Plot: What’s it about?
With the teaming up of Quentin Tarentino and Tony Scott, one can bet a film with action, great dialog and violence will result. Tony Scott directed this shortly after Top Gun and Revenge, both good, face paced movies. Quentin Tarentino wrote the story that drives ScottÆs film. And it shows.
Christian Slater plays an everyday, average guy (who gets life advice from Elvis while in the bathroom) named Clarence Worley. He meets up with a call-girl named Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) and they fall hopelessly in love fast. She has only been a call-girl for a few days and quits to stay with Clarence. Clarence decides to confront her pimp, Drexl, played wonderfully by Gary Olman (I have yet to dislike him in any role I have seen him do) and retrieve her belongings. Things go bad and Clarence winds up with a suitcase full of cocaine. Things take off and get pretty wild from here.
While the beginning was a bit slow, it definitely took off once the Bonnie & Clyde of the 90Æs are on the run. If nothing else, you have to rent this movie to see the interrogation scene between a mobster (Christopher Walken) and ClarenceÆs father (Dennis Hopper). It is classic Tarentino dialog and a scene that belongs in movie lore along with DeNiroÆs “You talkinÆ to me?” in Taxi Driver.
The video and sound are both fine, but nothing to write home about. Dolby 2.0 and a decent picture are what you end up with, nothing close to reference material. The extras take ten minutes to watch, but they are worth it.
To sum it all up, if you have never scene this movie, rent it. It is worth the time to sit down and watch it. If you have already seen it, you may want to rent it anyway. The package claims to be the ‘Directors Cut’, but having never scene the original theater release, I cannot tell the difference. Overall, it is a fun movie with some memorable scenes.
Video: How does it look?
Decent. Not reference quality, but definitely watchable.
Audio: How does it sound?
Another one of Tony ScottÆs films that were only converted with Dolby 2.0 instead of Dolby 5.1. Disappointing, but still a very watchable soundtrack.
Supplements: What are the extras?
A moderate amount with this DVD. Pretty much the standard extras that a DVD comes with if it comes with any at all. The production notes were definitely interesting and provided some good insight into ScottÆs frame of mind when making the movie.
