Cruel Intentions 2 (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Dolby Digital Trailer-City Biographies-Cast Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	83:29
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Roger Kumble
Studio Distributor	OriginalFilm Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Robin Dunne Sarah Thompson Keri Lynn Pratt Amy Adams
Case	Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI	$36.95	Music	Michelle Kuznetsky Mary Ramos

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Dutch Polish Bulgarian Czech Hungarian Icelandic Hindi Hebrew Turkish Danish Swedish Finnish Norwegian Greek Arabic	Smoking	Yes, in one scene
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Originally, Cruel Intentions 2 was a television series named Manchester Prep. It was set a couple of years before the original movie, with the main storyline being about how Sebastian and Kathryn grew to become the self-centered snobs they were in Cruel Intentions. Unfortunately, the series was axed before the first episode was shown, ostensibly because it was "too hot for TV", although the more likely reason it was canned was because it was just plain terrible.

    This DVD features the first two episodes of the series, edited together to create a film. What I cannot believe is how the very same director who directed the excellent first film (Roger Kumble) could make this - even the producer of the first film (Neal H. Moritz) is on board, so just what exactly happened in production?

    Something that I found particularly ironic when reviewing this film was the production company's name - Original Film. This movie is anything but original, with multiple sequences simply cloned from Cruel Intentions.
 

    So what is it about then? Well, it's quite simple. Sebastian Valmont (Robin Dunne) has decided to start a new life after finding out that he would be moving to live with his father, who has just re-married. This is where Cruel Intentions 2 first copies a sequence from Cruel Intentions, and I assure you that this is not the last time it happens... The entire opening sequence is a mirror of Cruel Intentions' opening, apart from the obligatory character and location changes. From that point on, I didn't exactly have the highest hopes for this film, although I never had all that many hopes for it to begin with.

    Soon we are introduced to the new family, including the main protagonist of this film, Kathryn Merteuil (Amy Adams). To cut to the chase, Sebastian happens to meet a new girl at school, that being the headmaster's daughter Danielle Sherman (Sarah Thompson), but there is a catch - his step-sister Kathryn wants to do all she can to stop the relationship developing any further. That is the gist of the main plot line - there are also a couple of other plot lines that, in this film, have no real relevance at all. Kathryn plans to ruin the life of another girl, Cherie (Keri Lynn Pratt), and there is also a smaller sub-plot involving Kathryn having an affair with the assistant headmaster for some reason.

    The fundamental problem with this movie is that it's not really a movie and was not meant to be a movie. The main storyline is rushed and uneven and the other storylines either end up going nowhere or are just pointless - it would have worked better as a series.

    One point that really needs to be made is that the acting is atrocious! The only person who seems to be able to act in any way, shape or form is Robin Dunne, but even he can't do much to save this turkey. I was surprised to see Mimi Rogers in the film, but she doesn't have enough screen time to make an impact, although by far the worst actor in the film is the English teacher, who is trying to impersonate Bruce Lee ('Feeeeeel, don't think') - you have to see it for yourself to appreciate how bad it is.

    Rent it if you must, if only to see for yourself how bad it really is.

Video

    Cruel Intentions 2 is presented in a made-for-Digital TV aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

    After watching the film a couple of times, and skimming through it once on DVD-ROM, I noticed the total lack of definition throughout. Although it isn't terrible by any means, finer details are really lost in this transfer. Edges aren't entirely sharp either, with the worst occurrence of this being at 14:32, which is rather out of focus. Shadow detail is of great quality though, and the three or so night scenes do look great when compared to the indoor scenes. Take the violin scene for example - the black level is perfect as the rendering of the sky shows quite well. What also looks great is the vibrancy of Danielle's skirt, which leads me to...

    ...the next area of judgement, being colour. This feature isn't the most colourful around except, again, for the night/dark scenes. Examples of this are Danielle's skirt (mentioned above), Sebastian's blue T-shirt, Kathryn's red lingerie and the nightclub lights - these all show up quite brightly. Otherwise, the colour palette is a bit on the dull side, but is well-represented nonetheless.

    Grain is a small issue, only becoming more apparent as the film draws to a close. Some film-related spots were exhibited at 3:17 but this is as a result of the piece of footage used for the plane landing obviously being from a different source than the rest of the film. The only case of aliasing I noticed was on some of the opening credits.

Audio

    There are two soundtracks present on the DVD, being Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes in both English and French. I listened to the English track entirely and also the French track for about ten seconds for fun.

    Being a dialogue-driven film, the centre channel is clear at most times. Unfortunately, the music has been mixed at quite a high level, so at certain times dialogue becomes slightly less audible.

    Audio synchronization is spot-on apart for a few lines where some sloppy ADR work has been done. There are no mastering-related problems.

    The music, credited to Michelle Kuznetsky and Mary Ramos is a compilation of several young, contemporary artists none of whom I have ever heard of, but it was still good listening and suited the film perfectly.

    Surround usage is kept to a minimum apart from the music at times, but you do have to bear in mind that this film isn't the most suitable one to show off the full benefits of Dolby Digital, and it is a stereo upmix. The LFE channel was non-existent.

Menu

Dolby Digital Trailer - City

Talent Profiles (3)

Theatrical Trailer (1:36, 1.33:1, DD 2.0)

    After watching the trailer, it seems to me that the series wouldn't have been all that bad.

    The trailer is of mediocre quality, seemingly being sourced from video tape.

    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.

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