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The Movie:
 You might not
hear this very often, but I am quite proud to say I live in New Jersey. I can't say the same, however, about our
pollution, obsession with malls, and horrific traffic. And you'd probably be hard pressed to find anyone proud of the fact
that we have, in Newark, the "car theft capital of the
nation." It is this very notion, nonetheless, that provides the impetus behind
Writer/Director Nick Gomez's film New Jersey Drive.
In a city where hundreds of cars are stolen everyday - sometimes
just for a joyride - can the people on the streets and the men
sworn to protect the city coexist? While that's certainly an
interesting question, Gomez never really gets around to answering
it in his film. Instead, the film fails to find one true thread
to stick through as it weaves its way through the lives of its
characters. We have the cops versus the young, black males. We
have the young, black males versus other young, black males. And
we even have the young, black males versus their families. Gomez
simply loses his way with too many threads that never quite come
together. It's not even resolution that I needed at the
conclusion of New Jersey Drive. It's just that I wanted
it to say something to me, and the only thing it really
seemed to say was "don't steal cars if you're a young, black
male from Newark because it will only get you killed." I
could get that from the evening news.
 That's not to
say that Gomez's film doesn't have its merits. His characters are
all interesting in their own way, even if they are all variations
of the same stereotype. Gabriel Casseus and Sharron Corley are
charismatic and fresh in their roles as Midget and Jason Petty.
Their interaction is believable as is the progression of their
relationship throughout the film. Adam Kimmel's innovative
cinematography and Gomez's direction during the car chases are
also a joy to watch. We get some nice, unexpected angles and a
lot less MTV-style quick cutting than I had anticipated. While he
intended it or not, the heart of Gomez's film is all of the car
stealing, and this is precisely the part of the film that he gets
right.
New Jersey Drive, however, just did not have enough good
elements to win me over. At times it looked as though the film
might go in the right direction, but more often than not it
seemed to be trying too hard to be like Boyz n the Hood
or Menace II Society. Gomez tries valiantly to give us
some type of message, but the only message I managed to cull from
his film is to make sure I take mass-transit next time I go into
Newark.
The DVD
Video:
 New Jersey
Drive is presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer that
varies in quality from time to time. There are moments in the
film when this transfer looks great. Colors are spot-on, blacks
are deep and true, and detail is wonderful. There are other times
during the film, however, that this transfer looks fairly
inadequate. There is a bit of edge enhancement throughout, but
more troubling are the scratches and dirt that occasionally
appear. In darker scenes, detail sometimes becomes problematic
and a fair amount of grain becomes visible. The layer change is,
unfortunately, also noticeable about three-quarters of the way
through the film. On the whole, though, this visual presentation
certainly has more good qualities than bad, and is probably the
best the film has ever looked.
Sound:
The audio on this disc is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 format
that fails to take full advantage of its surround capabilities.
With a hip-hop intensive soundtrack that serves as the
cornerstone for much of the film, this track is sorely lacking in
a powerful LFE output. While the low end does become apparent at
times, it should definitely have been made a priority for a film
of this nature. For a film with several car chases and high-speed
pursuits, the surround channels are surprisingly quiet as well.
The few instances when they do come alive provide some nice
support to the soundtrack and a couple well-timed surround
effects. Dialogue is mostly clear and crisp throughout, but there
are times when it becomes overwhelmed by the soundtrack, which
resides predominantly in the front channels. The narration of the
film is clearly a bit quieter than the rest of the film's
dialogue. Nevertheless, this track gets the job done, but fails
to make any real impression.
Extras:
The only extra features included on this disc are approximately
25 minutes of deleted scenes and a theatrical
trailer. The excised scenes are in pretty beat up and
certainly are not of the same quality as the rest of the film.
Most are wholly new scenes (not extensions), and while they are
an interesting item to have on this disc, it would have been nice
to have the option of watching each one individually rather than
as one continuous play.
Final Thoughts:
This is actually the second time that New Jersey Drive
has made it to DVD, and while I have not seen the original disc,
I'd wager to say that this one is an improvement, in every way,
over that bare-bones release. The audio-visual presentations are
adequate, and the inclusion of nearly a half-hour of deleted
scenes makes this a fine disc. The film itself, however, is just
not quite good enough to warrant anything more than a rental. |
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