Beyond the Mat (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Wrestling	Theatrical Trailer Biographies-Cast & Crew
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	98:14
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Barry W. Blaustein
Studio Distributor	Imagine Entertainmnt Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Mick Foley Jake "The Snake" Roberts Terry Funk The Rock Vince McMahon
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$36.95	Music	Nathan Barr

    Director Barry W. Blaustein has been a wrestling fan his entire life and when the opportunity arose to create a film of his favourite pastime, he jumped at the chance. Taking around five years to acquire all the footage and information, he created a film on what I still call the "Male Soap Opera", but it wasn't always like that. It's a film about what wrestlers go through to entertain the crowd and to make it bigger and better. But it is also a film about what happens after wrestling.

    The film follows three wrestlers in particular; Terry Funk, Mick Foley (otherwise known as Mankind/Cactus Jack/Dude Love) and Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Beyond The Mat shows that there is a lot more to wrestling than what happens in the ring. Most of the wrestlers have issues that they need to deal with, especially Jake Roberts and his estranged daughter.

    For a more recent fan like myself (I started to watch wrestling consistently in around 1998), this documentary is very insightful and did make me think of what some of the wrestlers go through to get to where they are today. Just being able to get a trial with one of the big wrestling organizations (WWF, WCW) was hard enough, but to be considered was something else.

    If you're a wrestling fan, see this film. If you're not, see it anyway, as it appeals to non-fans too - my mother even watched it, and normally she hates all forms of wrestling.

Video

    This film was shot on 16mm film and also on videotape, giving it a documentary look and feel. The difference between the two types of footage is instantly noticeable. Take Chapter 3 for instance - it was obviously shot on film due to the rough look it has and the large amounts of grain present. The clarity of the transfer fluctuates during the film. For the most part, it is a little soft and diffuse, although the scenes filmed on video do improve on this when compared to the ones shot on film. Shadow detail is very limited for the most part, especially in the scenes shot in the WWF arena. Low-level noise was spotted at 8:15. This further backs up my assertion that some of the film was shot with analogue video equipment.

    Colour was satisfactory, without being vibrant. Reds, such as the large amount of blood in this film, showed up well.

    As stated above, grain was a major problem in the transfer, but this is to be expected from 16mm film which is normally quite grainy. Some spots were exhibited on the print. No real mastering problems existed in this transfer, except for small cases of aliasing such as the one at 5:40.
  

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The only audio track on this disc is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mix, which I listened to.

    Most of the dialogue (Blaustein's narration) has been looped over the film and is easily understandable, while other dialogue recorded on location such as some of Jake Robert's answers are very indistinct and nearly incomprehensible. As no ADR work as such is used on a film like this, you have to expect such things, although subtitles would have been a welcome addition.

    The audio sync was perfect.

    The mix itself sounds very monophonic, with all of the sound blended into the centre of the sound field. Beyond The Mat was originally recorded in Dolby Surround, but that has not been reproduced here unfortunately.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Theatrical Trailer (2:22)

Biographies (5)

    The Region 1 misses out on:

• Nothing.

• Six additional minutes found in the Director's cut version.
• Two commentaries - one with the Director and one with the Director and Terry Funk.
• Production Notes.
• Two short commentaries by Mick Foley on certain parts of the film (around 28 minutes in total).
• Behind The Scenes extras which includes an alternate opening and an alternate ending.
• Dolby Surround audio track.

    The video quality is great for what could be done with limited source materials - too bad the source materials couldn't have been in better condition.

    The audio quality is acceptable but boring.

    The extras should have been better. Much better.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall