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THE STUDIO GATE

This is one of those movies that first year film school students dream about making. Make it violent and drop in as many F-bombs as Final Draft will allow, this is the kind of film tha would make Tarantino grin. The stylistic slow-mo shots of guns ablazing makes for Tarantino and Peckinpah envy. 

“The Boondock Staints" is now available on Blu-ray.

Over the years since the movie was released, I've heard various people and chatter about how great "Boondock" was. I hadn't seen the movie either through renting the DVD or on cable. It wasn't one of those movies I would rush out to see. I had felt it was simply an ode to all things Tarantino, and I was correct. The difference here is that Tarantino puts a lot of thought into his characters and dialogue. Believe me, I'm no Tarantino fan, but at least he creates memorable scenes and characters.

"Boondock" recycles the conventions of violent movies, but doesn't have a core. There's really not much that is memorable or redeemable about the movie. Sure, it's slickly shot and every character is an action movie cliche. But it doesn't make for a good movie. The brothers, played by Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus, seem like "Pulp Fiction" wannabes rather than strong characters you want to be involved with for 110 minutes. There's no humor in them, nor is there anything interesting about them. They're bland guys who like to cuss and shoot guns. Big deal.

The bad Russian mafia dudes are cardboard cutouts of every mafia personality we've ever seen on screen. Willem Dafoe is usually always good, and he's good in this movie. I found his role as a homosexual FBI agent was stereotypical and over-the-top.

The Blu-ray, however, is excellent in both picture and sound quality. I'm a little late to the Blu-ray game when it comes to Fox titles, but almost everyone I've seen is excellent. The picture on this movie reflects the rawness of the Super 35mm format. Grain is present, but its perfectly suited to this type of movie.

The DTS-MA soundtrack is also excellent featuring lots of raw action soundtrack power. The action scenes have a lot of layered sound effects and music and it all comes across cleanly in DTS-MA. Dialogue is perfectly clear.

I know this movie has its fans, but unfortunately, I'm not one of them.        

Bill Kallay

Special thanks to Click Communications

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