As The National Blood Transfusion Service has NEVER said, "Merry Christmas To All Our Bleeders&...
As The National Blood Transfusion Service has NEVER said, "Merry Christmas To All Our Bleeders"
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This may not seem like the usual critique of a movie on DVD, but since this film has been available on DVD for some time, I thought I’d alert you to an interesting re-issue of the disk, with some added (some might say taken away) features. If you’re looking for a blow-by-blow account of the movie itself look elsewhere.
I’d seen The Fast & The Furious before, lent to me by my neighbour who likes this kind of thing. Well, he’s got a 42” widescreen set monitor and DTS sound with an extra woofer, and boy, can it woof!
My own home cinema’s no slouch either, and it’s a good job that our two ‘semis’ are the ‘halls adjoining’ kind
TF&TF is an ideal movie for showing off your equipment, and so it was with some interest that I noticed the emergence of the so-called ‘SUPERBIT’ version of the DVD, retailing for £9.99.
Superbit? Let me explain. One of the so-called advantages of DVD over VHS movies, is the ability to add extra material, such as “The Making of…” or out-takes and the like. Of course, this all uses up precious disk space, which could, if crammed in too tight, impinge on the sharpness of the movie, particularly a dynamic (fast moving) one like TF&TF.
Laying down a DVD is a lengthy process involving the creation of greater ‘elbow-room’ for the fast-action bits, combined with greater file compression for the slower darker bits. For example, two hours worth of the old BBC 2 test card would be a tiny file-size in computer-speak, comprising one image, which has no changes for hours on end, and some other data to signify how long it should be displayed. By contrast action movies need all the space they can get. This is where the ‘Superbit’ variant comes in.
I’ve just looked at the DVD in Windows Explorer, and the whole shebang takes up about 7 gigabytes of disk space, which is getting closer to the 8-point-something of a maximum DVD size. Where this differs is that it’s ALL movie, including the DTS sound option. The audio is ONLY in English although there are some subtitle options to keep non-Anglophones happy (ish).
The result? A much sharper image and more vibrant colours. Still-frames are rock solid, almost like photos. Just the fact that the DTS variant of digital sound is on offer improves the sound (although Dolby Digital’s none too shabby either).
The cynic in me would say “Don’t bother with Superbit” but if it’s a movie you haven’t bought yet, and you never watch the extras, go for it! The cynic in me also notices that this re-issue of the original conveniently coincides with the cinema release of the sequel. How JOLLY convenient!
THE MOVIE ITSELF
For those of you who’ve been wondering when I’d get to the point, this is it!
I guess you’d call TF&TF an action movie. Essentially, the stars are the cars, although Vin Diesel (is that a Vin Ordinaire-and-Guinness shandy perhaps?) puts up a pretty good show for the humans in it.
Paul Walker plays a Police infiltrator (whoops, shouldn’t have told you that), gaining access through a world of souped-up and breathed-on street cars and illegal street racing to the real nitty-gritty of how all this stuff gets funded. Of course, the love interest/female-to-fall-and-break-ankle is there to in the very shapely form of Michelle Rodriguez. To a certain extent, this “cop gets too friendly with villains to be objective” stuff’s been done before, but to be perfectly honest it doesn’t matter one iota. If you like shiny things that go fast, and make lots of noise, you’ll like this film – I did, although I’m not sure if the rest of the street liked it. I wonder how my Yaris T-Sport would look with the underfloor fluorescent lights?
p.s. It’s worth tracking down the Superbit version of the disk though. Here’s the rub – I just checked www.play.com, the Jersey-based website and the Region 2 Superbit version at £9.99 is cheaper than the original at £14.99. Go figure, as they say.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Action/Adventure - Director: Gore Verbinski - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Bill Nighy, Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Chow Yun-Fat
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
I've always had the feeling that the 'extras' included on DVD releases were simply there to pad out the price, and this would seem to bear that out. Superbit from now on then.....Steve
jimblob 16.08.2003 22:23
My son has the DVD of this movie but he doesn't watch the movie, he drools for hours over the "extra" bit showing how they customize a car.
MandyMinx 15.08.2003 21:07
Loved this one, the sequel was a no go though...MANDXX
Advantages: Back to the cruising scene with great cars, great sound systems and great girls. Action packed Disadvantages: It's not as good as Fast and Furious, poor acting, unrealistic story
Advantages: Plenty of action, nice effects, Vin Diesel, no need to think too hard. Disadvantages: Not really any, unless you're expecting something that it's not.
![The Fast and the Furious [DVD] [1954] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/75101444.jpg "The Fast and the Furious [DVD] [1954] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]")
![The Fast And The Furious [HD DVD] [2001]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78158583.jpg "The Fast And The Furious [HD DVD] [2001]")
![3 Classic Racing Films of the Silver Screen: The Wild Ride (1960) / The Fast and the Furious (1954) / The Big Wheel (1949) [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78499914.jpg "3 Classic Racing Films of the Silver Screen: The Wild Ride (1960) / The Fast and the Furious (1954) / The Big Wheel (1949) [DVD]")
very helpful by (85%):
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![The Fast and the Furious [DVD] [1954] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/81497500.jpg)
