Walk The Line – Extended Cut (Two-Disc DVD-Video/20th Century Fox)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: B Film: B
Though it
followed Ray a year later, James
Mangold’s Walk The Line (2005) was
still a hit that landed Academy Awards and did justice to the tale of Johnny
Cash in a go-for-broke performance by Joaquin Phoenix. Both are the story of legendary music
performers, groundbreakers and innovators who had a tough life growing up in
poverty, had guilt complexes, drug addictions and made comebacks before their
death.
The new
longer version is smoother and less choppy, bringing to life a singer the likes
of which (playing for people down and out, criticizing poverty, being religious
without shoving it down anyone’s throat) we will never see again. Everyone is very good here, but when Phoenix
becomes the singer Cash, he is amazing and it is one of those performances that
almost becomes haunting. Not a fan of
Reese Witherspoon, I found her June Carter Cash to be a breakthrough and
tougher since she was quieter in real life.
The only
other shortcoming with the film is that the way the songs are introduced are
awkward at times and some false notes also result throughout. They are minor, but there. The good news is that the longer cut has a
flow that helps to overcome that makes one feel like the real cut was hidden
because the studio was concerned about similarities to Ray. However, in a few
years, that shadow will dissipate and this film will be seen as one of the
better biopics despite not being able to escape some of the Hollywood
conventions.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image has its softness and detail issues, but
looks good more often than not, though it is too bad a Blu-ray was not issued
at the same time, though Fox may have had counter-releasing against the silly Walk Hard, a partial spoof which ram
out of ideas early and threw in everything else it could. I will say that Director of Photography
Phedon Papamichael, A.S.C., delivered richer images than you might remember. The DTS 5.1 mix is a nice bonus, sounding
great and superior to the Dolby Digital tracks here. It especially pays off on the songs,
reminding one that Cash’s recordings have had limited high-fidelity digital
format (Super Audio CD, for instance) release.
The combination is nice, so the Blu=ray should be even more impressive
when it arrives.
Extras
are split between the two DVDs. DVD One
includes the Extended Cut at 153 minutes and an audio commentary by Mangold while
DVD Two adds 8 Extended Musical Sequences, deleted scenes dubbed More Men in Black, the theatrical
trailer and the following featurettes Becoming
Cash/Becoming Carter, Sun Records
& The Johnny Cash Sound, The Cash
Legacy, Folsom: Cash & The
Comeback, Ring Of Fire: The Passion
of Johnny & June, Cash & and His
Faith and Celebrating The Man In
Black: The Making Of Walk The Line.
Can’t
wait for the Blu-ray, but this DVD set will do until then.
- Nicholas Sheffo
