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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.
Boiler Room (2000)

Boiler Room (2000)

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Released 24-Apr-2001
Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Dolby Digital Trailer-Aurora Scene Selection Anim & Audio Biographies-Cast & Crew Deleted Scenes-3 Alternate Ending Theatrical Trailer Audio Commentary-G Ribisi (Actor), B Younger (Dir), J Todd (Pro), et al
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	115:00
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (61:51)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Ben Younger
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Giovanni Ribisi Vin Diesel Nia Long Nicky Katt Scott Caan Ben Affleck
Case	C-Button-Version 2	Starring
RPI	$34.95	Music	The Angel

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Auto Pan & Scan Encoded	English Dolby Digital 5.0 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

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

Plot Synopsis

"Anybody who tells you that money is the root of all evil - doesn't have any"

What is it with movies about money and greed? They all seem to provide classic lines like the above!

I missed Boiler Room during its cinematic run last year and from the reviews I read at the time it was with great regret that I did so. So when the opportunity came up to review it, I gladly accepted.

Remember "Greed is Good"? Well, greed is back. 15 years after Gordon Gekko and that famous line, trainee broker Seth Davis is learning that greed does and doesn't pay. In another fantastic performance from one of Hollywood's rising stars, Giovanni Ribisi plays Seth Davis, a college dropout who runs an illegal casino from his house. The casino is quite successful and makes Seth a comfortable living, but Seth is eager for more. His life changes the day that a friend drops by and introduces Greg (Nicky Katt), a high-flying, Ferrari-driving broker from firm JT Marlin. Seth is seduced by the promise of quick millions and quickly becomes a trainee broker. At JT Marlin, he learns the techniques of the trade from firm veterans such as Chris Varick (Vin Diesel) and Jim Young (Ben Affleck). However, things are not all they seem and Seth begins to uncover some startling truths about how JT Marlin operates.

Boiler Room is sort of a cross between The Firm and Wall Street, with liberal doses of Glengarry Glenn Ross thrown in for good measure. In fact, the latter two movies, classics in my mind about the greed associated with trading stocks and the sell, sell, sell attitude of real estate, are referenced extensively throughout the film. In fact, two of the best scenes in this movie are almost a parody of them. In one scene, Seth visits the home of one of the brokers. Several of the brokers are sitting around watching television with one of the classic scenes from Wall Street playing. They are reciting the script, verbatim, in an almost bizarre ritual to see who can best worship their hero, Gordon Gekko. In another, Ben Affleck in a performance very similar to Alec Baldwin's Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross, delivers a scintillating three minute speech to the prospective trainees, lecturing them about performance and how money sure makes him happy - "They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby!" he proclaims.

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Transfer Quality

Video

Boiler Room has been given a pretty good transfer that is only let down by some minor aliasing, some scattered grain, one instance of a moiré effect and a glaring subtitle problem which is highlighted below.

The transfer is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. It has Automatic Pan & Scan information encoded.

Sharpness is excellent throughout. Shadow detail is excellent with several of the darker scenes being clearly defined. There are small amounts of grain scattered throughout, but this is by no means distracting, and overall this is a pretty fine transfer in this regard.

The colours in the transfer are quite muted, ranging from the cold icy blue interior of the boiler room, to the warm, comfortable surrounds of Seth's card tables and the various bars and restaurants the characters visit. There is no oversaturation or bleeding as a result.

There are no MPEG artefacts and only a handful of film artefacts that are almost not noticeable. Film-to-video artefacts are limited to minor aliasing evident at 9:47 on a set of venetians and at 68:56 on the bricks of a house. A moiré effect is evident on the television screen at 6:17.

There is only one set of subtitles on this disc; English for the Hearing Impaired. Unfortunately, they are next to useless. At the 57:30 mark, they suddenly stop and don't recommence until 60:02, some 2:32 minutes later. This wouldn't normally be a problem except that they restart from where they left off, so if you are watching from this point you are reading subtitles from action that took place over 2 minutes previously. This continues right through to the end of the movie and into the final credits. Anyone with hearing impairment who may want to watch this movie be warned - the first half will be all you can completely enjoy. It is interesting to note that the error occurs at exactly the mid point of the total running time (115 minutes).

This is a RSDL disc with the layer change occurring at 61:51. It is the best placed layer change I have seen. It is hidden in a fade-to-black at a chapter change and is almost unnoticeable.

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

Audio

There are three audio tracks on this DVD; English Dolby Digital 5.0, English Dolby Digital 2.0 and an English Audio Commentary.

Dialogue is a mixed bag. Much of the scintillating script is delivered at breakneck speed in the noisy chaos of the boiler room and can therefore become muddled or misunderstood. I found that when I was watching with the subtitles on (for the first half anyway!) I was actually discovering what was being said for the first time. Nicky Katt's character Greg is the biggest offender for the mumbles. None of this is a problem with the actual audio soundtrack, more of a feature of the movie. There is an abundant overuse of the F word though, so be warned if sensitive ears are listening.

There are no apparent audio sync problems.

The music is a mix of hip-hop sourced songs and a score composed by The Angel that borrows much from this genre. An interesting selection but according to the director this is the type of music that eager young brokers listen to. It could have easily been a classical selection used, but this wouldn't have provided the feel that this is the new age of stockbroking in the year 2000. The employees of JT Marlin are supposed to all be around the early twenty-something mark. The use of the hip-hop style reinforces this point.

The surround channels are not overly used, but provide suitable background noises in the boiler room and outside scenes. They never call undue attention to themselves, but do enhance the listening experience.

Being a Dolby Digital 5.0 soundtrack there was no subwoofer use.

Extras

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Themed around the movie, the audio is presented on both menus and sub-menus. The animation is limited to the opening of the menus only, where they fly in and out of the screen. There is a noticeable delay in the navigation response of the menus that becomes quite frustrating the deeper you go into them.

Dolby Digital Trailer

Aurora - short and reasonably quiet, just how we like it.

Scene Selection Animation & Audio

Themed around dollar bills, it features full animation (albeit very small) and full audio depending on what scene is in the top left corner of the screen. The audio is the actual movie soundtrack and plays completely from that scene until selected or moved to another screen.

Biographies-Cast & Crew

Quite detailed biographies of 10 of the cast and director Ben Younger. Plagued by the very slow menu navigation problem, which became such a pain I found myself selecting the next screen at the same time I started reading the one I was on, just to keep it moving at a reasonable speed.

Deleted Scenes

There are 4 deleted scenes in total (though one is the Alternate Ending mentioned below). The first three run for 40 secs, 44 secs, and 3:50 min respectively and don't really add much in the way of plot development. They are presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and an aspect of 1.85:1.

Alternate Ending (2:58 min)

This is the original ending that was dumped after test audience screenings. As a result, most of the scenes in the last 15 minutes of the movie were filmed some 6 months later, though it doesn't show. This is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. An interesting ending that is quite a bit different to how it now finishes and is closer to how I was expecting the movie to end.

Theatrical Trailer (2:13 min)

This is the US domestic trailer. It is presented in full Dolby Digital 5.1 in an aspect of 1.85:1 and 16x9 enhanced. Quite a decent trailer, though it does show scenes from almost the start to the finish of the movie and does provide some indication of where the plot is heading.

Audio Commentary

Not the best commentary that I have heard, and in fact became downright confusing at times. Provided by Giovanni Ribisi, Director Ben Younger, Producer Jennifer Todd, and music composer The Angel. It would appear that Giovanni Ribisi's comments have been recorded separately to the Ben Younger/Jennifer Todd commentary and occasionally inserted during the quieter moments. His comments have nothing to do with the action taking place at the time and relate more to his development and understanding of the character. Useful at times, but you might as well turn off the vision, as this can often provide a distraction to what he is saying. The commentary by the director and producer is average. It would appear that they were watching the movie at the time of recording it, but it often doesn't relate to what is going on at the time and is more concerned with their experiences in bringing the movie to fruition and the problems they encountered. The commentary by the composer has been recorded separately and doesn't relate much to the actual music playing at the time, but is more concerned with the composer's thoughts on the type of music used and what she was trying to achieve by using it.

Overall I found the commentary sometimes confusing. Having 3 separate commentaries combined together with no introduction to each speaker left little idea as to the direction being taken. One minute we are listening about the music being used, then Giovanni Ribisi is talking about his development of Seth's character.

R4 vs R1

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

The Region 4 disc misses out on

Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack
Dolby Digital 5.1 Isolated Music Score including commentary track from The Angel.
DVD ROM content

The Region 1 disc misses out on

Nothing

A close call.

I can't find any reference to the subtitle problem on any of the US sites, so if you have a need for them go with the Region 1 disc - where you'll also pick up an isolated music score with additional commentary from the music composer and a full 5.1 soundtrack. If you don't need the subtitles then stick with the superior video quality offered by the local product. The musical score and commentary would probably only appeal to those of you that are hip-hop fans and I can't imagine that the subwoofer would receive much dedicated use from what is essentially a dialogue driven movie. I'll stick with the Region 4 disc in this case, only because I'm not hearing impaired, though the lack of quality control in regards to the subtitles is disappointing.

Summary

First time director Ben Younger has hit the target with Boiler Room. Based on some of his own experiences as a trainee broker, the story provides a riveting look at the world of the hardsell professionals. Sure it borrows much from the previously-mentioned Wall Street and Glengarry Glen Ross and the plot isn't exactly completely original, but the ending is certainly not the usual Hollywood moralistic cop-out either. Combine a terrific ensemble cast who overall back that up with terrific performances and this is certainly one to recommend. The only downside is the quality of the disc in comparison to the Region 1 offering. The huge subtitle problem and the missing commentary track take the gloss off an otherwise fine movie.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	Toshiba 1200, using S-Video output
Display	Loewe Calida (84cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio Decoder	Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
Amplification	Harmon/Kardon AVR7000.
Speakers	Front - B&W 602S2, Centre - B&W CC6S2, Rear - B&W 601S2, Sub - Energy E:xl S10

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