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Dom Robinson reviews
Medusa
- Cert:
- Cat.no: MDV 377
- Running time: 89 minutes
- Year: 1992
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 16 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: None
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-enhanced: No
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £17.99
- Extras : Scene index, Trailer, Photo Gallery
Director:
- Geoffrey Wright
(Romper Stomper)
Producers:
- Daniel Scharf and Ian Pringle
Screenplay:
- Geoffrey Wright
Music:
- John Clifford White
Cast:
- Hando: Russell Crowe (Breaking Up, Gladiator, Heaven’s Burning, The Insider, L.A. Confidential, No Way Back, Proof, The Quick and the Dead, Romper Stomper, Virtuosity)
Davey: Daniel Pollock (Romper Stomper)
Gabe: Jacqueline McKenzie (Angel Baby, Deep Blue Sea, Romper Stomper, TV: Stark)
Martin: Alex Scott (Romper Stomper)
Romper Stompertells the tale of a gang of ruthless, violent Nazi skinheads fronted by Hando (RussellCrowe) and Davey (Daniel Pollock) and it follows them as they go about their dailybusiness terrorising anyone and everyone, particularly the ethnic minorities. However, anyonethat gets in their path when they’re not wanted is a target.
Hando’s not too keen on the fact that within the last few years, a part ofhis town has turned into ‘Gook’ Central. He and his cronies have their beefwith the Chinese community and it’s not ‘sweet and sour’. Deep Blue Sea
‘sJacqueline McKenzie turns up for the ride as epilepsy-sufferer Gabe,who becomes Hando’s girlfriend, although Davey develops an interest in her too.
Clean living, alcohol-free lager and pretty flowers – none of that can befound in this film that is packed full of bad language, extreme violence andbroken bones, but the Chinese are not going to takeit lightly.
When I first saw this film on video a few years ago, the picture was afullscreen version, often looking zoomed in with some cramped shots at timeswith people falling off the sides of the screen and it even lookedgeometrically-distorted a lot of the time, plus drop-outs in the print and ajump nearly 42 minutes in as the skinheads take over a warehouse but when Iheard of a DVD I thought we’d get a pristine anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreenedition….
…but we didn’t. It’s exactly the same 🙁
The average bitrate is 5.17Mb/s, hovering around that mark throughout the film.
The sound quality is passable. It’s a stereo soundtrack with a few surroundmoments but they’re few and far between and usually consist of screams aspeople get their heads kicked in.
Extras : Chapters :There are 16 chapters to the disc which is okay given the short length. Languages & Subtitles :English language only, in an Australian accent, but no subtitles whatsoeverapart from burnt-in ones to translate the Chinese dialogue. And there’s more… :There’s not too much in the way of extras, but there is an 18-strongPhoto Gallery made up of PR group shots and other shots fromthe film. The Theatrical Trailer is also included. Menu :A static and silent representation of the front cover in the main.
Overall, this is an absolutely fantastic film that deserves to be seen by everyone with astrong stomach but I’d only recommend a rental on this DVD, given that the picture is rathersuspect, the sound is nothing to write home about and the extras are scant.
However, you must see this film as Russell Crowe is one of the finest actors around,only making a name for himself more recently with L.A. Confidential, The Insider andGladiator, while Jacqueline McKenzie is an absolute doll and check out myDeep Blue Sea DVD reviewonline.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.