Dogma

Who is Kevin Smith? Well, I guess most people who went out and saw Dogma, would have a pretty good idea. For everyone else who doesn’t know, Ill have a go of explaining. First of all, he is the writer, producer, editor and director of this movie, as well as playing a central character in it. Secondly, his past movies, in order of age: Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy, have all been written, produced and directed by Kevin as well.

One of his most significant achievements was being Co-executive producer, of one of my favourite movies of all time, Good Will Hunting. GWH was up against Titanic in the 1998 Oscars, and I thought GWH was the better movie out of the two. However, I am not the academy. Being good friends with two of Hollywood’s hottest starts, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, obviously helps a great deal with any studios looking to fund his movies. He has won numerous awards along the way, and I still believe, hasn’t reached his full potential. I am looking forward to his best work. Dogma, sadly, is not it. There are a lot of very enjoyable elements, but it doesn’t quite hold together.

The basic saga involves two fallen angles, who were ejected from heaven. They are struggling to get back in, and their one hope to get back, will mean the end of the world for humanity. They meet a few great characters along the way, the stand-outs being the parts played by the classic Alan Rickman, the hilarious Chris Rock, and the super sexy Salma Hayek. There are a few surprises on the way, and the dialogue is full of clever and funny ingredients making the movie from start to finish, very entertaining.

Village Roadshow keep doing what ever you are doing. The video here is great. Almost flawless. No major faults at all. I guess the original source wasn’t as good as they come, so it will never be a reference DVD, but, I can’t see Dogma, getting any better. Most of the key scenes are well lit, and as such, colours and detail are always top quality. The few dark scenes are all full of detail and look perfectly fine.

Also very good. It’s a quality recording. As good as any “non-special effects� Dolby Digital DVD’s I’ve heard. There aren’t a huge amount of surround effects, however all effects are spot on. They come at the right times, and are mixed and focused exceptionally well.

All the dialogue sounds particularly natural. The score isn’t particular noticeable, however each song in the film sounds great. “Candy Girl�, is a particular highlight. Subwoofer usage is a surprise, quite a fair bit of .1 here, and all of it is nice and precise.

I would have liked some more extras. What is there is presented well enough, they could have been 16x9 enhanced and DD 5.1, like the man feature. There is a trailer, which is great, but may reveal a little too much of the movie for those who haven’t seen it yet, and the cast interviews are a little disappointing. Most interviews like this don’t go for long enough to get a real insight into the stars, movie or characters, and often confirm to the viewers facts that are already well known after viewing the movie. The other extra are Bios, which seems like is directly fed from The Internet Movie Database.

It was also very nice to have a Dolby Digital trailer at the start of the disc, and here it’s the classic train. For me, they always set the mood, and reminding me of my University days, were the train featured at almost all Uni-Movies screenings. With lots of sarcastic applause from the crowd.

This movie sparked quite a lot of controversy when it was released. For reasons unknown to me. I was raised a catholic just like the director. This is meant to be a comedy, I didn’t find anything really offensive at all. Due to the controversy, mainly from people who hadn’t even seen the movie, Kevin Smith added a disclaimer at the start of the film, which itself is quite humorous. It is full of rough language, and a fair bit of violence, but nothing out of the ordinary from so many of today’s movies. The disc is a good example of what DVD’s should be. Great video, great audio, and a few extras. Some more extras and higher quality would have been better, but this isn’t going to win an Oscar, so I guess we miss out here.

The movie is enjoyable, and if you like it, and haven’t seen Kevin Smiths other work, I really suggest you do so. Jay and Silent Bob, are two of the funniest characters ever to appear on film. Some of their lines are absolute classics. They feature here, however not enough. I was expecting a more significant role for them. Kevin’s next movie seems like it will be full of Jay and Silent Bob. I’m going to look forward to that one, however I will try to keep my expectations low, which is the mistake I made with Dogma. It’s a good movie. It is entertaining, and clever enough. But just not quite up to Kevin Smith’s surprisingly high standard.