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Dom Robinson reviews

Plunkett and Macleane

they rob the rich...and that's it.

Distributed by

Cat.no: 058 684 2
Cert: 15
Running time: 97 minutes
Year: 1999
Pressing: 1999
Region(s): 2, 4 (UK PAL)
Chapters: 18 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English, Spanish, Italian
Subtitles: English, Spanish, Italian
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
16:9-enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 5
Price: £17.99
Extras : Scene index, Trailer, Booklet, Interviews, Behind the Scenes, Biographies, "The Real James Macleane"

Director:

Producer:

Tim Bevan, Eric F and Rupert Harvey

Screenplay:

Robert Wade, Neal Purvis and Charles McKeown

Music:

Craig Armstrong

Cast:

Plunkett: Robert Carlyle

Carla's Song, Face, The Full Monty, Priest, Riff Raff, Trainspotting, TV: Cracker, Go Now, Hamish MacBeth, Looking After Jo Jo

Macleane: Jonny Lee Miller

Afterglow, Hackers, Regeneration, Trainspotting

Thief Taker General Chance: Ken Stott

The Boxer, The Debt Collector, Fever Pitch, TV: Rhodes, The Vice

Lady Rebecca: Liv Tyler

Armageddon, Heavy, Inventing The Abbots, Stealing Beauty

Lord Rochester: Alan Cumming

Circle of Friends, Emma, Goldeneye, Prague, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, Second Best, Spiceworld: The Movie

Plunkett and Macleane marks the directorial debut of Brit Jake Scott, son of Ridley (Blade Runner, GI Jane, Alien). It's 1745 and thrown together by circumstances, two of the poor population, Plunkett (Robert Carlyle) and Macleane (Jonny Lee Miller), decide that the only way to attain any form of financial wealth is not to earn it, but to steal it. They are the "Gentlemen Highwaymen" that you're too scared to mention, they spend their cash on looking flash and grabbing your attention. Any puffed-up and bewigged aristocratic ponce covered in make-up are eligible to be on the receiving end of a shotgun up the nose.

Attempting to stop their practices, as well as of those who choose a similar vocation, is Thief Taker General Chance (Ken Stott) who frames our heroes for the forthcoming cold-blooded murder of Lord Gibson (Michael Gambon). There's a love interest for one of the highwaymen in the form of his niece, Lady Rebecca (Liv Tyler) and a likeable performance from Goldeneye's Alan Cumming as Lord Rochester.

Cameos are abound in this film including Shooting Stars's "The Man with the Scores - George Dawes" Matt Lucas as Sir Oswald, Gormenghast's Neve McIntosh and front-runners of the Armstrong and Miller Show, Alexander Armstrong, currently seen in BBC1's new Simon Nye sitcom Beast and Ben Miller, who isn't.

The picture quality is almost perfect most of the time but a number of scenes early on look a little hazy. The average bitrate is 5.56 Mb/s often peaking over 8Mb/s and it's also anamorphically-enhanced for widescreen televisions. Jake Scott copies his famous father in that he uses his preferred cinematic ratio of 2.35:1.

In keeping with the pairing of two actors from Trainspotting, Craig Armstrong's soundtrack is equally hip and, unusually but gratefully for a UK DVD with several languages, comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 flavours for English, Spanish and Italian. Throughout the film, be it in the soundtrack or through special effects, the speakers produce sounds that are alive and vibrant.

Extras :

Chapters :

There are the usual 18 chapters for a Universal DVD, so covering the film quite well over its 97 minutes (not the 101 stated on the cover) and the theatrical trailer is included as well.

Languages & Subtitles :

Three for three: English, Spanish and Italian in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound plus subtitles for the same.

And there's more... :

In the same three languages, the book provides cast Biographies on the main characters as well as a brief background to "The Real James Maclaine", born in 1724 and finally hanged on October 3rd, 1750. The Behind the scenes is four minutes in the life of the cast and crew as they made the film and the Interviews section is more of a typical featurette lasting six minutes and blending clips from the film with comments from main members of the film.

Menu :

Static and silent with a shot of the three leads and the standard options.

The problem with this film is that it appears to attempt to generate excitement given the pairing of two Trainspotters and its hip, techno soundtrack, but what's onscreen sadly couldn't be further from the truth. Director Jake Scott emulates his father's work well in that he knows how to compose the widescreen frame well with some impressive visuals, but also includes the periods that lull too long and the fun scenes don't draw the viewer in as they should.

Carlyle is fine as always, but Miller's character doesn't convince or work well in the partnership of the two leads. Once again, Liv Tyler proves the only things she can do is give a stark, vacant stare, have a famous father and needs to head off to acting school with Miller, but the worst travesty is that Ken Stott doesn't get nearly enough to do or enough scope to do it properly. Couple this with a stand-off of sorts between Carlyle and Stott that you can spot a mile off and a tremendously predictable film and the overall result is rather disappointing.

If you'd like more information on this film, check out the official Website at : http://www.robtherich.com

FILM	 		: *½
PICTURE QUALITY 	: ****
SOUND QUALITY		: *****
EXTRAS			: **½
-------------------------------
OVERALL			: ***

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.

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