Stars:
David Arnott, Jeri Ryan, and David Montgomery
Writer:
Harry Ralston
Director:
Harry Ralston
Feature
length: 94 minutes
Extras:
Production Commentaries, Storyboard Comparisons, Featurette, Audition Reel, and
Trailers
Languages:
English Stereo
Subtitles:
English Captions and Spanish Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 24
Sound:
Stereo Sound
Year
of DVD Release: 2002
Home
Video Distributor: Lions Gate Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
David
Arnott plays the last anthropologist on Earth who meets the last woman on Earth,
(Jeri Ryan), after some vague apocalypse has wiped all of humanity except for
another young guy (David Montgomery), who becomes a much physically viable sex
object for Ryan leaving Arnott slowly descending into jealousy as World War III
comes down to the last three people on Earth.
Independently
produced and written and directed by Harry Ralston, “The Last Man” walks the
fine line between post-apocalyptic bleakness and comedy with a unique approach
that combines elements of “A Boy And His Dog” with “My Life.”
Lions
Gate Home Entertainment’s DVD edition presents “The Last Man” in a
(1.85:1) anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio. The film is very much a low budget
production so the quality of the picture looks somewhat washed out, but it also
evokes a quality the is somewhat reminiscent of the filmmaking style seen in the
70s, which appears to be one of the goals the filmmakers wanted to achieve. An
English Stereo Soundtrack with optional English Captions for the hearing
impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded on to the dual layered DVD
as options. There is also a production commentary with writer and director Harry
Ralston, and actors David Arnott, Jeri Ryan, and David Montgomery who joins them
when his character first appears 34 minutes into the film. The commentary is
somewhat screen specific with Ralston sounding somewhat subdued at times and the
actors commenting on their scenes while Ryan giggles in the background for most
of the commentary.
Extra
features include a videotaped behind the scenes featurette and some analogue
video screen tests. The storyboard comparison presents the scenes in two side by
side oval TV like window boxed screens, but they are a bit too small to
appreciate unless you have a really big TV screen. Full-framed trailers for
“The Last Man,” “Frailty,” and the Wesley Snipes and Linda Fiorentino
thriller “Liberty Stands Still” wrap up the extra features on this DVD.
“The
Last Man” is available on DVD-Video now from Lions Gate Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.