Mr. & Mrs. Smith
November 14, 2005
- Dan Ramer,
DVDFile.com
Mr.& Mrs. Smith is glamorous, kicky, high-
concept entertainment that remains largely on course thanks to
crackling good chemistry between stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Pitt and Jolie are big personalities and big celebrities, but at their
best, they have loose, frolicky instincts and they show them off here.
Pitt especially is good at the little ticks that make a character more
fun for us to watch (remember Ocean’s 11 and how in
every scene, he’s eating something?) and presumably more
interesting for him to play. In Smith (please don’t
make me type Mr. & Mrs. Smith every time - I’ll go
nuts), he plays John Smith, a deadly assassin working for a spy agency
run by Eddie (Vince Vaughn). John keeps his deadly vocation a secret
from his wife Jane (Jolie) who thinks her husband is a contractor.
However, Jane, unbeknownst to John, is not just a dutiful wife who
tends house and frets over the color of the new drapes. She’s
also a paid assassin working for a rival agency. As far as I could
tell, Jane’s competing outfit is comprised entirely of female
spies, as if the FemBots from Austin Powers were reprogrammed
to fight for the good guys.
We meet John and Jane Smith in
counseling, talking to an off-screen marriage therapist. John kinda
loves his wife, but “sometime I just wanna . . .” and he
gestures as if putting his hands around her neck. Neither can quite
remember the last time they had sex, nor how long they’ve been
married. Their secret lives are so exciting that the mundane routine
of a marriage is deadening by comparison. When John and Jane are
unknowingly assigned to take out the same target, they begin to
suspect the other is a spy. When their suspicions are confirmed,
they’re assigned to kill each other, which leads to lots of
wink-wink double entendres. When John and Jane throw down their
weapons and just pummel the crap out of each other, Liman’s use
of the song “Express Yourself” is a groaner, but damn if
it doesn’t make you smile. The film is in love with this central
idea, that a husband and wife really trying to murder each other
ain’t far removed from how most married couples act anyway. Some
days, you look at the person across the bed and think, “I love
that person,” other days you think “I hate that
person,” and still others you think, “I don’t know
that person.” Smith takes this ball and runs it into
the end zone, then keeps running through the locker room and out into
the parking lot. It gets a lot of mileage out of the concept, even if
it’s gasping for air by the end.
The movie is good,
but isn’t perfect. Writer-du-jour Simon Kinberg (Fantastic
Four and XXX: State of the Union, two scripts that
won’t be taught in screenwriting class) needs to attend
Screenwriter Finishing School. He has never shown more than a
rudimentary sense of humor or plotting. Here, he leaves us with the
feeling that a better screenplay would have better fulfilled the
premise’s potential and we wouldn’t have to rely so much
on Pitt and Jolie to power it home. No surprise then, that Kinberg
wrote Smith as a master’s thesis project at Columbia
(if it’s that easy, maybe the student who made a periscope out
of milk cartons can captain a nuclear sub).
The
Vince Vaughn character bugged me; there is something opaque about that
guy. He’s always the hip little quipster operating above the
movie, doing his Vince Vaughn thing. And while a paid assassin living
with his mother sounds great for a full-blown spy spoof, it’s
too silly for this film. Also, at two hours, Kinberg can’t quite
find enough for the characters to do; their journey is logically over
about ten minutes before the film decides to end. I could go on to
mention the lameness of the villain (Adam Brody), but why take such an
easy shot? What Kinberg’s script lacks, Liman’s direction
makes up for. John Woo, who was briefly attached to the movie, would
be proud of the flying bullets and debris (although he may be
disappointed at the lack of doves and Christ figures). Liman makes it
work because he keeps us at the appropriate distance: silly enough to
not take seriously, but serious enough to keep it out of cartoon
territory. It’s a dance and he performs it well. The movie has
an almost old-fashioned feel, as if Tracy and Hepburn had strapped on
rifles and started firing. Except Tracy and Heburn are replaced by the
very modern Pitt and Jolie. While Pitt is not a great actor,
he’s a fun actor and he’s more interesting to watch than
people give him credit for. As for Jolie, enough with the English
accent, enough with Lara Croft. Thank the stars, here she stuffs her
affectations in the drawer in favor of sophisticated glamour and
feminist-embracing toughness. Combine the two and she’s as
appealing and beautiful as she’s ever been on screen.
Although plausibility is not the film’s strong suit, the movie
is too busy to let us stop and wonder about it. We’re here for
two hours of light humor and heavy firepower featuring two glistening
superstars. For Pitt, Jolie and Liman, Mr. & Mrs. Smith
is Mission: Possible, a film that, when hitting on all cylinders, is
irresistible fun.
The Video: How Does The Disc
Look?
For review purposes, Fox did not send the
final release product. Instead, they sent a DVD with the words
“Property of 20th Century Fox Publicity Dept.” plastered
on the bottom of the frame for the entire length of the movie. Given
that caveat, and my inability to guarantee that the commercial release
will look the same, what does the 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer look
like? Pretty damn nice is the answer. This is a rich, deep-looking
picture with above average detail and sharpness. Colors show a nice
depth and liveliness and the palette is a combination of natural and
stylized hues. Much of the film takes place in dimly lit interiors and
at night. Luckily, black levels are strong and shadow detail is
excellent. Contrast is also above average and flesh tones stay
realistic. The print is spotless. I did catch some minor edge halos,
but it hardly affected my overall impression. In all, a fresh and
enjoyable effort from Fox.
The Audio: How Does The
Disc Sound?
Audio fans rejoice. Fox has generously
included a DTS 5.1 track along with a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Both
share many attributes, mainly a heavy and dynamic feel that gives heft
and fullness to the experience. There is activity everywhere,
especially and not surprisingly during the action scenes. I was
literally startled when a rocket flew from the surrounds, past my left
ear, to the left side speaker. Suffice it to say, all channels are
engaged at one time or another and often at the same time. The
directional effects were smooth and the panning from side to side was
also handled with aplomb. Highs were tight, with no shrillness. As for
the lows, prepare your downstairs neighbors, because the subwoofer
action is tight and epic. The songs in the soundtrack were punchy,
while the score itself seemed confined, but generally sounded nice.
Dialogue is clear and distinct no matter what mayhem is happening
around the characters. The difference between the Dolby and the
DTS is almost negligible; Dolby wears its separation on its sleeve
more than the DTS, which is a tad smoother. Still, those with just a
Dolby setup will be more than satisfied.
There are also a
French and Spanish Dolby Surround 2.0 mixes, and English and Spanish
subtitles.
Supplements: What Goodies Are
There?
The extras on offer aren’t bad, but I
was expecting more. Had this been a Ridley Scott film, we would have
gotten the kind of supplements I was hoping for. It doesn’t make
the film a less worthy rental, but it does make it a less worthy
purchase.
There are three audio
commentaries, which add up to about two commentaries worth of
solid information. The first is by director Doug Liman and
screenwriter Simon Kinberg. Liman says they shot the suburban New York
scenes in Pasadena, CA. He also says that Pitt was very willing to be
clumsy and goofy, which served to make a macho character more real. It
was tough for everyone, especially the marketing people, to decide
what genre of film this was and only when it was labeled a romantic
comedy, as opposed to an action movie or a thriller, did all pieces of
the studio machine begin moving in the same direction. To his credit,
Kinberg is generous in pointing out and praising the unscripted
moments that the actors brought to a scene. Since there’s no
Pitt/Jolie commentary, this commentary is the one to check out.
The second commentary is by producers Lucas Foster and Akiva
Goldsman. These guys get into production and financing issues, which
can make the effort too focused on minutiae, but there’s good
stuff to glean. It’s also fun to hear about budget compromises,
since the sky sure seemed like the limit. They even admit stealing a
helicopter shot from Clear and Present Danger and
manipulating it so you’d never know.
The third and
least successful commentary is by editor Michael Tronick, production
designer Jeff Mann, and visual effects supervisor Kevin Elam. They all
focus on their specific areas of expertise and much of what they say
overlaps with the other commentaries. Plus, there’s too much
dead air. However, the commentary does make you appreciate the
contributions of the trio, who perform jobs that usually go
unappreciated.
The eight-minute Making a Scene
featurette originally aired on the Fox Movie Channel.
It takes us into the filming of the stunt where Jane hits John with
her car. Doug Liman, producer Akiva Goldsman, writer Simon Kinberg,
and Angelina Jolie discuss the stunt from all stages of production.
There’s some on-set footage that represents the only behind-the-
scene material on the entire DVD. This is fine stuff, but it only
highlights how little effort was put into making this big theatrical
release a big DVD release.
Next are a measly three
deleted scenes, which add up to about nine minutes. The first
is a rant by the Eddie character played by Vince Vaughn. Vaughn is
good at these rants, but I felt he was about to break into the
Swingers routine of rooting for the PG-13 guy. Cute, but too
“look at me doing my comedic ranting thing.” The second
scene has Jane’s female spies combing the Smith home. I’m
glad they took this out, because it points to the unbelievability of a
spy agency populated solely by incredibly smokin’ hot girls. But
at least now I know what Victoria’s Secret is. The final scene
is an extension of the climatic shootout, which was long enough as is.
Lastly, there is a Smith teaser
and trailer, a soundtrack spot and a
promo for Family Guy: Stewie Griffin: The Untold
Story.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes it’s nice to put aside all pretense of art and just
watch two of Hollywood’s most glamorous stars pummel the crap
out of each other. In Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Brad Pitt and
Angelina Jolie have great chemistry and director Doug Liman’s
direction is both old-fashioned and new fangled. The transfer and
audio are well above average, while the extras are good, if not
outstanding. As a Saturday night rental, it’s a guaranteed
winner.
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