Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

If "Eat Drink Man Woman" was the language used by Arnold Schwarzenegger to ask Maria Shriver on their first date, then "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was the result. OK, bad joke out of the way, "Kiss kISS bAng banG" (to get the trendy capitalization right) is actually one of those quirky dark comedies edging toward ultraviolence, in the vein of "Pulp Fiction," and "True Romance," although perhaps owing more to the works of Elmore Leonard ("Get Shorty," "Be Cool"). And though it is similar to films that have preceded it, I would stop short at calling the film "derivative."

The film, adapted for the screen and directed by "Lethal Weapon" screenwriter Shane Black, defies categorical pigeon-holing with interesting characters (such as "Gay Perry" - a gay private investigator played by Val Kilmer) and unique elements such as a self-aware, though not overtly self-conscious narration by our protagonist (Robert Downey, Jr.). It's a satirical, suspenseful, buddy-action-comedy-romance-film-noir. A genre-buster? You bet!

Featuring pitch-perfect performances by Mr. Downey, as Harry Lockhart - a petty criminal turned potential Hollywood star who teams up with Gay Perry for some P.I. lessons - and newcomer Michelle Monaghan as Harmony Faith Lane - a struggling actress who may or may not be Lockhart's soul-mate - KKBB will take you on a fun, if far-fetched, romp through Hollywood's dark side. Inevitably "reel life" meets real life, wacky antics ensue and the body count increases, despite (and sometimes because of) our hapless trio's best intentions. Check your disbelief at the door and enjoy the ride.

The Picture

As with earlier Warner releases on HD-DVD, the picture quality of the 1080p widescreen HD transfer is top-notch, with excellent detail, nice color resolution and excellent rendition of shadows and darkly lit scenes. Although, this disc is one of Warner's "combo" releases with HD-DVD on one side, and standard DVD on the other (which means it can only use a single 15 GB layer for storage on the HD-DVD side), I was hard-pressed to note any digital nasties or artifacts in the video transfer. Even the standard 480p DVD presentation of the film on side B presented the image well, if lacking in resolution and in overall image depth. But those who buy this HD-DVD combo disc will probably be watching the HD-DVD side, at least on their big screens, and it's sure not to disappoint.

Both sides are presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.4:1, so, unless you have a fancy anamorphic lens front projection system with variable screen configuration, you will see black letterbox bars, even on a 16:9 widescreen HDTV. But hey, you get to see the entire picture the way the director intended it, and isn't that the point?

The Sound

For a low budget film ($15 Million, estimated), the soundtrack and sound-mixing is quite well done, with a believable sense of space and three dimensionality, as well as excellent dynamics and clear dialog. And these details come through clearly in the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 sound mix on the HD-DVD. For once, I did not find myself lunging for the remote to quickly turn down the volume, or rewinding the movie and turning the volume up to catch missed dialog.

Also, the score sets the tone and mood of the various scenes well, and the eclectic mix of music on the soundtrack reinforces the on-screen action in subtle (and sometimes no-so-subtle) ways. Case in point: the "I Will Survive" ring-tone playing on one of the main character's cell phones toward the film's conclusion, when things are not looking so good for the film's protagonists. I also enjoyed the song playing over the closing credits, "Broken," which, it turns out, was written and performed by none other than the multi-talented Robert Downey, Jr. himself.

The Extras

Except for a bonus theatrical trailer for KKBB producer Joel Silver's "V for Vendetta," which is only found on the standard DVD side of the disc, the extras are the same on both sides - a trailer for the film, a not-so-special "gag reel," and a full length running commentary of the film which features Mr. Downey, Mr. Kilmer and Mr. Black. The commentary track varies from self-indulgent to laugh-out-loud funny, with the director and stars poking fun at themselves, and occasionally doling out kudos for fellow actors and crew.

Mr. Black seems quite pleased (rightly so) with the final result of his limited budget, and the two male leads obviously had fun making it. Kilmer ad-libs a "name-dropping" contest where he promises a "fabulous prize" to the first fan to correctly count the number of famous people whose names he drops during the commentary. But a visit to ValKilmer.com makes it clear that there is no such contest, and that Mr. Kilmer was "just joking." Even so, the commentary track is quite entertaining and educational, and well worth the price of admission.

Warner's other extra on the HD-DVD (as on previous Warner HD-DVD titles) is their exploitation of the "zoom" feature. This feature, enabled by the HD-DVD format itself, allows you to zoom in on particular parts of the picture and pan around the image. Unfortunately the feature, or its implementation, still seems a little unfinished as it is impossible to zoom or pan on a fixed portion of a still image. Any time you hit the "zoom" or "pan" buttons, it advances the film several frames, and any time you hit "rewind" or "fast forward" it takes the player out of zoom mode entirely. So it's an interesting feature when you want to study specific parts of the film frame, but using it can be a bit frustrating.

Final Thoughts

Once again, Warner comes through with a high-quality audio and video transfer in this HD-DVD/DVD combo release of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." Unlike "16 Blocks," where the extras were available only on the DVD side (necessitating a manual side change in order to view them), Warner wisely included the extras on the HD-DVD side as well, albeit in standard definition. So us movie-loving couch potatoes won't have to get off our lazy butts to enjoy the extras.

It is worth noting that the first time I tried to play the disc, it froze approximately 12 minutes into the film and the player became unresponsive. To recover, I had to "reboot" the player (unplug power cord and plug it back in) and eject the disc. I cleaned the disc radially using a cotton cloth (actually a clean white T-shirt) and noted what appeared to be a very thin residue that came off with the cleaning. After this cleaning, the disc played back perfectly with no further errors. This is not the first time I have experienced this kind of behavior on an HD-DVD and it is not limited to titles from a particular studio. Chalk it up to one of the idiosyncracies of a new format, and move on.

The film "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" itself did not do particularly well in the box office, perhaps due to low promotion by the studio (it opened in the U.S. on just 8 screens), but this HD-DVD release will allow those who missed it in theaters to view it on their own big screens at home, something I highly recommend that they (you) do.

Technical Details

• Director: Shane Black
  
• Written for the screen by Shane Black, based in part on a novel by Brett Halliday
  
• Actors: Robert Downey, Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bersen
  
• HD-DVD release date: June 20, 2006
  
• US theatrical release date: October 21, 2005
  
• Feature film running time: 103 minutes
  
• Feature Film video transfer: 1080p 16:9 HD transfer
  
• Aspect Ratio: Widescreen, 2.4:1
• Sound format: Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (English, French), Dolby Digital Plus 2.0 (Spanish)
  
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
  
• Number of discs: 1
  
• MPAA Rating: R
  
• Studio: Warner Home Video
  
• Extras:
  • Full-length commentary track with Shane Black, Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer
  • Gag reel
  • Theatrical trailer
  • "V for Vendetta" theatrical trailer (DVD side only)