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El Diablo
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Review:
Westerns were in the middle of a resurgence in the late 80's and early 90's. Movies like Unforgiven and Young Guns won popular and critical acclaim (not always both in some cases) and the next thing you know everyone was making a Western. El Diablo definitely falls into that category, it was made because they were trendy at the time. It's hard to explain why a film co-written by John Carpenter (of Halloween fame) and starring Anthony Edwards, Joe Pantiliano, and Louis Gossett Jr. can still come out almost un-watch able. That's the sad fact and I'll try to explain a why.
This is an HBO film, but that shouldn't send any preconceived notions. They continuously produce high quality made-for-cable films all the time. The movie failed to click for me because it simply did not know what it wanted to be. It couldn't decide between being a western and a comedy. The characters act in much the same manor, honorable one minute and despicable the next. They are fascinated by the west or dreading that they are there. There is no solid movement to this movie, it tries to be all things at once and doesn't do any of it well.
While trying to be funny, there are violent moments thrown in for measure. Some are meant for comedy and others are not, but often it's hard to tell which. A point blank shooting at the beginning of the film is offset by the ridiculous out fit that Anthony Edwards decides to wear as he leaves town to find the legendary hero Kid Durango. He doesn't make it very far before he accidentally shoots his horse (a horrible excuse of a joke that is repeated several more times in the film). This is more that I usually give away in a review, I like to give general thoughts and let the viewers learn the story and form their own opinions as they go, but I thought I'd save everyone a little pain and suffering by letting you know what you're in for.
The DVD:
The Video: The video looks good but shows its age. While there are only a few flaws noticeable in the transfer, everything seemed a bit muddy. The color saturation was low with a soft look to the film. The video is presented in a 1.85:1 letterbox format.
The Sound: This is usually the favorite part of a film for me. Nothing excites me more than watching a film with beautifully mixed sound, so I was disappointed to learn that it is only a standard Dolby Surround mix on the disc. Westerns are great fare for a good surround system, watch Tombstone to see what I mean, but this one had little to no rear effects and the dialog was muted at times.
The Extras: There really are no extras included on this disc. From the inception of DVD, I fail to count Cast and Crew Bios and Subtitles as special features. They are standard on almost every DVD, and rarely is there anything special about them.
Overall: This was a sad attempt to cash in on a popular thing. There is nothing that puts this film in a watch able category, despite the inclusion of several excellent actors. I'd recommend turning on HBO to see what is on rather that putting this DVD in.
Westerns were in the middle of a resurgence in the late 80's and early 90's. Movies like Unforgiven and Young Guns won popular and critical acclaim (not always both in some cases) and the next thing you know everyone was making a Western. El Diablo definitely falls into that category, it was made because they were trendy at the time. It's hard to explain why a film co-written by John Carpenter (of Halloween fame) and starring Anthony Edwards, Joe Pantiliano, and Louis Gossett Jr. can still come out almost un-watch able. That's the sad fact and I'll try to explain a why.
This is an HBO film, but that shouldn't send any preconceived notions. They continuously produce high quality made-for-cable films all the time. The movie failed to click for me because it simply did not know what it wanted to be. It couldn't decide between being a western and a comedy. The characters act in much the same manor, honorable one minute and despicable the next. They are fascinated by the west or dreading that they are there. There is no solid movement to this movie, it tries to be all things at once and doesn't do any of it well.
While trying to be funny, there are violent moments thrown in for measure. Some are meant for comedy and others are not, but often it's hard to tell which. A point blank shooting at the beginning of the film is offset by the ridiculous out fit that Anthony Edwards decides to wear as he leaves town to find the legendary hero Kid Durango. He doesn't make it very far before he accidentally shoots his horse (a horrible excuse of a joke that is repeated several more times in the film). This is more that I usually give away in a review, I like to give general thoughts and let the viewers learn the story and form their own opinions as they go, but I thought I'd save everyone a little pain and suffering by letting you know what you're in for.
The DVD:
The Video: The video looks good but shows its age. While there are only a few flaws noticeable in the transfer, everything seemed a bit muddy. The color saturation was low with a soft look to the film. The video is presented in a 1.85:1 letterbox format.
The Sound: This is usually the favorite part of a film for me. Nothing excites me more than watching a film with beautifully mixed sound, so I was disappointed to learn that it is only a standard Dolby Surround mix on the disc. Westerns are great fare for a good surround system, watch Tombstone to see what I mean, but this one had little to no rear effects and the dialog was muted at times.
The Extras: There really are no extras included on this disc. From the inception of DVD, I fail to count Cast and Crew Bios and Subtitles as special features. They are standard on almost every DVD, and rarely is there anything special about them.
Overall: This was a sad attempt to cash in on a popular thing. There is nothing that puts this film in a watch able category, despite the inclusion of several excellent actors. I'd recommend turning on HBO to see what is on rather that putting this DVD in.
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