On DVD: Loaded

Directed By: Alan Pao

Starring:Jesse Metcalfe, Erin Gray, Johnny Messner, Corey Large, Vinnie Jones

Tristan Price (Jesse Mecalfe) has just turned twenty five and is about to graduate college and go on to law school. Instead after a rash of bad decisions he proves that wealth, the right connections and a little vigilante justice can get you out of just about anything.  

The Movie

In this loose reversal of The Count of Monte Cristo Tristan plays Mondago to Sebastian's (Corey Large) Tristan. The movie starts off with a flashback to a party where Tristan's girlfriend overdoses. Flashing forward five years Tristan is now celebrating his twenty fifth birthday about to graduate and move on to law school, apparently having paid no consequences for his earlier lifestyle other than having to put up with his overly protective father. As the party winds down his buddies drag him and his brother to a strip club where he meets an attractive stripper April (Nathalie Kelly). His brother manages to find out about an after party at a beach house that all of the strippers will be attending. At the party he meets the owner of the house Sebastian who remembers him from the old days. Tristan however has no memories of Sebastian.

Sebastian uses April to pull Tristan deeper and deeper into his world of drugs, dealers, and other assorted thugs and lowlifes. After some male bonding while whacking some of Sebastian's enemies up side the head with a toilet cover Sebastian pulls Tristan even deeper into his world. Tristan continues his series of bad decisions and ends up spiraling completely out of control. In the process alienating his family friends and fiancee.  When he seemingly can sink no lower his fiancee's father throws him a line and gives him an opportunity to  make all his problems go away. 

This isn't a bad movie it's just not that great. On the plus side it's filled with beautiful people, it's looks interesting, the acting's not bad even if Vinny Jones and Johnny Messner are under utilized. It's biggest flaw is that it's trying to pass itself off as an action movie when it's a melodrama. Anybody picking this up based on the copy on the cover is going to be horribly disappointed. If you watch it without any expectations you can give the plot holes a pass. The sometimes over the top editing usually works. The casting and acting is better than B movie par, but if your waiting for a car chase or the next gun fight your going to nit pick it to death.

6/10

The Video

The movie is presented in widescreen format and it looks great, the colors are bright, there's a lot of contrast and a lot of visible detail. I never noticed any jaggies or blooming or any other defects or artifacts for that matter.

8/10

The Audio

The audio is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo. There were some scenes where the mix was a little off and it was hard to hear the dialog. There's a couple of scenes I never could figure out exactly what the characters were saying. Exacerbating the problem was the fact the the only subtitles were in Spanish so the usual fix of backing up and turning on the subtitles didn't work. The score was serviceable, more hip hop than I like but that is what the story demanded. The other incidental music was like the casting and acting better than you would expect.

6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features

The DVD come in the standard DVD case. The cover art is a little goofy. Just a note to cover art artists, to pull off the two gun cowboy thing the firearms need to be identical. Holding a revolver in one hand and an automatic in the other, no matter how cool they may be individually, just looks goofy. The copy on the case could be for a different movie but I guess the figured action would sell better than melodrama and they are probably right. The extras are decent. There is a Behind the Scenes featurette, a Gag Reel, trailer and some previews.

7/10

This is the sort of thing I might pick up from the discount bin and be pleasantly surprised by. It would be a great bored out of your skull can't go to sleep at 2:00AM movie. I can't recommend it at full retail and don't buy it based on the cover copy but if you see it cheap pick it up.

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

The Review

The Movie 6/10

The Video 8/10

The Audio 6/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 7/10

Overall (Not an Average) 6/10

-Mike Young