CRASH: Blu-ray (Lion's Gate Films 2005) Maple Home Video

Not entirely certain what director, Paul Haggis is going for in Crash (2004). Its action plays a little like Martin Scorsese meets Robert Altman, interpolating acts of violence within its interwoven and overlapping story lines - all serving one fundamental theme: the purity of the human spirit, its inevitable taint from the outside world, and, its partial recovery from learned prejudices. Yes, it could definitely have been an Altman film…if only the script and the characters had something more meaningful to say. But Crash is a cliche unto itself, a heavy-handed 'message picture' whose own moral ambiguity deals superficially with themes of drug abuse and racism, disastrously disinterested in exploring either fully, but mashing such topical hot spots together for a rather briefly critiqued and dully explored dead end of shock and drama. Set in present-day Los Angeles – Police Det. Graham Water’s (Don Cheadle) family tree provides the flimsiest cohesion between these various narrative threads in the screenplay cobbled together by Haggis and Bobby Moresco. At times, Crash can do more than merely aspire to be a sobering reflection on racism, harbored under false pretenses, as when interpreted from an underlying collective mistrust between the various social classes that make up American society, but are generally dictated to by a common fear.

That fear begins for D.A. Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser) and his wife, Jean (Sandra Bullock) when their SUV is taken at gunpoint by carjackers, Anthony (Ludacris) and, Graham’s younger brother, Lucien (Dato Bakhtadze) – good-natured bad boys, destined to meet with an untimely end. On route from their latest heist, the boys accidentally run-down Park (Daniel Day Kim), a night worker whose laundry truck is stocked full of illegally smuggled Chinese refugees. Anthony and Lucien decide to save Park’s life by dumping his barely conscious body at the local hospital – unaware of the cargo they are toting. Once safely at home, Jean freaks out about getting the locks changed on all their doors, employing her own misguided racial profiling to convince Rick that locksmith, Daniel (Michael Pena) will sell one of their master keys to thieves, just because he is Hispanic. Responding to an APB on the Cabot’s stolen vehicle, Police Officers John Ryan (Matt Dillon) and Tom Handsen (Ryan Phillippe) pull over a similar vehicle carrying upscale married couple, Cameron (Terrence Howard) and Christine Thayer (Thandi Newton). Ryan’s prejudice toward blacks in general cause him to overreact to the situation. He terrorizes the couple, physically assaulting Cameron and sexually abusing his wife before letting them off with ‘a warning.’

Shaken and disgusted by the incident, Handsen attempts to apply for a transfer; a request, denied by Lt. Dixon (Keith David). The narrative next picks up Daniel, who has been called in the middle of the night to fix the lock of a local Persian merchant, Farhad (Shaun Toub). Farhad’s daughter, Dorri (Bahar Soomekh) has bought him a gun as a precaution against intruders. However, owing to Farhad’s rather hot-headed temper, Dorri has also loaded the weapon with blanks – foresight that will figure prominently later on. There is a lot more to each of these lives, best left unsaid for the first-time viewer to discover. But Crash, despite its fluid and evolving story lines – begins to unravel into a sort of gritty HBO soap opera as the various characters come in contact with each other to form a less-than-compelling, singular ball of tension. Like Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, the Haggis/Moresco screenplay provides mere snapshots at varying intervals before moving in all sorts of directions, only to return and pick up each thread later on. Yet, on the whole the resolution to many of these threads proves a little ‘too kismet’ – becoming inbred in its contrivances and conveniences, and, as such, more than a little too predictable. However hard they try, these characters cannot seem to get away from one another. Praised for its frank and hard-hitting honesty, its bold critique of bigotry and racism, Crash is indeed an interesting exercise – or perhaps, ‘lesson’ is a more fitting descriptor. But as pure entertainment, it does tend to be rather short-sighted.

Maple Home Video’s Blu-ray exhibits exemplary mastering. The stylized visual elements are razor sharp. Contrast levels are blown out, as intended. Blacks are jet black. Whites are often blooming – again, as intended. The grain structure varies throughout but is well preserved in 1080p. On the whole, the visual quality of this disc will not disappoint. The audio is 5.1 DTS and delivers an aggressive sonic characteristic. Extras include an ‘introduction’, an audio commentary by Haggis, several interesting deleted scenes – with or without director’s commentary; several additional featurettes on the making of the film; a music montage and storyboard and script to screen comparisons.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

3

VIDEO/AUDIO

4.5

EXTRAS

3.5