Sylvester Stallone hasn't really had a hit movie since the rocky and rambo franchises. So much like Travolta's return to prominence in Pulp Fiction, many felt Stallone had made his comeback in director James Mangold's epic of the jealousy and struggle between various types of law enforcement.
Stallone did shine in the film, showing a side of him that actually seemed intelligent and not just bravado. While Stallone was really good in the film, it was co-stars such as Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro that actually stole the show. Even Janeane Garofalo's short time on the screen seemed to have more of an impact than Stallone.
The film suffered from some missing pieces that apparantly were cut for time. Yes, the movie is long, at times too long, and the new director's cut is even longer, running at a 116 minutes that feel much more like 200. However this director's cut puts pieces together in an even more flowing way for a better picture.
The story is interesting with Stallone as half-deaf Sheriff Freddy, who often overlooks and gets overlooked as the law by the police force. The yellows and the blues don't exactly see eye to eye and corruption runs rampant without one hand checking on the other.
The blues are played as wonderful corrupt police with Liotta, Deniro and Harvey Keitel showing a tough line between good and evil. Bad cops are all the rage now with The Shield on TV and Training Day on film. What makes this movie work IS the contrast between Stallone's performance and those of the bad guys. Stallone deserved better praise for this film and with the new editing of the director's cut, things flow better.
The Disc:
The special collector's edition arrives in a 1.85:1 widescreen anamorphic transfer that is clean with less of the darkness that filled the original DVD release. Sure the film is meant to be dark but the blacks seem more clear here without the smudging of the original transfer.
Sounds for this action thriller are presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 which is sufficient though a bit disappointing that a DTS track was not included. I must admit that the soundtrack is clear and clean, but how about doing something more, as it's a special collectors edition afterall.
Being a special edition, aside from the director's cut, there's not a whole lot here. It begins with Audio Commentary from writer/director James Mangold, producer Cathy Konrad, actors Sylvester Stallone & Robert Patrick
which is fairly interesting. I am not sure if this track was created recently or shortly before the first dvd release. However the track is interesting though the team seems to step on each other quite often. Stallone doesn't seem to enthusiastic here either.
Next up is "The Making of an Urban Legend" featurette which touches on the films "legends" of sorts. I found this to be more filler material than actual interesting material.
while being a director's cut, there's still of course Deleted Scenes which fans can view. I must admit I don't understand why these scenes didn't make the directors cut but oh well.
Finally there's a Shootout storyboard sequence which shows how the scene progressed from idea to filmed reality.
bottom line:
A better dvd for fans of the movie but still somewhat long in the tooth. Stallone does provide one of the best jobs of his career but the film ultimately fails to match something like Pulp Fiction.
3 out of 5
By - Brian Gray
