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Dom Robinson reviews
Sanctuary Visual Entertainment
- Cert:
- Cat.no: SDE 4001
- Running time: 70 minutes
- Year: 2000
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): All, PAL
- Chapters: 12 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: 4 languages available
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: “Making of Shooters” featurette, Deleted Scenes, Director’sCommentary
Director:
- Dan Reed
(The Bubble, The Cape of Fear, The Fame Game, The Partners, Shooters, The Unlikely Lads, The Valley, The Zone)
Producer:
- Dan Reed
Screenplay:
- Dan Reed
Original Score:
- John Murphy and Daniel L. Griffiths
Cast:
- Big John: John Wayland
Ricky: Ricky Rowe
Dezzy: Dezzy Baylis
Scully: Christopher Scully
Franny: Franny Bennett
Stephen: Stephen Condon
Shakira: Shakira Jones
Big John’s ex: Cheryl Varley
Paul: Paul Attah
Shootersis a semi-improvised film shot in Liverpool by experimental director DanReed with a cast, none of whom had ever acted before, in a 70-minutedrama, peppered with strong language and euphemisms befitting the local area,about bouncer Big John (John Wayland) who gets in too deep when avisit paid to a rival gang-member goes wrong and he’s linked to the man’sdeath.
What follows is the interaction between John, his friends, particularlyRicky (Ricky Rowe) and Dezzy (Dezzy Baylis), his ex (CherylVarley), his daughter Shakira (Shakira Jones) and his go-ferStephen (Stephen Condon) who acts as the Liverpudlian equivalent ofBilly Mitchell.
However, while I’d read good things about this film and really wanted to likeit a lot, I found it just got too bogged down in itself and the languagewithin even though the inside of the DVD case explains what all the unfamiliarwords are when translated into words the rest of us use. Thus, the filmstarted to drag and I began to care less and less about what happened to thecharacters as the film drew to its eventually climax and those up to no goodfound out what happens when you go pissing in someone else’s pool and you’refresh out of chlorine.
“Don’t you dare call me Billy Mitchell again!”
The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and is anamorphicand looks very good indeed, reflecting the tense atmosphere. The print isclean and lacks any noticeable glitches.
The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is mainly used for dialogue and theoccasional burst of gunfire – which sounds a bit simplified, but what I didlike particularly was the memorable and haunting score played at the beginningand the end, as well as being dropped in during the film from time to time.The composer deserves an award for that one.
The extras on the disc consist of a “Making of Shooters” featurette,running for 18 minutes and containing chat with the director and many of thecast members about the intention for this to start as a documentary but thatit turned into the film it became.
The Deleted Scenes run for approximately 12 minutes, are not anamorphicbut contain an optional director’s commentary. Finally, there’s also afeature-length Director’s Commentary.
There’s only 12 chapters to the disc but it’s not a long film so that’s nota problem, there are subtitles in four languages – English, French, Spanishand German – and the menus contain movie clips in stilted black-and-white alongwith the aforementioned excellent musical score.
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.