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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Steal (Riders) (2002)

Steal (Riders) (2002)

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Released 22-Nov-2004
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Action	Menu Audio Featurette-Behind The Scenes Interviews-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	80:46 (Case: 85)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (54:33)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Gérard Pirès
Studio Distributor	Arclight Films Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Stephen Dorff Natasha Henstridge Bruce Payne Steven Berkoff Clé Bennett Karen Cliche Steven McCarthy Alain Goulem Andreas Apergis Tom McCamus Andy Bradshaw David Gow Jamie Orchard
Case	?	Starring
RPI	$39.95	Music	Andy Gray

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

OK, let's keep this simple. This movie has some good points:

Some of the stunts are quite well done
It is mercifully short at 80 minutes (7 minutes of which is the closing credits)
I found mild amusement in the fact that one of the principal cast members was called Karen Cliche, considering how many action film clichés are involved in the plot

It also has some bad points:

The writing is terrible with some of the worst dialogue I have ever heard
Other than the four members of the gang (who act reasonably well), the entire cast either act incredibly badly or overact (even normally decent actors like Stephen Berkoff)
The story is completely preposterous and unbelievable
Before you get to the menu, you must sit through an annoying anti-piracy ad (like anyone would want to copy this film!)

Steal is a Canadian/English/French co-production directed by the director of the original Taxi, Gerard Pires, which was an exciting car chase film. This film involves a gang of four extreme sport aficionados: Slim, the leader (Stephen Dorff), Otis, the non-white one (Cle Bennett), Frank, the geeky one (Steven McCarthy) and Alex, the girl (Karen Cliche, he he he) who decide to rob banks. After a couple of well orchestrated heists they are blackmailed by a shadowy figure into doing more jobs, but this time he gets the loot. They must comply or he will turn them in to the police. Also, the police are on their trail. led by Lt Magrader (played with no skill at all by Bruce Payne) and the beautiful and occasionally gratuitously naked Det Karen Svenson (Natasha Henstridge). Just for good measure, a crazy psycho (Steven Berkoff completely over the top) has been sent after them to recover something they stole in a previous robbery.

I wasted 80 minutes of my life watching this film - don't make the same mistake as me!

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Transfer Quality

Video

The video quality is very good.

The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

The picture was clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. There was some light grain in some scenes. The shadow detail was very good.

The colour was weird, as everything seemed to have a yellow tint causing the skin tones to look quite jaundiced. I am not sure if this was intentional.

There were a few instances of minor aliasing such as on car grilles at 16:30 and 33:11. There were no other noticeable artefacts.

There are no subtitles.

The layer change occurs at 54:33 and caused a noticeable pause.

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

Audio

The audio quality is very good.

This DVD contains two audio options, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

Dialogue was mostly clear and easy to understand, however some characters were trying out some challenging attempts at accents. There was no problem with audio sync.

The score of this film by Andy Gray was pretty anonymous modern dance and metal.

The surround speakers added quite a few directional effects, especially to the action scenes.

The subwoofer was used regularly adding bass to explosions, car crashes and the music.

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

Extras

Behind the Scenes (4:12)

A very short promotional puff piece straight out of the electronic press kit. Little more than a glorified trailer.

Interviews - Cast & Crew

A collection of interview snippets in which everyone says how great everyone else is. Boring. Includes:

Stephen Dorff (4:06)
Natasha Henstridge (2:37)
Bruce Payne (1:53)
Steven Berkoff (1:49)
Cle Bennett (0:48)
Karen Cliche, he he (0:32)
Steven McCarthy (0:46)
Gerard Pires, Director (4:01)
Michel Julienne, Stunt Co-ordinator (0:43)

Theatrical Trailer (2:16)

Makes the film look better than it is, but not by much.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

This film has been released in various European countries but not the UK. I have not been able to get any details about what extras are included in the European releases. If you must, Region 4 seems the best option for English-speaking audiences.

Summary

A very ordinary action film.