MR. AND MRS. SMITH is a dull, mechanical action film where Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have very little chemistry. Sometimes
the film is like watching paint dry. I loved the other two films director Doug Liman that I watched: THE BOURNE IDENTITY and
GO. Angelina Jolie had better chemistry with the men in the TOMB RAIDER films and BEYODN BORDERS. Brad Pitt nailed it with
the female lead in SPY GAME, but I just didn't see his chemistry with Jolie in MR. AND MRS. SMITH. the first 15 minutes are
boring. The action scene help pump it up, but any scene between Jolie and Pitt when they're not fighting just grinds the film
to dead stop. The last 40 minutes are the best, but the climax is absurd and stupid (I didn't realize the people shooting
at them were such bad shots that they should have been able to kill Jolie and Pitt).
If you care about the plot, MR. AND MRS. SMITH is about two paid assassins married to each other for 5 or 6 years where
neither one is the wiser about what the other really does and that they work for rival groups. When both of them have the
same target, they discover each other is an assassin and go on to try to kill each other. Will one kill the other or will
love rule in the end leading to more trouble for our married assassins?
VIDEO: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)
The transfer is the standard transfer for FOX theatrical DVDs which are pretty good, but I take off a little for this being
a Burned In screener that I'm reviewing. I think it is probably a measure in trying to stop DVD pirates, but I think FOX need
to do something different than Burned In screeners for their big theatrical movies. It is bad enough that screeners get sent
out later than they used to, but burned in screeners are an eye sore. I like watching the movie and not the burned in title
of FOX PR at the bottom of the movie screen and in the middle of the screen for the deleted scenes and the Make A Scene show).
If FOX wants to crack down on pirates more, look at the stores and video stores that break street date or the leaks in the
chain leading up to the stores (back to the plant that makes the discs). Burned In screeners are just a stop gap measure at
best.
AUDIO: English 5.1 Dolby Surround, English 5.1 DTS, French 2.0 DS, Spanish 2.0 DS
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Dialogue is clear, but you might have to turn the volume up a little to hear it depending on your set up. Others will say
the DTS is better than the Dolby track.
SPECIAL FEATURES: The disc does have a few extras like three audio commentaries (number 1 with Director Doug Liman and
Screenwriter Simon Kinberg, number 2 with Producer Akiva Goldsman and Producer Lucas Foster, and number 3 with Film Editor
Michael Tronick, Production designer Jeff Mann, and Visual effects Supervisor Kevin Elam), three deleted scenes, trailers,
and the Make A Scene show that originally aired on the FOX Movie Channel. Since the most interesting audio commentary of the
three (the producers track) tells about several scenes and half shot scenes were cut, it is an easy bet that two disc Collector's
Edition will feature more than three deleted scenes. It is fascinating to note that many cuts they made to the film might
have made MR AND MRS. SMITH a more interesting film to watch. They cut characters and shortened the lead-up to the climax
among the several cuts they decided to make to the film.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Even though I didn't like MR. AND MRS. SMITH, I think the Collector's Edition might be worth it to check
out if they include many of the deleted scenes mentioned in the producers audio commentary, but the single disc is only worth
rental.
this DVD Review is (c)11-27-2005 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission (except for excerpts and a
link to the review). Look for additional content at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia and send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com
