GONE FISHIN'

By Greg Walton

Review Film Critic

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	"Swordfish" is a lazy movie.  Like some C-minus student that skates

through high school without cracking a book, the John Travolta/Hugh Jackman

techno-thriller does just enough to get by, but nowhere near enough to

graduate from action movie remedial class.

 Directed to a high sheen by Dominic Sena ("Gone in 60 Seconds"), the high

technology hijinks involve a bank robbery sponsored by a secret government

agency.  Travolta adds another mad genius to his repertoire, an act that's

becoming as tired as Scientology jokes, and Jackman is the retired hacker

who holds the key to busting the bank's lock.

Halle Berry - whose topless scene reportedly earned an extra 500K - is

Travolta's arm candy who has a soft spot for the good guys.

 On the action front, there's a "Matrix-style" opening explosion so nice

they show it twice followed by multiple scenes of Jackman typing under

pressure with gun at his head and a girl in his lap.  As "Antitrust"

proved, when your hero's a hacker the options for excitement are limited.

Travolta's speech at the beginning of the film in which he glibly says,

"All Hollywood makes is s--t!" quickly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Grade: C-

DVD'S Worth Owning

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON

THE FLICK: My first screening of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" came

during a rushed two hour window at the height of the Sundance Film Festival.

I always suspected my blase' opinion of Ang Lee's martial arts epic was

colored by independent film burnout, Salt Lake smog, and overwhelming media

hype.  Critics were all but rounding up audiences and hog tying them to

their seats in the name of artistic appreciation.  Anyone who disagreed was

branded a heartless cynic and dismissed with a haughty sniff.

 So the DVD release gives me - and anyone else who doesn't enjoy their

opinions force-fed to them - a chance to reconsider.  Now that the Academy

Awards have been signed, sealed and delivered (nominated for 10, the film

won 4 including best cinematography and original score), "Crouching Tiger"

comes across even more elegantly on the small screen, where the long,

meaningful looks between characters seem somehow less anti-climactic.  In

other words, I stopped rooting for swordfights and started paying attention

to the story.

Referred to quite often on the disc as "Sense & Sensibility with martial

arts," the film unfolds through the haze of Chinese history and legend.

Chow Yun Fat is a mythic swordsman, Michelle Yeoh is a bad-ass bodyguard,

and new-comer Zhang Ziyi is the aristocrat/thief that brings them together

- then tears them apart.  Soaring fight  sequences punctuate the sweeping

love story, but never devolve into the outrageousness of typical Hong Kong

fare.

THE FEATURES: A subtle disc, in keeping with the film.  Most of the extras

center on character development rather than elaborating on Yuen Wo Ping's

("The Matrix") wire work.  A Bravo Making-Of Special clocks in at around 20

minutes, with particular attention being paid to the score featuring

soloist Yo Yo Ma.  A conversation with Michelle Yeoh (Miss Malaysia

1983...a little tidbit from her bio) elaborates on her transition from action star to

legitimate actress.  Photos, filmographies and a playfully entertaining

commentary by Ang Lee and producer/writer James Schamus tie things up.

But hands down the best feature is the film itself.  Alive with color,

stretched out in widescreen spectacle, the video transfer is a wonder to

behold - capturing every pixel of Peter Pau's awarding winning

cinematography.  With optional Mandarin subtitles or a surprisingly good

English dubbed track, you can please both your elitist film school friends

and inbred cousins from Cheboygan.

FREE TIME: 5 hours should get you in and out in one sitting.

FINAL SCORE: What "Crouching Tiger" loses in big screen scale, it gains

with emotional weight.  In my opinion, there's no better way to see this

movie.

Grade: A-

PLATOON & SALVADOR

THE FLICK:    Movies like Platoon and Salvador aren't so much enjoyed as

they are admired.  That doesn't make them any less powerful as cinematic

experiences; in fact, they're more so.  Oliver Stone's artistic and

political goals as a filmmaker supersede his desire to sell tickets - that

makes him dangerous and his films celluloid nitro.

The box sets that came out about two months ago were a nice encapsulation

of the director's recent work, but Salvador and Platoon are more

interesting to "Stoners" who are looking for insight into what makes the

man tick.  Salvador in particular is like dirt under your fingernails,

immersed in corruption, sex, drugs, and death through the eyes of gonzo

journalist Richard Boyle (James Woods, who was nominated for an Oscar).

"Platoon," which catapulted Stone to the Hollywood elite, still has the

ability to terrify despite the torrent of Vietnam flicks unleashed in its

wake.  But it's a more beautiful film, polished and pretty, next to the

filth and fury of "Salvador."

Both capture the director at his best, still experimenting, still pushing

the boundaries of what one man and his camera can accomplish.  Turns out,

quite a bit.

THE FEATURES: Both discs are collectors items in every sense of the word.

Each includes an hour long documentary that almost rival the films

themselves.  Fascinating, insightful (insert your own adjective here as you

view them), THIS IS WHAT ALL DVD DOCUMENTARIES SHOULD BE!

Stone was obviously reviled by his cast - his method direction of sending

pansy-boy New York actors to boot camp apparently didn't go over well - but

his results are astonishing to behold.  There simply aren't enough good

things to say about both these well researched, carefully structured films

within the films.

Salvador also has 25 minutes of deleted scenes (including a mild orgy

sequence), photo galleries, trailers and commentary by Stone.  Platoon has

trailers, TV spots, photos and commentary by Stone and Dale Dye, military

supervisor.  A Stone commentary is traditionally unstructured but

interesting, and "Platoon" is no exception, with the director giving a

surprising amount of auto-biographical info in addition to tidbits about the

kung-fu movie shooting in the same jungle ("Every once in a while I'd look

over and see a Chinese man in pajamas hurtling through the air!").  Dye is

more by the book, but covers ground Stone does not.  A better solution may

have been to marry the tracks and cut out the dull bits a la' many

Criterion releases.

 Both are presented widescreen, 16:9 enhanced in 5.1 Dolby Digital sound.

Platoon has a fairly weak soundtrack (perhaps due to the rushed mix Stone

mentions in the commentary) and overall looks less sharp than Salvador.

FREE TIME: Platoon: 7 1/2 hours.  Salvador: 6 hours.

FINAL SCORE: If war was confusing in the Vietnam era, it was damn near

incomprehensible by the 80's.  Both films are tireless testaments of their

time and MGM has done a flat-out fantastic job of preserving them for

generations to come.

Grade: Platoon A-

        Salvador B+