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Two Lane Blacktop: Limited Edition
Starz / Anchor Bay // R // February 25, 2003
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"The Driver" (James Taylor, in his first acting role) and "The Mechanic" (Dennis Wilson, in his first and only acting role) adore their souped-up Chevy and will race anyone who's ready and willing... One such opponent is the insecure braggart GTO (Warren Oates), so named for his...uh...Pontiac GTO, and his GTO is pitted against the Nameless Pair in a race to Washington DC, winner take all...'all' meaning 'pink slips'. The race is a metaphor, like, for the race of life or something. Yeah.
Well, the sloppy plot summary was easy to put together, but much more difficult is saying how I actually felt about the film. Hmmm... "Two Lane Blacktop" held my interest, but at the same time, I never really felt that into it. The movie centers around automobiles and the people who love them, and I know absolutely nothing about cars at all. I guess this keeps me from being able to fully appreciate what the characters feel and what they go through. The plot moves along really slowly, and there's not really much character development. But then again, that's kind of the point. I get the definite feeling that after the second or third viewing, my feelings will take a 180 degree turn and I'll love it. Till then, I'll have to say that I was underwhelmed (if that's a word) with "Two Lane Blacktop", especially considering the almost-reverent buzz surrounding the film.
Video: Sometimes I feel like I'm living in some sort of parallel universe. All of the other reviews I've read of "Two Lane Blacktop" have spoken highly of the video, but I thought it looked pretty poor. Early scenes in "Two Lane Blacktop" are soft, grainy, and have a slight blue tint to them, and as a result, the fleshtones and other colors seem off. Some of these flaws disappear after a little while, but the colors still largely seem dull and cold, and a number of the night scenes are exceptionally noisy in appearance. Blacks don't have the usual strength typically seen in Anchor Bay releases, particularly early on. Some of the exterior day shots look fairly sharp, but the clarity isn't that great for the most part. I guess the source materials were just in rough condition, but considering what Anchor Bay did with Lucio Fulci's beaten-and-battered "The Beyond", resulting in a spectacular DVD, I have a hard time believing nothing more could be done to make "Two Lane Blacktop" look better. On the plus side, it is enhanced for widescreen televisions and presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, though. "Two Lane Blacktop" isn't unwatchable, but this is by far the worst-looking anamorphic transfer I've ever seen (with the possible exception of "Army of Darkness: Director's Cut", though that's a very different situation). Aside from a handful of rather clear shots and the letterboxing, this disc looks only incrementally better than one of those ancient transfers that I'd see on a UHF station on a Sunday afternoon. Very disappointing.
Audio: There are both 5.1 and 2.0 mixes, but to me, the 5.1 audio sounded like a barely-remixed mono track (almost certainly the case). I didn't notice any hiss or distortion, but the bass lacked any real punch, which really surprised me, considering all the perfect opportunities there were. The audio doesn't garner anything above 'okay' in my book, and even then, it's at the lower end of the spectrum.
Supplements: Although not mentioned on the sticker on the rear of the tin, "Two Lane Blacktop" features a commentary with Monte Hellman and associate producer Gary Kurtz. Pretty nice surprise... Hellman is also the focus of "Monte Hellman: American Auteur", which is listed as a documentary but has the length of a featurette, running about 14 minutes. Rounding out the extras are the theatrical trailer and cast/crew bios. Exclusive to the limited edition tin are a die-cast keychain, a 5"x7" replica of the theatrical poster, and a 48-page booklet filled with assorted stills, interspersed with lines from the film, along with brief liner notes by Cliff MacMillan.
Conclusion: Neither the film itself nor the quality of the disc did much for me. I didn't find "Two Lane Blacktop" to be a bad movie; I can definitely see the appeal, but it's more of a "man" film, and my tastes tend to gravitate towards...you know...people getting eaten and hacked apart. Fans of the movie may find this disc passable, but for the rest, I wouldn't recommend buying it sight-unseen, as I often do for Anchor Bay releases. The standard edition costs $30, and the limited edition tin runs another ten bucks. Even if I were a die-hard fan of the film, I can't fathom paying $30 for what seems like a rush job, and for the quality here, I'd be reluctant to pay even half that. Since the movie is adored by many and I consider myself more of a DVD-reviewer than a film critic, I'm rating this disc as a recommended rental, but I can't in good faith recommend anything more than that.
Well, the sloppy plot summary was easy to put together, but much more difficult is saying how I actually felt about the film. Hmmm... "Two Lane Blacktop" held my interest, but at the same time, I never really felt that into it. The movie centers around automobiles and the people who love them, and I know absolutely nothing about cars at all. I guess this keeps me from being able to fully appreciate what the characters feel and what they go through. The plot moves along really slowly, and there's not really much character development. But then again, that's kind of the point. I get the definite feeling that after the second or third viewing, my feelings will take a 180 degree turn and I'll love it. Till then, I'll have to say that I was underwhelmed (if that's a word) with "Two Lane Blacktop", especially considering the almost-reverent buzz surrounding the film.
Video: Sometimes I feel like I'm living in some sort of parallel universe. All of the other reviews I've read of "Two Lane Blacktop" have spoken highly of the video, but I thought it looked pretty poor. Early scenes in "Two Lane Blacktop" are soft, grainy, and have a slight blue tint to them, and as a result, the fleshtones and other colors seem off. Some of these flaws disappear after a little while, but the colors still largely seem dull and cold, and a number of the night scenes are exceptionally noisy in appearance. Blacks don't have the usual strength typically seen in Anchor Bay releases, particularly early on. Some of the exterior day shots look fairly sharp, but the clarity isn't that great for the most part. I guess the source materials were just in rough condition, but considering what Anchor Bay did with Lucio Fulci's beaten-and-battered "The Beyond", resulting in a spectacular DVD, I have a hard time believing nothing more could be done to make "Two Lane Blacktop" look better. On the plus side, it is enhanced for widescreen televisions and presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, though. "Two Lane Blacktop" isn't unwatchable, but this is by far the worst-looking anamorphic transfer I've ever seen (with the possible exception of "Army of Darkness: Director's Cut", though that's a very different situation). Aside from a handful of rather clear shots and the letterboxing, this disc looks only incrementally better than one of those ancient transfers that I'd see on a UHF station on a Sunday afternoon. Very disappointing.
Audio: There are both 5.1 and 2.0 mixes, but to me, the 5.1 audio sounded like a barely-remixed mono track (almost certainly the case). I didn't notice any hiss or distortion, but the bass lacked any real punch, which really surprised me, considering all the perfect opportunities there were. The audio doesn't garner anything above 'okay' in my book, and even then, it's at the lower end of the spectrum.
Supplements: Although not mentioned on the sticker on the rear of the tin, "Two Lane Blacktop" features a commentary with Monte Hellman and associate producer Gary Kurtz. Pretty nice surprise... Hellman is also the focus of "Monte Hellman: American Auteur", which is listed as a documentary but has the length of a featurette, running about 14 minutes. Rounding out the extras are the theatrical trailer and cast/crew bios. Exclusive to the limited edition tin are a die-cast keychain, a 5"x7" replica of the theatrical poster, and a 48-page booklet filled with assorted stills, interspersed with lines from the film, along with brief liner notes by Cliff MacMillan.
Conclusion: Neither the film itself nor the quality of the disc did much for me. I didn't find "Two Lane Blacktop" to be a bad movie; I can definitely see the appeal, but it's more of a "man" film, and my tastes tend to gravitate towards...you know...people getting eaten and hacked apart. Fans of the movie may find this disc passable, but for the rest, I wouldn't recommend buying it sight-unseen, as I often do for Anchor Bay releases. The standard edition costs $30, and the limited edition tin runs another ten bucks. Even if I were a die-hard fan of the film, I can't fathom paying $30 for what seems like a rush job, and for the quality here, I'd be reluctant to pay even half that. Since the movie is adored by many and I consider myself more of a DVD-reviewer than a film critic, I'm rating this disc as a recommended rental, but I can't in good faith recommend anything more than that.
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