Big Trouble (2002) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Comedy |
Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-"Five Minute Movie" Audio Commentary-Barry Sonnenfeld (Director) |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2002 | ||
Running Time | 81:37 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (62:45) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Language Select Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Barry Sonnenfeld |
Studio
Distributor |
Walt Disney Studios Home Ent. |
Starring |
Tim Allen Rene Russo Omar Epps Dennis Farina Ben Foster Janeane Garofalo Jason Lee Tom Sizemore Stanley Tucci |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
RPI | ? | Music | James Newton Howard |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English English for the Hearing Impaired Italian German Spanish Croatian Italian Audio Commentary German Audio Commentary Italian Titling German Titling |
Smoking | Yes, cigars. |
Annoying Product Placement | Yes, cars mostly. | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
The plot of Big Trouble is rather complex. It all surrounds a mysterious suitcase (more like a chest really - suitcase is their word, not mine), but that is not where the story starts. We start with Eliot Arnold (Tim Allen) and learn that he is not exactly happy, having lost the job he loved along with his wife and the respect of his son. Through his son, Matt (Ben Foster), he meets Anna Herk (Rene Russo), the mother of Jenny (Zooey Deschanel), a girl in one of Matt's classes at school. Anna is in a marriage that she hates, but things are looking up as two hitmen - Henry (Dennis Farina) and Leonard (Jack Kehler) - have been sent to Miami to kill her husband, Arthur (Stanley Tucci). Confused yet? Well, it gets better. There are two cops (played by Janeane Garofalo and Patrick Warburton), two FBI agents (Heavy D and Omar Epps), two crooks (Tom Sizemore and Johnny Knoxville), a maid (Sofia Vergara), and Puggy (Jason Lee), who lives in a tree. Oh, and two Russian gangsters are thrown in for good measure. Suffice it to say, that they all get to interact together, and do so in a way that is actually quite easy to follow - no mean feat given the number of people there are.
The major problem with Big Trouble is that it is too smug, and too clever for its own good. Instead of trying to let the humour just come out it is forced, reducing the impact and value of the jokes. Many of the jokes and situations are placed, simply saying "look at me - I'm funny", but without enough actual humour to induce a response. Additionally, with such a large ensemble cast, it is difficult to find time to give any one of them good definition, leaving the events that unfold as the movie progresses devoid of any real emotional investment. The performances themselves also have a very dead-pan, "I'm funny", feel.
To be fair, Big Trouble is still a reasonably entertaining chase comedy, and is entertaining enough to be worth at least a rent and, with such a large cast, the odds of having a favourite actor in it are vastly increased. There is just not much chance that any will find this film good enough to want to watch it over-and-over again.
Presented at 1.78:1, a slight change to the original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1, this transfer is 16x9 enhanced.
This transfer is extremely sharp, exhibiting a large amount of fine detail. There is little in the way of grain, with only the short sequence from 6:05 to 6:14 being noticeable. Shadow detail is excellent, allowing for very good definition during the darkly lit scenes. There is no low level noise.
Colours are also very good, showing the bright sets and costumes off extremely well, while still handling the lush greens of the Miami environs.
There are no compression artefacts at all in this transfer. There is only a small amount of aliasing, and what is present is always minor, with the worst instance being on the gun from 16:37 to 16:45. There are very few film artefacts (such as at 20:34), although they do tend to appear in the middle of the screen.
The subtitles, as with the other Disney DVDs I've looked at recently, are extremely accurate, well-paced, and easy to read.
This is an RSDL formatted disc with the layer change taking place at 62:45 during Chapter 10. It is not particularly well placed, as it occurs on some fairly obvious motion.
Sharpness | |
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Overall |
There are four audio tracks present on this disc. The first three are the original English dialogue, and dubs in Italian and German, all in Dolby Digital 5.1 (at 384 Kbps), while the fourth track is the English audio commentary track in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (at 192 Kbps).
Dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times, and the quite varied accents are all easy to understand.
Audio sync starts off poorly, being quite obviously out up until around 3:00, and it is slightly suspect again at 18:03. After this, however, there are no problems.
The score is provided by James Newton Howard and is of a bright and breezy comic nature, suiting the film well. There are also a number of contemporary pieces used during the film, and these are more effective than usual, making for a rather impressive musical backing.
The surround channels are used quite aggressively for what is essentially a character-based comedy. They are used to full effect to carry the score, but also come into play on many occasions for directional sound effects (planes landing and taking off are always given impressive attention). The only area in which surround activity falls down is ambient noise, as the surrounds are mostly carrying the score, and tend not to carry awfully much in the way of ambient noise.
The subwoofer use is extremely good, both in backing up the score and the effects noises. Just a note however - the sound mix contains some very deep bass for the sound of the suitcase when it is moved around - this is intentional and not a problem with the soundtrack.
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Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video quality is excellent, presenting a clean image that is a pleasure to watch.
The audio quality is not quite up to the standards of the video, suffering from some sync problems and not enough ambient surround use, but overall is still quite good.
The extras are limited, consisting of a seven-minute recap of the movie and a commentary. The commentary at least is interesting, if a little too self-congratulatory.
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Extras | |
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Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-535, using Component output |
Display | Loewe Xelos 5381ZW. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Onkyo TX-DS787, THX Select |
Speakers | All matching Vifa Drivers: centre 2x6.5" + 1" tweeter (d'appolito); fronts and rears 6.5" + 1" tweeter; centre rear 5" + 1" tweeter; sub 10" (150WRMS) |