Review of Dogma

Introduction

When this Kevin Smith film was first released, the Catholic Church complained. They complained a lot. Once can understand why - on face value.

This is a film about fallen angels on a killing spree being chased by a descendant of Jesus` siblings and the thirteenth apostle (who happens to be black), all in an attempt to get back to Heaven and visit God - who is female.

Contentious stuff, but Kevis Smith is a deeply religious person and this is more to do with his own attempts to sort religion out once and for all inside his head whilst having a laugh at organised religion and Catholicism in general.

The cast are excellent, Matt and Ben work together well in a style reminiscent of Abbot and Costello, Alan Rickman is excellent as usual as the Metatron (the voice of God), Linda Fiorentino plays the last Siren and Salma Hayek is a Muse.....

We also see the welcome return of Jay and Silent Bob (the Director) from Smiths previous films and they (as usual) steal the show when on screen.

Video

Video quality of the transfer is excellent throughout. The main feature is presented as intended and is anamorphic. The picture quality is superb at all times except for a noticeable jump when the layer changed. Although this can be partially blamed on my DVD player, they do choose a fairly odd moment to have the layer change as a few seconds later (or before) would have worked better.

The DVD menu is simple, effective and is slightly animated but not enough to cause hassles when looking around.

Audio

Again, good work has been done here. The main feature is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and is very effective.

Kevin Smith`s films tend to rely on dialogue for a lot of their nuances and the speech track on this is first rate. Surround is used when needed during the action scenes and also to add depth to the soundtrack.

Features

The DVD contains the usual trailers and tv spots, all of which are perfectly adequate.

There`s also a series of cast interviews from what appears to be German television, the picture quality here is not good and the sound is terrible - but the information is there, Kevin Smith himself is particularly interesting as this is a film he`s been writing and editing for years as each cast member came on board.

Conclusion

Entertainment Weekly said this was one of the best films of 1999 and I`m inclined to agree with them.

It`s funny, it`s different, it`s anti-establishment and it`s very well scripted and acted. It`s coarse in places and could offend certain people - indeed it did when it was released but I personally enjoyed it immensely.
Recommended viewing.

If you have a modded player, I thoroughly recommend the Region 1 collector`s edition as it contains:

Commentary by director Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck and Jason Lee
Commentary by producer Scott Mosier and Vincent Pereira
Commentary by director Kevin Smith, Producer Scott Mosier and View Askew Historian Vincent Pereira
"Judge Not. In Defence of Dogma" documentary
Complete set of storyboards from three major scenes
100 Minutes of deleted scenes with View Askew Crew Intros
Cast and Crew outtakes
Jay and Silent Bob`s Secret Stash Spot
Saints and Sinners Talent Files
Bonus! Follow the Buddy Christ for More Hijinks with Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes and more!
Talent Files (Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Chris Rock, Alan Rickman, Jason Lee, Salma Hayek and Jason Mewes)

And that`s a lot of extras. The quality of the main feature is the same, however.