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"What
if..." |
Reviewed by
Cass Nunn |
Director
Brett Ratner
Cast
Nicholas Cage,
Tea' Leoni,
Con Cheadle,
Jeremy Piven,
Saul Rubinek
Music
Danny Elfman
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I have to admit I never saw the family man at the
cinemas as it had been widely broadcast as being a little sub standard however the first
time I saw it on the region 1 DVD I was pleasantly surprised. [ed..she lies folk, i
saw it with her over the christmas break..helloooooo Hoyts La
Premiere...remember???....jeez :)] Again I was impressed with the region 4 disc.
While the story does drag a little at times it was more than original and ultimately well
worth at least a couple of viewings if not more.
The film starts with a sad goodbye to Jack Campbell (Nicholas Cage) from his girlfriend
Kate Reynolds (Tea Leoni) as he heads off London to expend into a successful career.
Kate’s hope is that he will stay. Jack however does go to London and about 13 years
down the track we join him in his prestige apartment with his Ferrari and all the success
one could hope for from a career. |
So how does this transfer hold up?
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VIDEO
The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is bordering on reference
quality but unfortunately doesn’t quite make it. The entire transfer is extremely
sharp and clear and the level of detail is very fine indeed. Shadow detail is almost
perfect, occasionally there is a little loss in detail but this only occurs in some
problematic scenes, which would have truly lent themselves to this problem.
Similarly there a couple of almost insignificant instances
of shimmering which again only occur in truly problematic areas so I could almost forgive
it.
The colour palette is sensational. This film gives a lot of potential for enormous
amounts of colour variance by mood, and it really delivers the goods too. The colour
spectrum is used to it’s full potential but at no time was it overbearing or in
anyway over saturated or bleeding.
There was also one small dust mark which I noticed but other than these very small
problems this is as close to reference quality as they come. |
AUDIO
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is very good indeed.
Dialogue was always clear and easy to understand. The entire audio track is balanced very
well throughout the sound stage and never really seemed to be very centre heavy.
The surround channels could have been used a little more
frequently to support the score and add dimension to the directional effects. The LFE
channel is also used quite well, while it didn’t really have a huge impact it was
constantly felt in supporting the score and some of the more bass heavy effects.
The score from Danny Elfman was quite spectacular and different for his normal type of
score. Dare I say it but it reminded me of the great John Williams at times with some
fantastic classic ambient pieces. |
EXTRAS
- Making of Featurette: (20 mins) A little too general and
limited in its information. Mainly promotional interviews for the cast and the film with
only limited behind the scenes footage. Just once I would like to hear what the cast and
crew really thought of everything. Surely every film can’t have all the perfect
people to work with and it seems a little misleading that we know deep down that it’s
sometimes a promotional front.
- Deleted Scenes: 9 deleted scenes of which I think some of
them should have been included.
- Outtakes: 7 very funny outtakes of the main characters,
which will certainly make you, laugh.
- Featurette: Hi Jack Montage: less than a minute collection
based on the idea of people saying "Hi Jack" my initial reaction…. What
The?
- Cast and Crew Bios: Bios for main characters and the
director, quite well done really.
- Theatrical Trailer
- Featurette: 1.15 mins "It’s Beginning to look a
lot like Christmas" an alternate opening sequence, not a bad piece but not something
I would have included in the final film.
- Music Video: This could be heaven: from Seal.
- Isolated Music Score and commentary D. Elfman: While I
generally dislike audio commentaries I am always impressed with an isolated music score
and this is very good. Includes commentary from Danny Elfman (composer) and some film
dialogue.
- Audio Commentary: B. Ratner, D. Diamond, D.
Weissman(director and writers): I did manage to sit through this entire commentary and it
wasn’t too bad. Brett Ratner gives some broad detail, which demonstrates his passion
for film making but at times seemed a little generic.
- Audio Commentary: Mark Abraham (producer): This is the most
entertaining of the 3 commentaries and gives a much deeper insight into the background of
the film and it’s concepts.
- Dolby Digital Train Trailer
(Note that all the extras are presented in 16x9 enhanced widescreen (a big plus!) )
Overall
I really quite liked this film and the extras are certainly a bonus… worth every
cent! |
| PICTURE
QUALITY |
9.5/10
almost perfect |
SOUND
- Quality
- 5.1 WOW Factor |
9/10 great!
7/10 not a lot of impact or need for this really. |
| EXTRAS |
9/10 the best I’ve
seen in quite a while |
| EXTRAS |
9/10 great package! |
Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9
selectable)
DVD: Pioneer 737
Receiver: Yamaha RX-V595a
Speakers:-
Fronts: B&W 602 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Wharfedale Diamond R6
Sub: M&K v75
- Reviewed 26th August 2001
* jpeg files for internet
promotion use only. Copyright© exists on all aspects of these files by Village Roadshow |
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(2.35:1) 
