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Ride With The Devil
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
"Ride With The Devil" is one of those "whatever happened to..." films. As the acting debut of singer Jewel, the film recieved quite a lot of press during production, but once the film recieved a release, it quickly dissapeared off the radar. The film, by "Sense and Sensibility" director Ang Lee, is not flawless, but it is a well-acted drama with a strong cast of young actors.
The film is rather slow, but I found myself involved with the story, which is this: the film takes place during the civil war, where a band of Missouri citizens has formed a rather unorganized band of troops who fight against the Union troops. The main characters are a group of four: Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire), Jack Bull Chiles (Skeet Ulrich), George Clyde (Simon Baker-Denny) and a slave who has gained freedom, Daniel Holt(Jeffrey Wright).
The film is definitely not a "war" picture, chosing to focus on the reasons why these people did what they did - there are some fights, but not too many. The ones that do happen are nicely staged and are involving, but those expecting more of an action picture will be dissapointed. Helped by a group of Southerners which include the recently widowed Sue Lee(Jewel), the group sets up fort.
The film frequently gets close to the line between bearable and slightly boring; if it wasn't for the enjoyable performances (even singer Jewel has a promising debut) the film would get too long sooner than it does. At two hours and 18 minutes, the movie could probably stand to lose about 20-30 minutes. Many scenes simply involve the characters sitting around chatting, and not much of anything really happens or develops during many of these sequences.
"Ride With The Devil" is certainly not a bad film, but some trimming could have taken steps to make it a more entertaining one. It deserved a better audience that it recieved, and hopefully, it will find a new audience on video.
The DVD
VIDEO: This is really impressive work, and among one of the best efforts from Universal in recent times; the beautifully shot film certainly looks phenomenal on DVD, with lush, green fields and other, similarly beautiful background scenery apparent in many shots. This is not a "razor sharp" looking image, or one that looks soft at times. It achieves a nice, smooth look to it that is a perfect balance. The results are excellent, with images that are never lacking in clarity, and with many of the daylight scenes offering remarkable depth to the image; detail is excellent, as well. Colors are stunning and very naturally rendered, looking solid and never showing any problems. Flesh tones are natural, as well.
There were no instances of pixelation or shimmering, and the only problem I noticed was an instance or two of extremely minor marks on the print used, but certainly nothing that would be cause for distraction. When this picture looks great, it looks absolutely magnificent. Universal has done some of their finest work here, and the results are very impressive.
SOUND: The sound for "Ride With The Devil" is quite nice, but there were times when I would have liked to have heard more subtle detail. Other than that, I was generally very pleased with the audio quality for the film, which is presented at a very comfortable listening level, and has a smooth, natural character to it that is wonderfully appealing. This is certainly most apparent in Mychael Danna("The Sweet Hereafter", "Girl, Interrupted")'s score, which sounds well-recorded and crisp. I would have liked to have heard more involvement from the surrounds; although they do come into play during the film's more intense sequences, I thought they could stand to be used even a little bit more. Even during the quieter sequences, they could have been used for a little bit more background detail in the wilderness. These are fairly minor complaints though, when the general quality of the sound is so wonderfully rich and clean. Dialogue is successful as well, sounding clear and easily understood. Maybe not as agressive as it could be, but pleasing either way.
MENUS:: Although I wasn't expecting anything too animated, it would have been nicer if the score was in the background, and if the main menu could have been more than the cover art in the background.
EXTRAS:: Theatrical trailer, cast&crew bios, production notes as well as trailers for "Reap The Wild Wind", "Far and Away" and "All Quiet On The Western Front".
Final Thoughts: "Ride With The Devil" is a good rental - it's worth watching once, but I find it somewhat doubtful if many will want to watch it more than that. Universal's DVD edition has very good sound and video quality, but is lacking in extras.
"Ride With The Devil" is one of those "whatever happened to..." films. As the acting debut of singer Jewel, the film recieved quite a lot of press during production, but once the film recieved a release, it quickly dissapeared off the radar. The film, by "Sense and Sensibility" director Ang Lee, is not flawless, but it is a well-acted drama with a strong cast of young actors.
The film is rather slow, but I found myself involved with the story, which is this: the film takes place during the civil war, where a band of Missouri citizens has formed a rather unorganized band of troops who fight against the Union troops. The main characters are a group of four: Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire), Jack Bull Chiles (Skeet Ulrich), George Clyde (Simon Baker-Denny) and a slave who has gained freedom, Daniel Holt(Jeffrey Wright).
The film is definitely not a "war" picture, chosing to focus on the reasons why these people did what they did - there are some fights, but not too many. The ones that do happen are nicely staged and are involving, but those expecting more of an action picture will be dissapointed. Helped by a group of Southerners which include the recently widowed Sue Lee(Jewel), the group sets up fort.
The film frequently gets close to the line between bearable and slightly boring; if it wasn't for the enjoyable performances (even singer Jewel has a promising debut) the film would get too long sooner than it does. At two hours and 18 minutes, the movie could probably stand to lose about 20-30 minutes. Many scenes simply involve the characters sitting around chatting, and not much of anything really happens or develops during many of these sequences.
"Ride With The Devil" is certainly not a bad film, but some trimming could have taken steps to make it a more entertaining one. It deserved a better audience that it recieved, and hopefully, it will find a new audience on video.
The DVD
VIDEO: This is really impressive work, and among one of the best efforts from Universal in recent times; the beautifully shot film certainly looks phenomenal on DVD, with lush, green fields and other, similarly beautiful background scenery apparent in many shots. This is not a "razor sharp" looking image, or one that looks soft at times. It achieves a nice, smooth look to it that is a perfect balance. The results are excellent, with images that are never lacking in clarity, and with many of the daylight scenes offering remarkable depth to the image; detail is excellent, as well. Colors are stunning and very naturally rendered, looking solid and never showing any problems. Flesh tones are natural, as well.
There were no instances of pixelation or shimmering, and the only problem I noticed was an instance or two of extremely minor marks on the print used, but certainly nothing that would be cause for distraction. When this picture looks great, it looks absolutely magnificent. Universal has done some of their finest work here, and the results are very impressive.
SOUND: The sound for "Ride With The Devil" is quite nice, but there were times when I would have liked to have heard more subtle detail. Other than that, I was generally very pleased with the audio quality for the film, which is presented at a very comfortable listening level, and has a smooth, natural character to it that is wonderfully appealing. This is certainly most apparent in Mychael Danna("The Sweet Hereafter", "Girl, Interrupted")'s score, which sounds well-recorded and crisp. I would have liked to have heard more involvement from the surrounds; although they do come into play during the film's more intense sequences, I thought they could stand to be used even a little bit more. Even during the quieter sequences, they could have been used for a little bit more background detail in the wilderness. These are fairly minor complaints though, when the general quality of the sound is so wonderfully rich and clean. Dialogue is successful as well, sounding clear and easily understood. Maybe not as agressive as it could be, but pleasing either way.
MENUS:: Although I wasn't expecting anything too animated, it would have been nicer if the score was in the background, and if the main menu could have been more than the cover art in the background.
EXTRAS:: Theatrical trailer, cast&crew bios, production notes as well as trailers for "Reap The Wild Wind", "Far and Away" and "All Quiet On The Western Front".
Final Thoughts: "Ride With The Devil" is a good rental - it's worth watching once, but I find it somewhat doubtful if many will want to watch it more than that. Universal's DVD edition has very good sound and video quality, but is lacking in extras.
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