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Bound
R2 - United Kingdom - Pathe! Distribution Review written by and copyright: Sam Scott (23rd May 2004). |
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The Film
 Violet (Jennifer Tilly) plays gangster Caesar's (Joe Pantoliano) girlfriend in this highly charged movie from Matrix directors Andy and Larry Wachowski. Caesar, as I said before, is a gangster, who launders money for the mafia. Next door to Violet and Caesar is an empty flat where ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon) is doing some repair work. When Corky and Violet meet in a lift one day, they slowly begin an intimate affair behind Caesar's back (yes, there are a couple of lesbian sex scenes) until Violet comes up with a plan. To steal two million dollars of laundered money from Caesar at the same time as framing him with the mob in order to make a clean and easy getaway. However, as is the norm in a crime thriller type film, there is no such thing as an easy crime. The plot is good, though not as twisty as you'd imagine, yet it still manages to engage your brain and keep you gripped (even after the lesbian scenes). The acting is pretty good, especially Joe Pantoliano when he finds the money is missing and has been replaced with newspapers. The characters are looked into so you know a bit of their background though they are very stereotypical (butch lesbian, gangster's moll and gangster). It's just a shame the Wachowski Brothers went on to make the Matrix sequels and manage to spectacularly sell themselves out.
Video
Presented in glorious anamorphic 1.85:1, it looks like this is a very clean print. I didn't notice any artefacting or grain, the compression problems which plague some low budget films were not there and the colours (particularly the use of the dark colours) were clear. An all round, top picture.
Audio
There is an English dolby digital 5.1 soundtrack included on the disc which utilises itself pretty well. The dialogue is crisp and the surrounds (although not that active), are used to the right effect as the gun shots blast around your head. The bass, again not used a tremendous amount is great when used.
Extras
Audio Commentary - This pulls in a nice selection of the cast and crew. Giving there opinions we have the Wachowski brothers who directed, stars Gina Gershon, Jennifer Tilly and Joe Pantoliano, director of photography Zach Staenberg and even expert lesbian (who tells us about the undertones of the movie) Suzie Bright. Shame it's very boring really. Even more boring than the Wachowskis commentary on The Matrix. Production featurette - The usual studio crap. 5 minutes of pure backslapping and no information. Cast and Crew Biographies - Very well done and in depth biographies and filmographies for the Wachowski brothers, Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon and Joe Pantoliano. This is how this sort of text extra should be done all the time. 3 Trailers - Yep, 3 good and very different trailers. They are the international, US and original.
Overall
Above average film, with an excellent picture and soundtrack sadly let down by the lack of DECENT extras.
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