Wild Things 2 (2003) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Thriller |
Featurette-Making Of-Making The Glades Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Ride Or Die |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2003 | ||
Running Time | 90:56 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (47:02) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4,5 | Directed By | Jack Perez |
Studio
Distributor |
Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
Susan Ward Leila Arcieri Isaiah Washington Joe Michael Burke |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | $39.95 | Music |
Andrew Feltenstein John Nau |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Czech Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English Dutch Russian Arabic Croatian Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hindi Hungarian Norwegian Polish Romanian Slovenian Swedish Turkish English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | Yes, mostly by a doctor too. |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | Yes, as with the first, the credits explain the twists. |
This time 'round the block, we have teenage rich-b**** Brittney Havers (Susan Ward, whose career highlights are a stint on Baywatch rip-off Sunset Beach, and playing Jack Black's attractive neighbour Jill in Shallow Hal) attempting to come to grips with the recent death of her mother while still doing her best to help the Blue Bay High volleyball team (all "teen" girls are clad in tight tops and short shorts, naturally) win the regional championships. When her step-father dies in a plane crash, it seems her life could not get worse, but after the school dropout and general "out" girl Maya (Leila Arcieri) pops up claiming to be daddy's only surviving blood relative - hence becoming eligible for all of his huge inheritance - she is at rock-bottom. Or is she? There is more going on than there seems in the sleepy Florida Everglades town of Blue Bay, and insurance investigator Terence Bridge is out to prove it.
Wild Things 2 almost exactly copies many of the original's twists and turns, to such an extent that fans of the original will only be mildly surprised with the result. This film also copies a number of scenes from the original - so we have the court room scene, the motel scenes, and most importantly, the threesome scene. The scene that made the original famous, for featuring the nipples of both Matt Dillon and Denise Richards, and even more famous for not featuring any flesh from Neve Campbell (although some would say that is a good thing), is reprised in this follow up. Virtually to the letter. Right down to the fact that while two of the three are busy getting hot and steamy, Susan Ward stands by well clothed, and the scene fades to black as she (or her body double...) takes her top off. The resemblance is eerie - but hey, if it worked once, why not try it again? (For added fun watch for the tell-tale signs of a body double in action during this scene).
In its own weird way, this "sequel" that is not a sequel works well enough. Certainly, it does not have the budget, polish, nor star calibre of the first. It is also sorely missing the comedic elements, especially those imparted by Billy Murray the first time around, this time hitting for a more straight crime thriller. But in the vein of a melodramatic, somewhat sleazy crime thriller, this is not actually too bad - although rising above the remainder of the genre is akin to fighting to be on top of the midden heap. The performances are actually surprisingly good (as long as you can accept the mid-to-late 20's "teen" girls), and the look of the film is still quite atmospheric, with plenty of beach-side action and the like. It is never going to win any awards, but for what it is, Wild Things 2 is definitely worth a rent for those prepared admit to their own inner sleazy self.
Presented at 1.85:1, this transfer is 16x9 enhanced. Since Wild Things 2 never played theatrically, it is difficult to tell if 1.85:1 was the original aspect ratio, but from the information available, it does appear to be the case.
Sharpness is superb, and the level of fine detail is amazing. The opening scenes of the Everglades are simply stunning in their clarity and beauty. There is little in the way of grain present, with only shots of open sky producing any distracting grain, such as from 13:35 as the plane takes off, and again between 78:33 and 78:38. Shadow detail is also excellent, revealing abundant depth to more dimly lit scenes.
Colours are excellent, representing the appropriate areas, from the tacky Florida architecture to the green and brown Everglades, without any problems.
This is one of the cleanest transfer you are likely to see, with no compression artefacts, no film artefacts, and only a small amount of mild aliasing, none of which is distracting enough to note. Excellent work.
The sub titles are reasonably accurate, only abbreviating the odd sentence. They are well paced and easy to read.
This is an RSDL formatted disc with the layer change taking place at 47:02 during Chapter 16. It is located on a camera angle change, but is relatively obvious as it occurs in the middle of a scene and interrupts the dialogue flow.
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There are four audio tracks on this disc, being the original English dialogue, and dubs in Russian, Hungarian, and Czech. All are presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 (at 448 Kbps).
Dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times, and there are no southern accents to cause any problems for those who have difficulty with accents. Audio sync is spot on throughout the movie, with one exception, where at 49:31 it goes out for about three words, which is probably an ADR issue.
The musical score is credited to Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau, and is decidedly average fare. That is not to say that it is bad, but neither is it good, only doing its job and nothing more.
Surround activity is disappointingly lacking, but this is most likely a result of the lower budget and more conservative sound design than anything else. The surrounds do come to life from time to time, but for the most part, this plays out like a three-channel soundtrack.
The subwoofer is well used, backing up both the score and the sound effects with more bass, providing a solid grounding for the movie's 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 brilliant - the details and colours are stunning.
The audio quality is good, although not allowed to really shine due to the restrictive nature of the soundtrack.
The extras are hardly extensive, but a movie like this hardly calls for extensive extras.
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Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-555K, 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 | Rochester Audio Animato Series (2xSAF-02, SAC-02, 3xSAB-01) + 12" Sub (150WRMS) |