Comic Book Villains (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Trailer-The Wash Main Menu Audio Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	89:33
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Audio Format Select Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	James Robinson
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Donal Logue Cary Elwes Michael Rapaport Natasha Lyonne DJ Qualls Eileen Brennan
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Joseph L. Altruda

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Comic Book Villians is a dark comedy thriller about the passions of comic book collecting, and the dangerous (and fatal) consequences for those who will stop at nothing to acquire a prized and highly valuable collection.

    Archie (DJ Qualls) is supposed to be your typical comic book collector. Thin, pasty and generally nerdy looking, he hangs around the local comic book shop owned by Raymond (Donal Logue).

    One day, another comic book collector, Conan (Danny Masterson), reveals that an avid comic book collector in his 50s has recently died, leaving behind a huge collection representing over 40 years of dedicated collecting. Lots of rare editions, pristine versions of favourites, the extensive collection is a Holy Grail that is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

    There is one problem, persuading the aging mother, Mrs Cresswell (Eileen Brennan), to sell the collection of her deceased son. There is another, even more serious problem. Conan has also revealed the news to a rival comic book shop, owned by Norman (Michael Rapaport) and his wife Judy (Natasha Lyonne). The couple are in it for the money rather than the passion of collecting, which makes them lower than scum in the eyes of Raymond, plus they seem to be more successful than he is. Raymond recruits Archie to help him in his quest to obtain the collection.

    We start off with comical attempts by both pairs trying to persuade Mrs Cresswell to sell. Norman and Judy go for the commercial approach, trying to offer ever increasing amounts of money, whereas Raymond's ideas are just pathetic. However, Mrs Cresswell develops a liking for Archie, who doesn't seem to be as mercenary as the others, and has the potential to grow out of his current obsession with comic books.

    Suddenly, the film takes on a much darker tone as the comical attempts are replaced by more violent ones. Raymond hires the local tough guy Carter (Cary Elwes) to steal the collection. However, it turns out Carter is also a big fan of comic books and has plans of his own. The stakes become high indeed as the protagonists will stop at nothing, not even killing, to get at the comics.

    This is a low profile, low budget film that seems destined to pass into the annals of obscurity, which is a shame because it has some strong points. I guess the marriage between the comedy and the dark thriller aspects of the storyline did not work too well - we expect a film about comic book collecting to be a light hearted comedy perhaps with a bit of romance thrown in - kind of like High Fidelity. When the film descends into real violence and serious consequences it becomes, well, uncomical.

Video

    This is a widescreen 1.78:1 transfer, 16x9 enhanced, corresponding to an intended aspect ratio of 1.85:1 based on a 35mm print.

    Right from the start, I knew this was going to be a good transfer as the film opens up with close up macro shots of comic art. These are reproduced wonderfully on the big screen, complete with paper grain and half tone patterns.

     The rest of the film isn't too bad either, with very good detail levels (such as facial skin textures, fabric weave patterns on clothes etc. Colour saturation is also close to perfect.

    The only flaw that I've noticed is that the outdoor shots look a bit on the drab and greyish side. Now, this could be due to shooting on overcast days, or it could be sloppy colour correction. Indoor shots are well presented, though.

    I did not notice any film or compression artefacts - no grain, no film marks, no edge enhancement, nothing. So all in all a good and decent transfer.

    There are no subtitle tracks on this single-sided single-layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two audio tracks on this disc: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448kb/s) and English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (224kb/s). I listened to the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track.

    The audio track comes very close to a reference quality transfer, except for one major flaw which I'll detail later.

    Even though this is primarily a dialogue driven film, the sound engineer has taken a lot of effort and care with the surround mix.

    I noticed that the reverberation around the dialogue changes depending on the acoustic environment the characters are speaking in. The dialogue sounds more reverberant in a room, and flat in the open spaces.

    The rear speakers are almost constantly used for background noises such as street traffic, creating an enveloping atmosphere that puts the viewer right into the middle of the scene. In addition, rain, thunder, gunshots, and so forth, are appropriately mixed and panned across front and rear speakers. The rear speakers are also used for background music ambience.

    Dialogue was reasonably easy to understand, and there were no audio synchronization issues.

    So, what was the major flaw? Well, several major instances of over-clipping distortion, for example around 20:05-20:24 and in a number of instances after that. The dialogue seems to be close or at the point of clipping in various places too.

    The background music is by Joseph L. Altruda and is vaguely orchestral, and doesn't really seem to suit the dark nature of the film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    This is currently a rental-only title, so there are no substantial extras.

Menu

    The menu is static, 16x9 enhanced, and includes background audio. The is also a menu introduction. Consistent with the subject of the film, the menu is presented as a pseudo cartoon frame with menu items represented as balloons.

Trailer-The Wash (2:09)

    This is presented prior to the display of the main menu, and apparently is an attempt to replicate the trailers you normally see on VHS tapes prior to the main feature. Fortunately, the trailer is skippable via the chapter forward button on the DVD player. It is presented in full frame/open matte and Dolby Digital 2.0 (224kb/s).

Theatrical Trailer (2:03)

    This is presented in full frame/open matte and Dolby Digital 2.0 (224kb/s). It seems to include some scenes that are not actually in the film.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• English and Spanish subtitle tracks
• 'Orion The Hunter' Biography

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded audio track
• Additional Trailer for The Wash

    Both versions are equally pathetic when it comes to extras.

    Comic Book Villains is a dark comedy thriller about people who are obsessed with comic books, and the lengths they will go to in order to secure a large collection belonging to the late son of an old woman.

    The video transfer quality is excellent.

    The audio transfer quality would have been excellent if it wasn't marred by several instances of over-clipping distortion.

    Extras are minimal.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall