Plot: What’s it about?
This is a very dark and twisted movie. You may feel guilty if you like this movie, but remember it is only a movie. This was not a bad movie, just a little too dark for my taste, and definitely not for everybody. The suspense was very good and I found myself looking out for Tom Welles (Nicolas Cage) as he was on the case to find the murder. It is about a Private Investigator (Nicolas Cage) who takes a case in which he must find out if a girl in a 8mm movie is still alive.
Tom needs to find the identity of the girl in the movie first so he goes to a missing children’s center in search of it. He finds the identity of the girl and then he goes to her house in search of some clues on where she might have gone. The clues take him to Hollywood. Tom runs across a clerk, Max, (Joaquin Phoenix) at a sleazy sex shop as he looks for the kind of people that would make “snuff” films. He uses Max to get him inside the dark and underground world of pornography in the LA. area. There are several scenes where Tom and Max are watching tapes of hard core sex on television looking for some clues. (There is a lot of nudity and violence in this movie.) Max accompanies Tom to New York as they go to look into an underground pornography director, Dino Velvet whom they think might have something to do with the movie. (Peter Stormare, the quiet guy in Fargo)
This movie was written by Andrew Kevin Walker. (Se7en) It is evident in the darkness of the movie, but this is much darker and bizarre than Seven (if you can believe that) and that is where the comparisons should end. Se7en was an excellent movie while this one was okay. Maybe it was just me and the whole killing and hard-core sex acts bothered me too much, but I am just trying to warn those who don’t know what to expect. The hard-core acts may deter you from enjoying this movie a bit so be careful. This is worth renting to make up your own mind, but I couldn’t see this more than once.
Video: How does it look?
This is a good transfer although I did notice some grain in a couple of the darker scenes. A good transfer, but not the top notch as usual from Columbia Tri Star.
Audio: How does it sound?
This was a pretty good DD 5.1 transfer of the movie. The subwoofer and all of your speakers get a good workout here. There are some scenes when loud music is present and you feel like you are in the movie with them. There are also some unique styles of music in this one.
Supplements: What are the extras?
There is a director commentary from Joel Schumacher. (A Time to Kill) There is also a making of featurette that is pretty interesting and the basic theatrical trailer and cast and crew bios.
