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Texas Rangers
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment // PG-13 // April 16, 2002
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
I believe it was originally in 1999 when I heard about "Texas Rangers", an attempt by Miramax's sister-studio Dimension to reinvent the Western with a legion of adult and teen stars. It sounded like a risky idea at best; while I'm sure it seemed likely that the cast would gain an audience, the Western genre has faded considerably over the years and wouldn't likely gain much interest from a teen audience. Director Steve Miner, who has had a seriously inconsistent track record over his career, would be helming the picture.
The film was originally supposed to be released early in 2000, but that never happened. Soon enough, "Rangers" would be one of the reportedly many films that are/were sitting on the studio's shelf. Soon enough, Warner Brothers thought - wrongly - that they could put together a newfangled Western of their own: "American Outlaws" was born. The two studios played leap-frog with one another, with the two films trying to stay out of each other's way as both were considering a release in 2001. "Outlaws" was released in the Summer to middling reviews, but decent box office. "Rangers", a costly 38-million picture, remained unseen.
Later in the Winter, almost three years after the picture was actually filmed, "Texas Rangers" rambled into theaters. For those unfamiliar with the fact that the film was actually released, don't worry. The picture was released on only a handful of screens and blew out of theaters soon after, with only $625,000 taken in at the box office. While it was a financial disaster, the question was, is the movie itself an equal failure?
Well, yes and no. While this isn't a complete failure, it's an seriously dull picture that never became even mildly entertaining. About the only positive comment that I can offer about the picture is that it is quite beautifully photographed and the locations look very good. Other than that, I felt negatively about most aspects of the picture. The young stars seem mis-cast across the board and some of the actors (McDermott, especially) give ultra-serious readings of cliched dialogue.
The film takes place after the civil war, when bandits (such as one played by Alfred Molina, doing his usual bad-guy thing) are more and more frequent across the plains. The government decides to bring back the Rangers, a group dedicated to inforcing the law in the old West. New recruits include Lincoln Rogers Dunnison (James Van Der Beek), George Durham (Ashton Kutcher) and Randolph Douglas Scipio (Usher Raymond). There's also the leader, McNelly (Dylan McDermott).
Of course, they're first terrible when it comes to fighting bandits, but they get better. The movie, on the other hand, does not. The film takes a ridiculously long time to get going and it's awfully hard to care about any of the characters when the actors seem completely wrong for their roles. Van Der Beek is completely bland and Kutcher - hilariously - tries to act like he's in "Dude, Where's My Car II". Any attempt at seriousness from Kutcher seemed like it was going to conclude with "dude, sweet!" afterwards. The character's attempts at comedy seemed completely wrong for the movie, but Kutcher manages to get laughs, anyways.
"American Outlaws" certainly wasn't great, either, but at least it had some decent action scenes and a bit of energy. "Texas Rangers", even when it attempts to inject humor, lacks any sort of intensity. Director Miner's action scenes are uninspired and dull. Maybe due to the size of the picture it has to recieve some sort of release by the studio, but this is certainly one of those films that could have gone directly to video.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Texas Rangers" is presented by Dimension in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture quality is generally very good - although there is one considerable problem: edge enhancement. While it isn't terrible, there are several scenes where it is visible and somewhat irritating. Other than that, flaws were minimal. The print used seemed clean with the exception of a few stray specks that were only very briefly seen. Grain - occasionally a bit mild - was seen, as well, although it could have been intentional.
The picture at least remained sharp and crisp throughout, with only some minor instances of softness during a couple of sequences. Colors remained vivid and bright throughout, with no smearing or other faults. Overall, aside from the edge enhancement, this was a pretty respectable offering.
SOUND: "Texas Rangers" is presented by Dimension in Dolby Digital 5.1 on this DVD edition. The film's soundtrack does not compare to its counterpart, "American Outlaws". While this certainly isn't a terrible presentation, "Outlaws" used the potential of surround-sound far better. Most of the action in this film takes place in the front speakers and is decently offered, but I would have liked more envelopment - whether instense sound effects or simply minor outdoor ambience - by the surrounds. Audio quality was satisfactory, as gunfire came through loudly but crisply, while the Trevor Rabin score and dialogue were clear.
MENUS: Decent, although rather bland, animated main menu and basic sub-menus.
EXTRAS: An 8 1/2 minute "making of", 2 storyboard sequences, still gallery and the theatrical trailer (full-frame/5.1)
Final Thoughts: "Texas Rangers" is a grim and dull picture that never became entertaining or even fun. While most of the cast is either mis-cast or fares badly, I doubt many could make much out of the screenplay, which is a load of Western cliches awkwardly tied together. Dimension's DVD offers decent audio/video and minimal extras. Still, I wouldn't even recommend this film, even as a rental.
I believe it was originally in 1999 when I heard about "Texas Rangers", an attempt by Miramax's sister-studio Dimension to reinvent the Western with a legion of adult and teen stars. It sounded like a risky idea at best; while I'm sure it seemed likely that the cast would gain an audience, the Western genre has faded considerably over the years and wouldn't likely gain much interest from a teen audience. Director Steve Miner, who has had a seriously inconsistent track record over his career, would be helming the picture.
The film was originally supposed to be released early in 2000, but that never happened. Soon enough, "Rangers" would be one of the reportedly many films that are/were sitting on the studio's shelf. Soon enough, Warner Brothers thought - wrongly - that they could put together a newfangled Western of their own: "American Outlaws" was born. The two studios played leap-frog with one another, with the two films trying to stay out of each other's way as both were considering a release in 2001. "Outlaws" was released in the Summer to middling reviews, but decent box office. "Rangers", a costly 38-million picture, remained unseen.
Later in the Winter, almost three years after the picture was actually filmed, "Texas Rangers" rambled into theaters. For those unfamiliar with the fact that the film was actually released, don't worry. The picture was released on only a handful of screens and blew out of theaters soon after, with only $625,000 taken in at the box office. While it was a financial disaster, the question was, is the movie itself an equal failure?
Well, yes and no. While this isn't a complete failure, it's an seriously dull picture that never became even mildly entertaining. About the only positive comment that I can offer about the picture is that it is quite beautifully photographed and the locations look very good. Other than that, I felt negatively about most aspects of the picture. The young stars seem mis-cast across the board and some of the actors (McDermott, especially) give ultra-serious readings of cliched dialogue.
The film takes place after the civil war, when bandits (such as one played by Alfred Molina, doing his usual bad-guy thing) are more and more frequent across the plains. The government decides to bring back the Rangers, a group dedicated to inforcing the law in the old West. New recruits include Lincoln Rogers Dunnison (James Van Der Beek), George Durham (Ashton Kutcher) and Randolph Douglas Scipio (Usher Raymond). There's also the leader, McNelly (Dylan McDermott).
Of course, they're first terrible when it comes to fighting bandits, but they get better. The movie, on the other hand, does not. The film takes a ridiculously long time to get going and it's awfully hard to care about any of the characters when the actors seem completely wrong for their roles. Van Der Beek is completely bland and Kutcher - hilariously - tries to act like he's in "Dude, Where's My Car II". Any attempt at seriousness from Kutcher seemed like it was going to conclude with "dude, sweet!" afterwards. The character's attempts at comedy seemed completely wrong for the movie, but Kutcher manages to get laughs, anyways.
"American Outlaws" certainly wasn't great, either, but at least it had some decent action scenes and a bit of energy. "Texas Rangers", even when it attempts to inject humor, lacks any sort of intensity. Director Miner's action scenes are uninspired and dull. Maybe due to the size of the picture it has to recieve some sort of release by the studio, but this is certainly one of those films that could have gone directly to video.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Texas Rangers" is presented by Dimension in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture quality is generally very good - although there is one considerable problem: edge enhancement. While it isn't terrible, there are several scenes where it is visible and somewhat irritating. Other than that, flaws were minimal. The print used seemed clean with the exception of a few stray specks that were only very briefly seen. Grain - occasionally a bit mild - was seen, as well, although it could have been intentional.
The picture at least remained sharp and crisp throughout, with only some minor instances of softness during a couple of sequences. Colors remained vivid and bright throughout, with no smearing or other faults. Overall, aside from the edge enhancement, this was a pretty respectable offering.
SOUND: "Texas Rangers" is presented by Dimension in Dolby Digital 5.1 on this DVD edition. The film's soundtrack does not compare to its counterpart, "American Outlaws". While this certainly isn't a terrible presentation, "Outlaws" used the potential of surround-sound far better. Most of the action in this film takes place in the front speakers and is decently offered, but I would have liked more envelopment - whether instense sound effects or simply minor outdoor ambience - by the surrounds. Audio quality was satisfactory, as gunfire came through loudly but crisply, while the Trevor Rabin score and dialogue were clear.
MENUS: Decent, although rather bland, animated main menu and basic sub-menus.
EXTRAS: An 8 1/2 minute "making of", 2 storyboard sequences, still gallery and the theatrical trailer (full-frame/5.1)
Final Thoughts: "Texas Rangers" is a grim and dull picture that never became entertaining or even fun. While most of the cast is either mis-cast or fares badly, I doubt many could make much out of the screenplay, which is a load of Western cliches awkwardly tied together. Dimension's DVD offers decent audio/video and minimal extras. Still, I wouldn't even recommend this film, even as a rental.
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