by the folks overseas.
But it is just a commentary track, so it's easy to overlook the less than stellar sound quality at the end of the day

Other extras included on this DVD are

• Set Pass - a 6 minute behind the scenes featurette   (16x9)
• Theatrical Trailer (16x9 with 2 channel sound)
• Cast and Crew Bios
• Animated Menus with music (16x9 with 2 channel sound)
• Subtitles for the hearing impaired
• Dolby Digital RAIN trailer

It may have done terrible business at the box office, but Reindeer games has been well presented on DVD and is certainly worth a look, especially with this being the director's cut.

Review Equipment
TV: Pioneer SD-T50W1 (16:9 RPTV)
DVD: Pioneer DV717  (using RGB outputs)
Receiver : Denon AVC-A1SE THX Ultra (Dolby Surround EX, DTS-ES Discrete)
Speakers:-
     Mains: Quadral Phonolgue Gold Amun
     Centre: B&W CDMC-SE
     Surrounds Left/Right: B&W 602 (Direct Radiating)
     Surrounds Back : M&K SS500 (THX Diplole)
     Subby: M&K V125 

- Reviewed 18th May 2001

*  jpeg files for internet promotion use only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by Roadshow