Plot: What’s it about?
Vin Diesel may be the king of the world, but as evidenced by the somewhat disappointing performance of Knockaround Guys, he doesn’t have the Midas Touch. In it, Diesel, Barry Pepper, Seth Green and veteran actors John Malkovich and Dennis Hopper pretent to be tough guys, Knockaround Guys, if you will. Quite frankly, this is one of those movies that actors seem to make just to get a quick paycheck or just to try and have fun with. Granted, the cast is good and with Malkovich and Hopper on board, it’s kind of hard to go wrong. I don’t really know what to think when I see Dennis Hopper anymore, sure his more recent efforts of Speed and Blue Velvet have been notable; but this guy was in some of the greatest movies ever made! He was in Giant, Rebel Without a Cause, Apocalypse Now, Easy Rider and Cool Hand Luke just to name a few. And now he seems relegated to lower stature “A” list movies (like this) and straight to video releases. Such is the life, I suppose, but when it comes to “the life” this guy has had it.
As for the actual plot of Knockaround Guys, there isn’t much of one. We meet Matty Demaret (Barry Pepper), son of small time gangster Benny Chains (Hopper). Matty has spent the better part of his life trying to live down his father’s name, has graduated from college with a degree in sports marketing and has had the door shut in his face at every turn when he tries to pursue his dream. Thinking that his options are very limited, he decides to turn to the “family business” in hopes that he can finally make something of himself. His father and close friend, Teddy Deserve (John Malkovich) don’t think it’s the best idea, but they know that trust isn’t an issue; so they give him a simple job to do. As you can imagine, all hell breaks loose. With his friend, Marbles (Seth Green) working with him, he has to fly out to Washington state, pick up a briefcase (full of money) and fly it back. Simple, right? No. Things never seem to work out as planned and before we know it, the gang is in the middle of Montana locking horns with the local law enforcement trying to get their money back.
Usually with a movie like this, there is some sort of saving grace, some actor or performance or scene that you can walk away and say “Yeah, I remember that part…” or whatnot. That really isn’t the case here. It’s not the worst movie around, but I really couldn’t feel for any of the characters, and at 92 minutes it’s not like they gave us a lot of time to get to know them. Pepper, a favorite actor of mine, seems to really be pushing it too hard here and Vin Diesel seems as if he’s been demoted to even be in an ensemble cast. Filled with some bad New York accents, we do see the once great skyline of New York City before the World Trade Centers were attacked. Granted, this dates the movie, but filmmakers seem to want to leave these scenes in. Knockaround Guys might be a movie that a lot of people like and perhaps I need to give it a second chance; but as far as the first go-around was concerned, I wasn’t too taken with it.
Video: How does it look?
When it comes to technical quality, the film does deliver. There are actually two versions of the film on the DVD, a widescreen version and a full-frame. When so many other studios are issuing seperate versions (and New Line is no exception) of the same film, it’s a welcome change to see a disc that’s made like it used to be! The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is up to the high standard that New Line set years ago. Colors are very solid, blacks are right on target and there’s nary an artifact to be found anywhere. Only in a few spots did the transfer suffer, usually in lower light situations. For the most part, this is another shining example of how good a film (even a not too great one) can look on DVD. Excellent.
Audio: How does it sound?
I watched this movie late at night, so I do have to admit that my receiver’s volume wasn’t at the usual level. Nevermind, as this soundtrack does indeed rock! The dual DTS/Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack makes no secret that it does sound good. Random scenes have a really heavy use of the LFE and it shows. The bass is unlike anything I’ve heard in a while and the surround effects, though not used to their full ability, kick in at the right time. Dialogue sounds excellent as well, for the deep “New York” type of voices/accents they sound absolutely perfect coming out of the center channel. All in all, these tracks do give the movie more of a boost, albeit a small one.
Supplements: What are the extras?
New Line didn’t exactly load this disc down with supplements, there is a pretty good audio commentary with the filmmakers, though they seem to have fun at times, it doesn’t really add that much information to what we want to learn about the movie. We can tell that they had a good time making the film, but something just seemed to be missing. A few deleted and alternate scenes are also included, playable with commentary and can be played individually or all at once. Some DVD-ROM material is also included (link to website, etc.) as is the original theatrical trailer. Some coming attractions of other New Line movies are also included on the disc.
