Virgin Territory (2007/Anchor Bay DVD)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: C-     Film: C

 

 

In the years after Star Wars successes there was often a question asked, “What ever happened to Mark Hamill?”  That answer seems still highly unknown (he is a voiceover actor and has a hit comic book that has made him rich enough, we hear), but I have a feeling that same thing is about to happen to Hayden Christensen, especially if he keeps choosing roles like 2007’s Virgin Territory, which at best is a second rate romantic comedy dressed like a profound period piece that never works, hardly makes sense, and wastes more talent than a Cannonball film.  Of course what can you expect when you get a director like David Leland?  You know the guy who directed…uhh…well….uhhh.  Oh yeah that’s right he did the music video for Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down.

 

Since then, he’s been directing, writing, and acting in several forgettable bombs and unheard of films, this might end up his most forgettable.  It flew under the radar in 08 and with the popularity of Christensen waning like that of a toy light saber in desperate need of a few D batteries, it won’t be long before his directing career will be over.  Thank goodness.

 

The film shows early promise, but the dreadful script points us in a direction that ends up shallow and without a real payoff, unlike other period pieces that work like Quills, The Girl With the Pearl Earring, or The House of Mirth, instead we get a cheap knockoff of the film it’s “suppose” to be based off of, which is Italian director Pier Pablo Pasolini’s brilliant Il Decameron.  Instead of an honest period film, we get a costume party that even someone like Tim Roth couldn’t save, even if he showed up with Gary Oldman.

 

The technical specs don’t add up much difference with as we get the standards here as well, a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix that is super compressed and average as can be.  Despite liking Cinematographer Ben Davis’ work on Hannibal Rising, he leaves much to be desired here with a weak color palette and imagination, which is presented in a 1.85 X 1 anamorphic transfer and adds little life to an already tired art direction.  While the print is clean and clear, it’s also flat and has little character that even a HD transfer wouldn’t correct.

 

There are a few extras including a behind-the-scenes featurette and some small feature on the censored scenes in the film, even these can’t pump up the excitement, oh well.

 

 

-   Nate Goss