Mel Gibson's Best (Conspiracy Theory/Maverick/Payback/The Road Warrior) (1981)

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    Mel Gibson's Best is a compilation of 4 Mel Gibson movies, generally from earlier in his career, and indeed from earlier in the history of DVD releases in Region 4. The movies included in this compilation are Conspiracy Theory (great), Maverick (surprisingly good), Payback (so-so) and Mad Max 2 (it's Mad Max - need I say any more?), referred to as The Road Warrior on the packaging of this compilation, which was the US theatrical title.

    The discs are the same as those previously released in Region 4 with no additional extras and the same transfers. The discs are packaged in a very compact Amaray style case rather than in the less preferred and less robust gatefold/digipak style of packaging. The actual discs are held on figure-of-8 style holders, holding two discs on opposite sides of the insert in the same physical space as one would normally be held in. There are two of these inside the double-width case, making for a total of 4 discs in the package.

    Also included is a booklet which reproduces the individual front and back covers of the component DVDs in this package, complete with a gaffe for The Road Warrior indicating that the disc is dual-sided (widescreen and pan 'n' scan) - it isn't.

    Available for $69.95, or likely less at your favourite DVD retailer, this represents a substantial saving over the cost of the individual discs, which comes to $119.80 or so. Even if you like only 3 out of the 4 movies, this is a bargain and represents lots of entertainment bang for your dollar. Definitely recommended if the included titles tickle your fancy.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Conspiracy Theory (1997)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Biographies-Cast & Crew Production Notes
Rating
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	130
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Richard Donner
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Mel Gibson Julia Roberts Patrick Stewart
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Carter Burwell

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Arabic English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Alice visits Jerry in the hospital, where he implores her to change his drug chart with that of another patient. The next day, when Alice returns, the other patient is dead and Jerry is alive. "They" want to see Alice in the basement - one of they being Dr Jonas with his damaged nose which Alice heard about from Jerry during his near-incoherent ramblings earlier on. At this point, Alice is very confused and does not know who is telling the truth - up until now, she believed Jerry was a harmless paranoid. Jerry manages to escape from the hospital, and he and Alice find their way to Jerry's apartment.

    We learn that Jerry's newsletter only has five subscribers, and that Jerry compulsively buys the book Catcher In The Rye. The agents are hot on his trail, however, forcing Jerry and Alice to leave via Jerry's emergency escape exit, torching his apartment whilst they are leaving. They end up at Alice's house, where Alice kicks Jerry out into the street.

    Jerry buys a copy of Catcher In The Rye, and this is picked up by a central monitoring agency who despatch black helicopters and men on motorcycles to capture Jerry. Jerry manages to avoid capture again, and goes to ground. Meanwhile, Alice is checking up on the subscribers to Jerry's newsletter - four out of five of them have just died, so she visits the fifth one, and discovers it to be Dr Jonas. Dr Jonas tells Alice of a secret government mind-control program called MK-Ultra, which had programmed Jerry to be a killer, and implores Alice to help him find Jerry. Alice believes Dr Jonas and agrees to help track him down.

    Jerry contacts Alice via a pizza delivery, and Alice meets Jerry, with a tracking device added to the pizza. Jerry manages to avoid the trackers, and drives Alice to her father's place. Alice's father was murdered some time ago, and the killer had never been brought to justice. Jerry remembers that he was programmed to kill Alice's father but could not do it. Alice's father was going to expose the organization responsible for the mind control program, and so was killed by someone else.

    Dr Jonas and his troops arrive and capture Jerry. They attempt to kill Alice, but she escapes. She figures out where Jerry is being held, and makes her way there. Dr Jonas, Jerry and Alice engage in a fight, where Dr Jonas is killed and Jerry is mortally wounded.

    Several rapid and cunning plot twists follow which I won't disclose, except to say that there is at least one more plot twist than you would have expected to finish the movie off, and the movie has, sort-of, a happy ending, which for once is not a syrupy-sweet Hollywood-style happy ending, but a very satisfying ending nonetheless.

Video

    The movie was razor sharp at all times. Shadow detail was superb with clear shadow details and not a trace of noise. This is another movie with a lot of dark scenes - these movies really benefit from DVDs lack of low level noise.

    The colour is perfectly rendered throughout the transfer.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen. There are a number of scenes in this movie involving very rapid strobing of screen shots which I would have expected to have been degraded by MPEG encoding, but in fact they appear to have come through completely intact. As an interesting aside, the Region 4 version of this DVD has a warning regarding the strobe effects that the movie uses as part of the initial copyright message, and warns epileptics to beware. This warning is not present on the Region 1 title - perhaps Warners has had some complaints? Film-to-video artefacts were few and far between, except for some shimmer and moire effects seen on some of the scenes involving Venetian blinds and in one scene involving a car's grille. I directly compared these scenes with the Region 1 DVD of this title, and the artefacts were identical. I noted no significant film artefacts on this transfer.

    One of the subtitle choices, which I feel deserves special mention since I have not seen it before, was "English for the Hearing Impaired". This is identical to the English subtitle track with the addition of occasional descriptions of sound effects (eg GLASS SMASHING) where the sound effects take place off-screen.

Audio

    Dialogue was pretty much always clear and intelligible, even in scenes with high ambient noise.

    The music is suitably conspiratorial, and I noted the usual PAL 4% speed-up when directly compared with the NTSC version.

     The surround channels were used frequently to create an ambient soundfield, especially in the outdoor scenes. Particularly notable was the interrogation scene, where Dr Jonas could be heard all around you in various directions, an effect impossible to achieve with a matrix mix. This added significantly to the disorienting nature of this scene. The surrounds were also well used during special effects sequences, such as when the black helicopters were flying around, when you could clearly hear the directions they were coming from. The surrounds were also well used during the action sequences to envelop you in the movie. All in all, a good soundfield was created with this soundtrack.

    The .1 channel was sometimes used to enhance the music, but was mainly used to underscore the action sequences. The additional slam added by the subwoofer added nicely to these scenes.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    All versions of this DVD are identically specified for all practical purposes. Note that whilst the Region 1 DVD packaging makes mention of a Theatrical Trailer, it is in fact not present on the Region 1 DVD.

    The video quality is superb except for the very minor artefacts mentioned above.

    The audio quality is also superb with a soundtrack that frequently envelops and involves you.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Maverick (1994)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy Western	Production Notes Biographies-Cast & Crew
Rating
Year Of Production	1994
Running Time	121
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Richard Donner
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Mel Gibson Jodie Foster James Garner Graham Greene James Coburn Alfred Molina
Case	Snapper
RPI	$29.95	Music	Randy Newman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Arabic Polish Greek Czech Turkish Hungarian Icelandic Croatian English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Lots of adventures and misadventures accompany our heroes' travels across the country, as do many snappy one-liners, making this movie a rollicking good experience that continually moves on at a cracking pace. A number of surprising twists and excellent stunts also help the movie along on its way. See if you can guess who is conning whom by the end of the movie! I certainly got it wrong.

    All three actors do a sterling job on the comedic aspects of this movie - you cannot help but like Bret Maverick, who seems able to con his way out of any sticky situation he finds himself in, and you will be well satisfied with the end result of the movie, which is certainly not what you will expect.

Video

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer was sharp as a tack and crystal clear. Shadow detail was excellent, and no low level noise was seen.

    The colours were vibrantly rendered and clear with no evidence of bleeding at all.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen. Film-to-video artefacts were not a problem with this transfer, except for some trivial aliasing on the outside of the Bank building. One very short long shot showed a small amount of wobble, but the image was otherwise rock steady. Film artefacts were few and far between, especially given the vintage of this movie.

Audio

    Dialogue was always clear and easy to understand.

    There were no problems with audio sync during this movie.

    The music by Randy Newman varied between exciting and laid-back, and was aptly suited to this style of movie. I personally find Randy Newman has a very distinctive musical style which does not always suit the movie he is scoring, but in this case, the music fit the movie nicely.

     The surround channel was often active, used for music, ambience and a number of special effects. Split surround effects, of course, were non-existent, but nonetheless, an aggressive and enveloping sound presence was created by this soundtrack.

    The .1 channel was not specifically encoded, but my surround sound processor sent plenty of signal from the music and the special effects into the subwoofer, and it enhanced the effect of the movie nicely.

Menu

Production Notes

Cast & Crew Biographies

    The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on;

• Additional Pan & Scan transfer

    The Region 1 version of this DVD misses out on;

• Nothing

    There is no compelling reason to prefer one version over the other.

    The video quality is essentially flawless.

    The audio quality is very good indeed for a matrix mix, and just falls short of the best discrete soundtracks.

    The extras are quite limited, but quite interesting.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Payback (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Interviews-Cast-4 Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	97:04
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Sided	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Brian Helgeland
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Mel Gibson Gregg Henry Maria Bello David Paymer
Case	Snapper
RPI	$36.95	Music	Chris Boardman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Pan & Scan	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Italian Dutch Arabic Spanish Portuguese German English for the Hearing Impaired Italian for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

Video

    The transfer was very sharp and very clear at all times, but with some film grain apparent in some shots. This is a result of the bleach process used to create the print, and is a deliberate choice on the part of the filmmakers. Shadow detail was very good and there was no low level noise.

    The colours were deliberately presented very unusually. They were very faded, almost black & white, with predominantly strong blues present. Some scenes were predominately green. There were no scenes whatsoever in this movie where colours were presented in the slightest bit naturally. I personally found this quite irritating, even though this was a deliberate choice on the part of the moviemakers. Indeed, according to Mel Gibson, they wanted to make this film in black & white but commercial considerations precluded this.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen. There was some minor aliasing, but this artefact was well-controlled. A few minor film artefacts were present in the transfer, but nothing significant.

Audio

    Dialogue was always clear and  easy to understand, and always natural-sounding, a high point of this soundtrack.

    There were no audio sync problems with this soundtrack.

    The score by Chris Boardman was highly stylized and suited the film noir setting of the movie.

    The surround channels were moderately used for special effects and music, but generally this was a front soundstage dialogue mix.

    The .1 channel was also used only moderately, to support special effects and music.

Menu - 16:9 & 4:3

Theatrical Trailer

Cast Interviews

• Teaser Trailer
• Featurette

• Pan & Scan version of the movie
• Cast Interviews

    The video quality is good given the deliberate choice of this colour palette.

    The audio quality is good.

    The extras are limited and of little value.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Mad Max 2 (1981)

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General		Extras
Category	Post Apocalyptic	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1981
Running Time	91:27
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	George Miller
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Mel Gibson
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Brian May

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Italian Dutch Arabic Spanish Portuguese English for the Hearing Impaired Italian for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Lead actor Mel Gibson describes the original Mad Max as "the classiest B-grade trash ever made", and Mad Max 2, or The Road Warrior as it was called in Region 1, is little different. Whereas the original was made on the same sort of budget as Robert Rodriguez's first feature, El Mariachi, this sequel is held together by the same sort of budget as The Blair Witch Project, and the results with this film are yet another nail in the coffin of BWP, I can tell you. This is the film on which many famous names in the Australasian film market cut their teeth, but cinematographer Dean Semler is sadly the only one besides Mel Gibson who made any real impact overseas. His photography in this film is what saves this film from being just another B-grade sequel to another B-grade film. All the actors, including Gibson in this case, range from one-dimensional to simply appalling, which is a sharp contrast to the character-driven story of the original. Whilst I am on the topic of comparing this sequel to the original, Mad Max 2 also brings over a few execution problems from its predecessor. These include a severe lack of camera stability during the climactic battle, and sound editing that can be described as haphazard at best.

Video

    The only letdown is that the shadow detail is appalling, but we can overlook this because a surprisingly small amount of the film takes place in darkness. When a night-time sequence does occur, however, the picture tends to lose quite a lot of detail, which can also necessitate the use of the Hard of Hearing subtitles to make the source of a sound clear. This is hardly surprising, however, given that the lighting setups necessary to counter this in a location like Broken Hill would cost more than the whole movie. So, once again, this deficiency can be blamed on the source material rather than the DVD mastering.

Audio

    This brings me to one of the worst points about the first two films in this series. The sound mix is appalling on both Mad Max 2 and its predecessor, although this sequel is a definite improvement. The music is much louder than the sound effects, and the sound effects often drown out the dialogue. Even when there is no other sound hogging the mix, the dialogue occasionally becomes inaudible, and many interesting statements are lost without the use of subtitles. The kindest thing that can be said about the sound on this film is that at least there are no moments where it becomes practically silent during extreme close-ups of actor's faces that show their lips moving, as happened in the VCR version of the original.

    The dialogue, and there is a surprising amount of it, is mostly easy to make out when the character doing the talking is in focus. Just. But the film really suffers for the off-screen speeches that aren't. Humungous' "nobody gets out of here alive" speech (Chapter 18, 53:58) sinks below the point of being inaudible in spite of the fact that he is in frame through most of it. It's sort of like watching one of those dreadful silent films from the early Hollywood years. Audio sync isn't a problem since most of the speech is short and rapid. The music is sometimes overly dominative, but this can be overlooked since the film would be quite dull without it. The speakers, however, seem to get a nice workout most of the time.

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• A full scene selection menu
• Production notes
• Biographies and Filmographies of Mel Gibson and George Miller

    The video quality is far better than we have any right to expect. Not wonderful, but far more so than the VCR version.

    The audio quality defies the age and handling of the source material.

    The extras are non-existent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall