The Movie: I am reviewing the movie-only version of this DVD, not the Critereon Collection 3-disc set.

I've heard about this movie for quite some time, and now, I actually got to see it. I'm somewhat speechless... this movie is a crazy ride through a bizarre, but visually spectacular vision of the near future. And it was strange, that's for sure... and every time you're just settling in and getting comfortable with the world of this movie, some other crazy thing jumps in and throws everything off the track.

I think if you try to actually understand this movie, your head will explode, much like the guy in the picture on the DVD cover. There have been mountains and mountains of stuff written about this movie, all of which was written by people more qualified than myself to interpret this movie, so I guess I'll just leave it alone and say that I liked it... and as always, I liked Robert De Niro's little role in this thing too :)

The DVD: To tell you the truth, I was expecting a lot more from this disc than I got. The video was letterboxed widescreen, and the transfer was murky, grainy, and dirty. To tell you the truth, it sucked. Over some shots there was so much... DIRT on the screen you'd think they forgot to clean the lens or something.

Where I did get surprised though was the audio. Although it is a 2 channel signal, it is a superbly mixed Dolby Pro-Logic Surround (as opposed to 5.1 surround) which sounded great! It was much better than most of the supposedly 5.1 encoded DVD's that are out there, with a full rich soundstage that really surrounds you.

As this is the movie-only version, the special features are limited to a theatrical trailer (4:3 pan and scan, with an even worse video transfer than the movie), cast and crew bios and production notes. If you really like this movie then you should probably consider the 3-disc Criterion Collection set.

Overall, well, I liked the movie, and as far as the disc it self is concerned, it just seems so weird to me that such a great audio mix would be coupled with such a horrible video transfer.