Revolver

DVD Rating: ****

Reviewed by: Anton Bitel

Read Anton Bitel's film review of Revolver
Revolver
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This is an attractive package, with menus that mimic the visual style of the film (even the scene selection option, like the elevator in which Jake confronts his worst enemy, lacks a number 13).

In his full audio commentary, writer/director Guy Ritchie plays the mystagogue, frequently alluding to the multiple meanings that he has encoded in the film, but either refusing outright to reveal what he thinks they might be, or else babbling battily about colour codes, onomastics, chess analogies, anatomical symbology and "left-column or right-column energy" in a manner that is hardly enlightening, although certainly leaves an impression that he has left few details in the film to chance.

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The Concept is a 16-minute interview with Ritchie and James Herbert, one of the film's two editors, in which they discuss re-editing certain scenes to avoid making everything too clear and having to remove much of the animated material after Kill Bill came out (both films were conceived and written at about the same time). Ritchie declares Revolver to be his favourite film, despite the vitriolic press coverage.

The Game: The Making of Revolver (24min) features interviews with Ritchie, actors Jason Statham, Vincent Pastore and Andre Benjamin, accompanied by behind-the-scenes footage and on-set clowning. They certainly make filmmaking look more fun than usual.

There are 24 minutes of deleted scenes (introduced by Ritchie), including an introductory voice-over removed to make the film less clear, various extended versions of scenes, excellent alternative edits of the Lord Jon assassination and elevator sequences, and an alternative closing sequence in which quotes from Hitler, Voltaire, Einstein and an assortment of chess masters and con-artists are superimposed over stills of crime scenes. This is a cut above the usual deleted material found on DVDs.

More disposable, but still highly amusing, are four minutes of outtakes and bloopers.

There is also a stills gallery and a music trailer for 2Raumwohnung's remix of Ennio Morricone's Mucchio Salvaggio, followed by full music credits for the film - useful, given that Revolver is one of the few films, along with The Birds and Monty Python And The Holy Grail, that does not have closing credits.

Reviewed on: 19 May 2006
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Revolver packshot
An ex-con is out for vegeance on the man he believes caused his downfall.
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Product Code: D091170

Region: 2

Ratio: 16:9 Wide Screen

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1

Extras: Director's commentary; interview with director and editor; Making Of featurette; deleted scenes; outtakes; stills gallery; music trailer


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