DVD Picks & Pans: Late Winter Potpourri
Tom Miller
Feb 25, 2008
"American Gangster: 2-Disc Unrated Extended Edition," DVD-2008 ($29.98, Universal Studios Home Entertainment) Also available in Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD Edition and 3-Disc Deluxe Edition.
Director Ridley Scott ("Gladiator," "Black Hawk Down") teams with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in this epic crime drama based on the exploits of 1970s Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas (Washington).
Taking over for his long-time boss, Lucas rises to the top of the Harlem drug scene by flooding the streets with cheap heroin smuggled in from Southeast Asia in military cargo planes.
Crowe plays honest cop Richie Roberts who's recruited by the feds to nail Lucas. Their stories play out as parallel threads until they finally confront each other in a surprising climax.
Director Scott is a master of the blockbuster, and "Gangster" is certainly a big, splashy, entertaining film. Washington and Crowe are solid as adversaries, and Josh Brolin is menacing as a dirty cop.
Scott is to be commended for refusing to glamorize the drug scene or drug lord Lucas, whose empire is clearly built on others' misery. The vice cops, personified by the venal Detective Trupo (Brolin), fare little better. Sadly, in that era, many -- if not most -- were on the take. (For a classic look at the rampant police corruption in New York during that era -- and also based on a true story -- check out "Serpico," a 1973 crime drama starring Al Pacino and available on DVD from Paramount Home Video.)
Choose between the original theatrical film and an extended version that includes an additional eighteen minutes. Either way, you're in for a gritty crime-thriller.
Military.com Rating: ***
(DVD extras include deleted scenes with an alternate opening; a feature-length documentary "Fallen Empire: Making American Gangster;" and "Case Files," three additional behind-the-scenes segments.)
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"Lust, Caution (Widescreen, R-Rated Edition)," DVD-2008 ($29.98, Universal Studios Home Entertainment) Also available in Widescreen, NC-17-Rated Edition.
Director Ang Lee's ("Brokeback Mountain") historical drama set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai requires patience in the early going -- at a long 2 1/2 hours, it actually seems longer -- but ultimately delivers a memorable, if bittersweet, love story.
The lovers are Mr. Yee (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), a high official in the collaborationist Chinese government, and Wang Jiazhi (Tang Wei), a university student masquerading as the wife of a Chinese businessman.
Through flashbacks, the viewer learns that Wang fell in with a group of anti-Japanese students at university in Hong Kong four years earlier. Using Wang as sexual bait, the group plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate Mr. Yee for working with the Japanese.
Four years later, in 1942, the anti-Japanese resistance in Shanghai again recruits Wang to entrap Yee. This time, the usually-cautious Yee responds lustfully to Wang, and they begin a torrid affair. (The version shown in theaters was so sexually explicit that it earned a dreaded NC-17 rating. The DVD is available in both R and NC-17 versions. I viewed the R-Rated version, but it includes ample nudity and simulated sex.)
If Yee's lust has placed him in the cross-hairs of the resistance, Wang's undercover role puts her in constant peril. Once the dynamic between caution and lust has been set, director Lee skillfully manipulates the tension as it builds to a shattering climax.
More judicious editing -- too much time is spent to little purpose playing mahjong, for example -- would have made for a more compelling film. The cast is fine with Ms. Wei particularly impressive as the accidental seductress.
Military.com Rating: **1/2
(DVD extras include "Tiles of Deception, Lurid Affections," a featurette on the making of "Lust, Caution.")
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"Beowulf," DVD-2008 ($29.99, Paramount Studios Home Entertainment) Also available in Unrated Director's Cut and HD.
If there's one lesson to be learned from director Robert Zemeckis' digitized reinterpretation of "Beowulf," it's that Angelina Jolie is as hot animated as in the flesh.
And, while I would prefer Ms. Jolie in the flesh, I understand why Zemeckis ("Back to the Future") employs the performance-capture technology he first used in "The Polar Express."
"The Polar Express" is a children's fantasy. "Beowulf" is a grownup fantasy. Animation, perhaps, seems more appropriate.
The story is as old as . . . well, legend. Set in the 6th-Century, it follows the exploits of warrior-hero Beowulf (Ray Winstone) who slays monsters -- in particular a gruesome demon named Grendel (Crispin Glover) who's threatening the Danish kingdom of King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins).
In a rewriting of the original Old English epic, Beowulf, after dispatching Grendel, makes a deal with the demon's vengeful mother (a nude Ms. Jolie perched seductively on stiletto heels -- in the 6th Century, no less. Who knew?) that ensures him the throne upon King Hrothgar's death. There'll be the devil to pay, of course.
There's some interesting stuff here -- the long fight scene between Beowulf and Grendel, for example, is cleverly choreographed and shot -- but the medium (photorealistic) too often gets in the way of the message. Yes, the Beowulf epic is a myth, but that doesn't mean it has to look like a videogame.
Given the constraints (of the medium), the acting is serviceable. Winstone is appropriately heroic, and Ms. Jolie transcends the medium. John Malkovich (Unferth, an adviser to King Hrothgar) and Alison Lohman (Ursula, Beowulf's young mistress) shine in small roles.
Military.com Rating: **
(DVD extras include "A Hero's Journey: The Making of Beowulf" featurette.)
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Military.com Picks & Pans Rating Scale
* Pan -- Save your money & time
** Borderline Pick -- Okay but only as a last resort
*** Pick -- Worthwhile & enjoyable
****Enthusiastic Pick -- Excellent
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Copyright 2008 by Tom Miller
