The Film:
I'm not generally a fan of science fiction films unless it kind of revolves around an aspect of terror. In fact, the last good sci-fi film I can remember watching was probably Gattaca. I'm also one of the only people on the planet Earth that will not sit and watch any of the Star Wars or Star Trek movies because I simply find them overrated boring guff. For anybody that has made it this far without calling me every name under the sun, I commend you because you will be in a small minority. All this begs the question of why did I accept a review copy from Optimum of The Man Who Fell To Earth? The answer: I'm yet to be disappointed by any film of Nicolas Roeg with Don't Look Now being a particular favourite.
The Man Who Fell To Earth is a bit of a strange film. It stars David Bowie (The Labyrinth) in his movie debut as an alien in human form (I believe the sci-fi addicts refer to this as a 'humanoid') who has come to Earth in order to collect water for his own planet which is suffering a terrible drought. When on Earth, he starts an extremely successful company making millions upon millions of dollars, however it isn't long before he succumbs to the dog eat dog business world, manic depression and loneliness, despite getting plenty of sex scenes with Candy Clark (Radioland Murders). That's pretty much the bulk of the story with many smaller sub-plots revolving around the secondary cast thrown in for good measure in an attempt to keep you interested.
I'm going to start off with my feelings to say that I liked this film and what I iked most, was the thing I was dreading: The Bowie factor. I'm not Bowie's biggest fan but this film was made when he had a relationship with cocaine. The fact that he is so obviously caned during most of the film, actually does a lot to push his character amd give him the right 'look' in scenes he is ill and drowsy. The support cast are also pretty good with none of the cast putting in poor performances (though at the same time, there are no stellar performances). The story is adapted from the novel by Walter Tevis who also wrote The Color Of Money and I'll definately be on the lookout for a copy of this book at a cheap price, because like they say, the film always loses part of the story to condense it from a 200+ page book. In fact, my only complaint about the film is that it is actually overly long and a few of the side-stories could have been chopped out to give it a healthier running time and more engrossing feel. A film has to be pretty special to keep your attention for over two hours. Roeg fans and sci-fi fans will love this film, and whilst it could have been improved, it does come recommended.
The DVD:
Video:
Optimum have provided the film with an anamorphic transfer set at the film's original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and it definately doesn't do justice. Colours are washed out and grain is present in spades making this very disappointing.
Audio:
Optimum have given us the option of two different English tracks: Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolb Digital 2.0 Surround. For the sake of this review I went for the 5.1 track, though it may as well have been stereo with the surrounds and LFE being used to minimal effect. Despite this, the volume levels are consistent and dialogue is clear throughout. No subtitles have been provided.
Extras:
All extras are housed on disc two of this two disc set.
We start the extras off with a featurette entitled Viewing The Alien which is your pretty standard twenty-five minute documentary full of interviews with the principal crew members including the costume designer, the director of photography and of course, the director.
Next up we have two different interviews:
- director Nicolas Roeg
- screenwriter Paul Mayersberg
The interview with Roeg is easily the better of the two lasting twice as long at roughly thirty minutes. Due to length it is more in-depth and covers quite a wide spectre of information compared to Mayersberg who is fairly limited in what he can talk about.
To finish off we have a nice little selection of minor self explanatory extras:
2 TV Spots
DVD-Rom Material:
- Press Book
Bonus Trailers:
- "The Wicker Man"
- "Don't Look Now"
- "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence"
