Finishing The Game (2007/Genius/IFC DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Film: D
Wanna see
what a bad installment in the Tarantino/Rodriguez Grindhouse concept would look like, look no further than Justin
Lin’s awful Finishing The Game (2007)
which in an almost disrespectful and insulting way, imagines a greedy company
finishing a film that the late Bruce Lee only finished ten minutes of. Lin co-wrote this mess and after cursing us
with The Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) and its horrid influence al the way to the
recent Speed Racer revival, his
bankruptcy of ideas and endless attempts as hipness that fail continue like a
sickness that will not go away.
Lee is
not noted on the cover, but is talked about all through the film and the actor
replacing him makes jokes about being mistaken for him all the time, but it is
never funny and epitomizes how unfunny and empty the long, dragging 84 minutes
is. The cast of mostly unknowns seem
clueless on how to act or what to do, except that they do act like they are
being “funny” when they seem to realize they are never funny at all. This is not even a good enough idea for a Mad TV skit, let alone a feature film
and should be highly avoided.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image has two version of looking faded. One is a very bad imitation of 1970s film
stocks, which is really more like poorer still photography from amateur
consumers than actual filmmaking, while the more annoying “real” movie footage
is even paler with “scratches” added that never look real. The second degree fades also look fake
because like the first series, they are too consistent! The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is also weak and
poorly recorded, sometimes intentionally to sound like old monophonic sound,
but the attempt is so inept that it too is another embarrassment. Extras include on set mayhem, a Music Video,
deleted scenes with optional commentary and an audio commentary track composer
Brian Tyler, co-writer Josh Diamond and co-writer/director Lin.
- Nicholas Sheffo
