In an effort to get caught up with the massive backlog of DVDs and DVD-Rs stacking up in a silently mocking fashion in the office and on the shelves downstairs, I am attempting to start watching these things at a more accelerated pace (say, more than one every few weeks) for as long as is feasible and writing about the ones I feel are worth passing along. Perhaps this way I'll keep myself writing and hopefully lose this nagging feeling that I am unwittingly turning this condominium into a museum full of pretty silver discs. I'll also try to keep the spoilers to a minimum. Promise.
Trancers falls into that low-budget 80s sci-fi subgenre inhabited by such peers as The Terminator and Wavelength in that all of these films seem to be set in the shadier areas of Los Angeles after dark, all of them feature score music almost exclusively provided by "futuristic" synthesizers and whose characters live in neon-lit, austere living spaces that look like they were previously used in a Missing Persons video.
While it starts off wobbly establishing the 23rd century world where we first meet Jack Deth, Trancers gets into motion the instant Deth is sent "down the line" to 1985 in what plays almost exactly like an R-rated episode of Quantum Leap. Thomerson is tough as nails and impossible not to like, as is a pre-stardom Helen Hunt who plays his 20th century love interest. A complete treat, and a joy to rediscover again all these years later.
That said, I must pass along a buyer beware on the DVD edition, which seems to follow the same low-budget chic as the original feature, but with a few even cheaper quirks: I'd swear this was transferred straight from VHS. The website linked off the main menu doesn't appear to exist anymore. There is a also TRAILERS option on the main menu that when accessed tells you that over 40 trailers are available to view the moment you flip the disc over. Problem is, the other side of the DVD is coated in artwork and, of course, has nothing on it. How can I not smile at such lame authoring technique?
On the other extreme of the budget scale from Trancers sits what is, in my humble opinion, one of the all-time greats of any genre: Ridley Scott's bleakly futuristic film noir epic Blade Runner.
Trancers falls into that low-budget 80s sci-fi subgenre inhabited by such peers as The Terminator and Wavelength in that all of these films seem to be set in the shadier areas of Los Angeles after dark, all of them feature score music almost exclusively provided by "futuristic" synthesizers and whose characters live in neon-lit, austere living spaces that look like they were previously used in a Missing Persons video.
While it starts off wobbly establishing the 23rd century world where we first meet Jack Deth, Trancers gets into motion the instant Deth is sent "down the line" to 1985 in what plays almost exactly like an R-rated episode of Quantum Leap. Thomerson is tough as nails and impossible not to like, as is a pre-stardom Helen Hunt who plays his 20th century love interest. A complete treat, and a joy to rediscover again all these years later.
That said, I must pass along a buyer beware on the DVD edition, which seems to follow the same low-budget chic as the original feature, but with a few even cheaper quirks: I'd swear this was transferred straight from VHS. The website linked off the main menu doesn't appear to exist anymore. There is a also TRAILERS option on the main menu that when accessed tells you that over 40 trailers are available to view the moment you flip the disc over. Problem is, the other side of the DVD is coated in artwork and, of course, has nothing on it. How can I not smile at such lame authoring technique?
On the other extreme of the budget scale from Trancers sits what is, in my humble opinion, one of the all-time greats of any genre: Ridley Scott's bleakly futuristic film noir epic Blade Runner.
No comments:
Post a Comment