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Dom Robinson reviews
Palm Pictures
- Cert:
- Cat.no: PALM 3023-2
- Running time: 98 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 (US, NTSC)
- Chapters: 18 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English, Spanish
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-enhanced: No
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £15.99
- Extras : Scene index, Trailers, Weblinks, Behind the Scenesfeaturette, Soundtrack highlights
Director:
- Christopher Browne
Producer:
- Carolyn Pfeiffer Bradshaw
Screenplay:
- Suzanne Fenn, Christopher Browne and Chris Salewicz
Music:
- Wally Baradou and Sly & Robbie
Cast:
- Capone: Paul Campbell
Reverend: Lloyd Reckord
Security guard: Glen Campbell
Marble kid: Daniel Ellis
Deportee: Desmond Ballentine
Floyd: Winston ‘Bello’ Bell
One Hand: Carl Bradshaw
Capone: Paul Campbell
Ratty: Mark Danvers
Accused: Calvin Mitchell
Rita: Audrey Reid
Not Nice: Lenford Salmon
Third World Copsees a return to his hometown of Dungle in Kingston, Jamaica for maverick cop Capone(Paul Campbell). Without backup he’s not afraid to go running into a situationwith all guns blazing, shooting now and asking questions later.
Gun-running is the trade doing the rounds and the shipments are coming in barrelsdestined for the church from abroad. Capone’s task is to track down the Don andeliminate him since the standard police are completely inept at tracking the enemy,but his problem is that the Don’s right-hand man is Ratty (MarkDanvers), Capone’s best friend before he transferred out of Kingston, whichwill lead to the obvious friend-vs-friend finale.
Lily Savage has nothing to worry about when Capone goes undercover in drug at one point.
The cast includesDancehall Queen‘s’dancehall queen’ Audrey Reid as the love interest, Mark Danvers and its bad guyPaul Campbell. The latter is one of the few who can actuallyact, while the rest behave like rejects from the Eldorado School OfActing.
Presented in a fullscreen 4:3 ratio, the print looks very good indeed. Free of artifacts and verycolourful, even for scenes that you wouldn’t expect to look so good, it’s only failing isthe occasional ‘processed’ look, like when something is shot on video but treated to looklike film. I presume this was shot on film, but that’s just the effect it gives. This may bebecause I’m watching an NTSC disc, although a PAL version is available in the UK.The average bitrate is a so-so 5.16Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 7Mb/s.
The sound is a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, which comes alive when the reggae music boomsout, particularly with Sly & Robbie‘s music, but in other scenes gunfire is a simpleaffair and dialogue alone won’t task your speakers.
Extras : Chapters :There are 18 chapters on the disc over the 98 minutes, which isn’t bad, but I never sayno to more. Languages & Subtitles :All the dialogue is in English and thankfully there are subtitles (in Englishand Soanish). This is necessary as the Jamaican accents are incredibly strongand I can’t always make out what they’re saying, even though you can stillfollow the basic plot, such that it is. And there’s more… :The trailers included are a theatrical trailer, plus three trailers forother Palm Pictures – Dancehall Queen, Thicker Than Waterand Mandela: Son of Africa, Father of a Nation, plus an additional shortof Lauryn Hill, from one of the worst bands ever, The Fugees, warningus against drugs. Hey, they’re bad kids!
The Behind the scenes featurette is the standard fare of cast/crew interviewson location and lasts 11 minutes. The Weblinks section requires a DVD-ROMdrive and links to a number of sites including PalmPictures.com
Finally, there’s a Soundtrack selection of clips from the film including Sly& Robbie.
Menu :The menus are subtley animated with clips from the soundtrack over them.
Overall, this isn’t the most original film you’ll ever see and it all turns out verypredictable – especially when almost everyone dies from one gunshot, but the direction iscompetent and the back cover proclaims it’s the highest grossing film ever in Jamaica.I can think of worse ways to spend 100 minutes, but it’s not a film I’ll beclamouring to see again.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALLFor more information, please visitPalmPictures.com
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.