Review of Rancid Aluminium

Introduction

It`s not often a film gets it`s title exactly half right.......

Yes, the film is rancid, no there`s no aluminium. This film was released sometime early in 2000 in the UK and immedietely got ignored. Maybe it was the lack of press screenings and reviews?

The film is based on a pretty good book of the same name, by James Hawes and tell the story of Peter Thompson (Rhys Ifans), a happily rich business bloke and how it all goes wrong. Suddenly he has no sperm, the Inland Revneue are after him and he`s dealing with lots of people with bad Russian accents (Not that the accents are bad in the book you understand - unless your mind makes them so :)

A good cast, Rhys Ifans, Joseph Fiennes, Tara Fitzgerald etc can`t make up for the bad acting and even worse accents that spoil what would otherwise be a pretty bad plot.

For your information, the internet movie database give this film a huge and awesome 2.8 out of 10. This is one bad film.

But `What about the DVD?`, I hear you cry, `Does it bulge with features? does it contain a reference quality soundtrack?`.

No.

Video

It is in widescreen. Be happy.

It also has a menu. Be very happy.

The transfer is ok - they probably had a lot of unused film stock to work from. Picture is fine, not exceptional but nothing to complain about.

Audio

Whee, Dolby Digital.

Boo, 2/0. Yup it`s in stereo only I`m afraid. Not bad though, you can hear their bad accents nicely enough.

Features

Wow, not only does it have a DVD menu, it has a trainer and a featurette as well.

The featurette is more interesting than the film.

Conclusion

If you were the punter who went out and watched this when it was out and actually liked it, then the DVD will not disappoint. If, on the other hand, you are looking for a new film to buy or rent and the only other choice is "Jaws XXVII, The Shark takes Manhatten" (or something) then go with that.

A bad film and a very ordinary DVD.