More about this DVD  •  DVD Info  •  Movie Main Page  •  Message Board

My buddy Ryan and I make a good movie-watching team because, in addition to having similar tastes in pictures, when we splinter off into our own film-appreciation modes we cover most of the spectrum in the process. I’m that weirdo who can watch early Ingmar Bergman films on a Wednesday night for the sheer pleasure of it (how many of you guys feel me on this one?) and Ryan is exceptionally good about keeping up with modern cinema – especially horror movies.

And when I told him I had Thr3e to watch, there was initial intrigue on Ryan’s part because the cover art, featuring a distorted scream in the darkness, was enough to make the picture look like a new creepy-crawly fright fest. I steal some of Ryan’s beer and we let the screaming start; we know the drill.

But what I didn’t realize until the day of our Thr3e viewing was that the film was no Saw-esque grossout: It was a Christian thriller. Fox has started a distribution arm entitled ‘Fox Faith’, and Thr3e is its first release. Yes, there is murder, terrorism, bomb scares, threatening phone calls, obsessive murderers and psycho-terror crises, but (as ironic as it may seem given the preceding description) it turns out it all grows out of Thr3e’s philosophically religious sensibilities. Yet despite this lofty basis, Ryan and I came to a startling and eye-rolling conclusion (cover your ears for this one, Jesus): Thr3e sucks.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate any kind of newness and aesthetic invention in cinema. I think the idea of having faith-based films on the market is an exceptional one: just the idea of having counter-programming to the typical guns, tits and torture-based murder that usually plays at the multiplex is a welcome one. I have no love for Mel Gibson’s Jesus movie (personal preference), but I say bring on Fox Faith, with one small caveat: Make the movies better than this.

Thr3e has a plot: we start with a detective’s brother being blown up in a grisly serial-killer-designed scenario (she actually stands there and watches big brother get blow’d up – good thing we have that religious-based filmmaking ethos in the marketplace, huh?). We then follow the detective as a lonely and more-than-a-little-pouty seminary student (Marc Blucas) becomes the next target for the killer. Can the detective save the poor guy, or is she really what the killer’s after?

It’s BAD. Truth be told, Ryan and I watched about ten minutes of it and then I had to finish it at home a few days later. Anything that wasn’t wholly derivative (think of Thr3e as a more user-friendly, PG-13 rated Seven) was downright dull, and when your movie starts with a car EXPLODING and the woman standing less than two feet away from it walking away with minor hand injuries, you’re screwed.

I would end this review with the acknowledgement that just because I’m not the desired audience for a film like Thr3e doesn’t necessarily mean that the film doesn’t do what it aims to do (though the film did tank at the box office). Maybe all the folks who wanted to see it in theatres but never got around to it are waiting for this DVD release. But I suspect that this first Fox Faith release is a stinker.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

This 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer afforded to Thr3e isn’t great. Color accuracy is subdued and inconsistent, fine detail quality is sub-par and black levels are thin and on the grey side of things. The transfer print is free of dirt and blemish, but for a fancy-looking (and new) movie like this one, I was expecting more.

A 1.33:1 transfer is located on the flipside of the disc (perhaps the decision to make a dual-sided disc for dual-aspect ratio didn’t provide enough bit-space to properly compress the image. But regardless of the reason, it wasn’t up to par).

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround mix on this Thr3e DVD is downright disappointing. Big, loud set pieces are bombastic and tinny (as aggressive as the front channels sound, surrounds are sporadically utilized). Dialogue sounds okay, but sounds somewhat thin and is presented without any flair or pizzazz. As Thr3e’s sound design stands, this sound more like a 2-channel stereo mix.

Also included are English and Spanish subtitles and English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

All we get is the film’s trailer.

Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?

There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.