DVD Review by David Blackwell

DETAILS: 121 minutes, two disc set, Harnessing Speed documentary, Scene Deconstructions, Multi-Angle Scene Breakdowns, music of Stealth featurette, and music video

STUDIO: Columbia/ SPHE

RELEASE DEATE: 11-15-2005

Rob Cohen loves speed, action films, and big explosions. xXx was a joy to watch due to the combination of director Rob Cohen and star Vin Diesel. Rob has an equally impressive cast (Jessica Biel, Josh Lucas, Jamie Foxx, Sam Shepard, and Joe Morton). Even though the script isn't that great (it was written by Buckaroo Banzai director W.D. Richter), the action scenes do impress. Too bad Josh Lucas was the center star of this movie because I would have loved to see the hot Jessica Biel as the girl who saves the day by the end of the film. The plot of STEALTH deals with three fantastic Naval fighter pilots flying experimental jets who get a fourth wingman in the form of an Artificial Intelligence plane by the name of EDI. EDI goes haywire on their second mission together and it is up to the three to stop EDI. If it wasn't for a slow first 30 minutes, the last 30 minutes that were a letdown, and a script that could have been better written, STEALTH might have been a better performer at the box office and not just a good time killer to rent on DVD.

VIDEO: 2.40:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

Image detail is OK. The transfer should be good since only a featurette and a music video share space with it on the first disc.

AUDIO: English 5.1 Dolby Digital, English DTS, French 2.0 Dolby Surround, Thai 5.1 DD

Subtitles: English, Chinese, French, Korean, Thai (Some featurettes have option of Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, or Korean subtitles)

I heard the DTS track really rocks. The 5.1 DD isn't that bad. The sound and music really rise to the challenge.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Disc 1- The only extras are featurette on the music of Stealth and a music video (and previews for other Sony and MGM films). No audio commentary. No trailer for STEALTH.

Disc 2- HARNESSING SPEED is a three part documentary that takes an extensive behind-the-scenes look at the making of STEALTH. The Scene Deconstruction of two scenes are very detailed (you get to see all the work that went into Kara's Fall). Also you get Multi-Angle breakdown of two scenes that enable you to look at the action from a variety of different cameras that shot the action. The extras on disc two clock in at over two hours. They more than enough make up for the lack of an audio commentary, but it might be fun if they got the cast and director together for an audio commentary.

FINAL ANALYSIS: STEALTH has impressive audio and extras, but the movie is only worth a rent.

this DVD Review is (c)11-8-2005 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