Extract – Blu-ray Disc Review

December 23, 2009 – 3:54 PM - Posted by: Brendan Surpless

Tags: Ben Affleck, Clifton Collins, David Koechner, Disney, J.K. Simmons, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Mike Judge, Mila Kunis, Miramax

has an average rating of 6.7 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
only has deleted scenes & “making of”
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– 2009
– 92 Minutes
– Miramax (Disney)
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This uses 44.8GB total.

Overall Verdict – A Comedic Misfire

Buy it for $24.49 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself was written and directed by Mike Judge (known for the comedic classic called “Office Space“). Joel (Jason Bateman is the owner of the moderately successful Reynolds Extract plant in the middle of nowhere. While this might sound like a good laugh to you and I, Joel is at a crossroads. He loves his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig), but her 8 O’Clock tie-up (ie if he’s not home by 8 he’s not getting any) has him contemplating what he should do. Best buddy and local bar owner Dean (Ben Affleck) convinces Joel (after a mistakenly induced horse tranquilizer pill) to hire a gigolo to have an affair with his wife all so he can be okay with having an affair with new employee Cindy (Mila Kunis). Add to it that a freak accident leaves his most devoted employee “Step” (Clifton Collins) debating on whether or not to sue Joel, and you have quite the formula for what sounds like an all around hilarious movie. However, what results is a film that surely does have more than a few laughs but hugely misfires on overall impact mainly because the film all too often jumps from scene to scene leaving the viewer wondering what the hell just happened.

What made “Office Space” work on the level it did regardless of repeated viewings was that the film was not only a rich satire on cubicle work but also a poke at corporate america (“with every decision you make, you should ask yourself. IS THIS GOOD FOR THE COMPANY.”) It’s items like this, perhaps wrong on my part, I expected out of “Extract“. Early previews made the film look quite funny and I’ll admit it, the film is quite funny in some parts. Take for example the scene where Joel is convinced to smoke pot by Dean. Clearly having no prior experience in this, the whole scene is just hilarious with the big guy yelling at Joel to inhale. And let’s not forget the extended amount of exhale from the big guy. Obviously overdone but damn hilarious. And then the next immediate scene is just not funny at all, a random collection of sequences that somehow has to do with the film. This is what kills the potential lasting impact “Extract” may have had for both Judge and “Space” fans. I won’t certainly say that every single sequence in “Office Space” is downright hilarious (in my opinion the first half of the film works far better than the latter half), but at least each scene worked with one another. “Extract” has too many sequences where you just wonder what direction the story was trying to take. Almost like Judge tried to put far too much into the script. And this is a true, true shame as the supporting cast is by far the best part here.

Ben Affleck, Mila Kunis, J.K. Simmons, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig and David Koechner. An all-star supporting cast would most definitely make for a super fun comedic affair no? Well, the no is right. And that’s a damn shame in my book. While I will admit that each try their absolute best with Simmons and his calling everyone ‘dinkis’ being quite the riot, their overall impact won’t really be remembered simply because the film just isn’t that funny. All too often Koechner’s character, as Joel’s annoying neighbor, was trying to channel Lumbergh (hell he even had a “if you could get me that check tomorrow, that would be great.”). Rule #1 is you don’t try to recreate characters from your past efforts, especially one’s like the legendary Bill Lumbergh! Bateman definitely did steal the show, which comes as no surprise as “Arrested Development” might be one of the best comedies to ever be created. His wife Wiig wasn’t doing much for me but her ending piece with Joel’s neighbor was both shocking and funny. Affleck and Knuis was both more subdued in their supporting roles but did add a bit to some of the humor (more how Affleck’s character knew so much about different pills despite never taking them).

Overall, “Extract” is a mind-boggle of a film. I figured with both Mike Judge and an excellent supporting cast including Affleck and Simmons, that we might have a home run here. Perhaps my expectations were set to high (I consider “Office Space” to be one of the best comedies ever), but I was sorely disappointed here.

Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte, dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 1:85:1 aspect ratio. The main issue here is that while this is the best “Extract” will ever look, the transfer just lacks anything that makes hi-definition what it is. The black level is somewhat solid and fleshtones are somewhat accurate, for the most part, but still the color palette has been toned down a bit or altered in some way (likely in post-production). I’m not sure if this was caused by the way the film was shot (as IMDb has no information on camera usage) or was a post-production decision. Detail is lacking as well with fluctuations between great (outside shots of the extract plant) to poor (interiors of the plant). The transfer is faithful to Judge’s intentions, but perhaps I expected more especially considering his “Office Space” looks great. All in all this earns an average “4 Star Rating” for overall video quality.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. The provided DTS-HD track is better than the provided video transfer but not by that much. While surrounds do kick in during some of the musical sequences, I expected far more atmosphere here. Granted this is a comedy and most do tend to focus on the front channels, but this one barely ever extended itself to the rears. I will say that dialogue is well reproduced and won’t require any sort of of volume change. LFE is pretty much absent here never really becoming active. Even the film’s score, which in most comedic affairs will provide a bit of LFE, was no help here. The odd aspect is that with a setting like a busy bottling plant, you would expect a bit more activity here no? Well it seems almost like they shot the scene then added in all the extras and what not afterwards as this bottling plant is strangely quiet. It’s items’ like this make this track a big disappointment earning a decent “3 Star Rating“.

Bonus Materials are presented in High Definition and Standard Definition with Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound.

• Deleted Scene (SD): Here’s a very brief deleted scene (40sec) that is kind of funny.
• Extended Scenes: Here’s more extended scenes (4min29sec) that are enjoyable but not really the kind of scenes that will merit further viewing.
• Mike Judge’s Secret Recipe (HD): This runs 10min48sec and features the cast and crew speaking on the making of the film.

Blu-ray Disc packaging:

Screenshots:

NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.

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