The 1993 movie is the 90's version
of Bonnie and Clyde. Directed by Tony Scott (Top Gun, Days of
Thunder), the movie was written by Quentin Tarantino which
automatically makes it a wonderful ride with great dialogue and
far fetched situations.
"True Romance" is about a lonely
comic book sales man who meets a call girl on his birthday while
watching a Sonny Chiba triple feature. They fall in love and get
married. When Clarence (Slater) goes to tell Alabama's
pimp Drexel (Oldman) that she isn't going to be coming back a
huge gun battle erupts leaving only Clarence with what he thinks
is Alabama's clothes. Inside the suitcase is 500,000 dollars
worth of Drexel's cocaine which was owed to the mob.
The rest of the movie is Clarence
and Alabama traveling
through the country with this suitcase only to meet up with Dick
Ritchie (Rappaport) who portrays a struggling actor and
Clarence's old friend. They end up meeting with a big time
Hollywood producer to get rid of the coke and dream of spending
the rest of their lives vacationing.
The end to this movie is another
brilliant "Mexican stand off" that Tarantino loves so much.
Besides watching one of the most entertaining movies, the cameos
throughout
the flick are top notch. Only once in a while does a movie come
along with so many cameos (Pulp
Fiction and
Jay and Silent Bob
Strike Back).
The cameos are all so well acted,
and the movie moves at such a fast pace you can't help but watch
in awe another batch of characters created by Tarantino come to
life. Watch the movie and just have fun.
The
Video
The transfer is much better then
the bare bones version put out years ago. A crisper picture and
a lot brighter which showcases how colorful the movie is.
This movie is very smoky in general. Tony Scott likes the smoke.
Hey, at least you can watch Hopper and Walken in one of the best
scenes in movie history a lot clearer now.
The
Audio
The movie is presented in Dolby
Digital 5.1 which sounds great with all the bullet flying that
goes on in this movie.
The
Extras
The extras here come fully loaded.
With two discs to go through, it's enough to keep you busy for
hours. The first disc has 3 complete commentaries.
Christian Slater and Patricia
Arquette do a funny commentary track together. They haven't seen
the movie in years.
The second is with Tony Scott who
gives some great insight and great stories from the set.
The third track is with the writer
Tarantino. He mostly talks about his experiences trying to get
the movie made until finally selling his script. He goes through
a few scenes that he admires.
The first disc also features a
story board commentary which goes through the story boards on
one side while the movie plays.
The second disc has 4 selective
commentaries, which means that the specific actors talk over
just their own scenes. The first is with Michael Rappaport which
is the longest going over 30 min. Val Kilmer does a 5 min.
commentary over his "mentor" parts with Clarence. Brad Pitts is
hilarious. He talks over all his Floyd parts. The last is with
Dennis Hopper talking over the most amazing display of acting
between two flawless actors.
Deleted and Extended scenes: These
clock in at about 30 min. Most of these scenes are extended.
They also have running commentary with T. Scott and Tarantino.
Alternate ending: This was
Tarantino's original ending which was only partly shot. Nice
little twist on the whole thing.
Interactive Behind the scenes
Featurette: One of my favorite things on this DVD. It is
interactive in the same sense of the Matrix with the "follow the
white rabbit". I small heart appears during certain scenes to
show you
more behind the scenes goodness. It comes in at about 25 minutes
all together.
Then we are treated with the
usual. A few trailers and TV spots. The animated menus are some
of the best I've seen yet. The cover itself is a slipcase with
production notes on the inside.
Overall
All this movie needed was a
longer, or an abundance of featurettes simply because of all the
cameos. A Christopher Walken commentary would have been pure
gold, but otherwise this special edition is a solid DVD! For
fans of the movie this was a real treat as I thought this movie
would never get this DVD treatment. I waited for months for this
release and was not disappointed one bit. Enjoy it!!!
