Stars:
Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, David Della Rocco, and Billy
Connolly
Writer:
Troy Duffy
Director:
Troy Duffy
Feature
length: 108 minutes
Extras:
Feature Length Audio Commentary By Writer and Director Troy Duffy, Deleted
Scenes, Outtakes, Director and Cast Filmographies, and Theatrical Trailer
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 and English Dolby Surround 2.0
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 16
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Stereo Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1999/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Home
Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Sean
Patrick Flanery (Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) and Norman Redus (Blade 2) play
two twenty-something Irish immigrant brothers with a peculiar, but no less
devotion to Catholicism who through circumstance they come to believe they are
something akin to God’s instruments of justice as they begin wiping out
underworld figures in South Boston. Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man) is the FBI
investigator assigned to find the killers. As the brothers become local folk
heroes with public support behind their actions, the agent figures out who they
are, but even he is torn between whether he should stop them or let them do
God’s will. Billy Connolly has a standout character role in the film as well.
“The
Boondock Saints” was produced for $6 million dollars by first time Writer and
Director Troy Duffy and is without a doubt one of the better post-Tarantino
mixes of crime action and dark comedy to come along in the late 90s. Twentieth
Century Fox Home Entertainment presents “The Boondock Saints” on DVD with a
letterboxed (2.35:1) aspect ratio. While I wish the transfer took greater
advantage of the enhanced resolution DVD-Video makes possible, I have to say
that this is one of the best looking letterboxed transfers I have seen with
little to no video noise and grain and a very crisp and clear picture quality
free of dirt and scratches. A well-mixed English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtrack is included and has an aggressive quality. An English Dolby Surround
2.0 Soundtrack is included with optional English Captions and Closed Captions
for the hearing impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles.
Writer
and Director Troy Duffy gives an excellent and screen specific feature length
audio commentary that covers working with the actors, letting crewmembers like
the cinematographer take some chances, casting adult film icons Ron Jeremy and
Jeanna
Fine, and how 6 million dollars is not as much as one would think when directing
a feature film among other things. Also included are 8 deleted scenes that can
only be viewed individually and not in one reel. Some of the scenes are
extensions and all are taken from videotaped rough cut with English Stereo
Sound. The scenes are as short as 22-seconds and as long as almost 6-minutes
with a combined approximate running time of 18-minutes. Nearly a minute and a
half of outtake bloopers with the same video and audio quality of the deleted
scenes are included too. A (1.33:1) video trailer and Cast and Crew
filmographies wrap up the extra features included on this DVD.
The
interactive menus feature full motion scene selections and interactive motion
menus complete with animated transitions and all are easy to navigate. The menus
feature full Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound as well. “The Boondock Saints”
will debut on DVD-Video from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on
Tuesday, May 21, 2002 and is definitely worth checking out.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.