When satire crosses the line and looks like it becomes self indulgence an interesting idea can be lost in the wake.
What They Say:
In an attempt to reinvent his career, actor Dax Shepard makes the rash decision to abandon comedy in pursuit of his true dream: to become an internationally renowned martial arts star. With no formal martial arts training or adequate funding for his “blockbuster” action movie scripts, Dax enlists the help of his buddies including producer Nate Tuck and actors Tom Arnold and Bradley Cooper. Together, they fight to realize Dax’s true passion while facing rejection at every turn. With maniacal conviction, Dax journeys on a bizarre but hilarious path that becomes increasingly nonsensical and destructive, all as the expense and exploitation of his personal and professional relationships.
The Review:
Audio:
The feature contains both a 5.1 and 2.0 English tracks. For the purpose of this review the 5.1 track was used. It is a solid one with no dropouts or distortions noted, though given the low budget of the film it really doesn’t have a lot of tricks or special features to it. It is adequate for the task at hand as it presents the dialogue in a clear way that doesn’t get lost among other action happening.
Video:
The film’s production year is listed as 2010, though it had been in production for a couple of years, and it is presented in its original 1.85:1 ratio with an anamorphic widescreen encode. The feature wasn’t exactly a large budget film (in fact, it was quite the opposite to go by accounts) and so the video is mostly solid though not spectacular by any means. The feature’s video comes off as a little soft, with some noise, dot crawl, and a bit of color banding present. Also noticeable are the occasional camera type switches that occur as well and it is clear the film was shot without using makeup on the cast so a bit of glare can be seen on the actors from the lighting use. This tends to cause the performers to look slightly less well colored than one generally would hope to see in another person.
Packaging:
The release comes packaged in a standard DVD case. The front cover features an image of the feature’s star (writer and co-director) Dax Shepard wearing his red karate gi and cowboy hat. He is pictured jumping up with both legs in front of him and spread as he points the guns he holds in each hand out toward the viewer. The image is against a white and grey starburst pattern over an image of some stars from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Dax’s name is written in bold red letter blocks at the top of the cover with the features title written in similar, though bigger, script below him. Also below that are the film tag line and a list of the main stars of the film.
The back of the cover features an image of Dax wearing the same outfit but doing more of a flying side kick as he fires both guns. Also present is the copy, a list of the extras, four stills from the feature and the film credits and DVD technical specs. The DVD label itself uses a close up of Dax from the front cover for its image. As an extra bonus the feature includes a slipcover that replicates the DVD cover but also has some raised parts to help catch the eye.
Menu:
The main menu features the image of Dax jumping from the front cover though the starburst behind him is a faded red and white color. On either side of him are small squares that play images from the film that are tweaked to look a bit faded. The title is present above Dax’s head and below him are the different options written in red and each set against a gold star. The stars light up as the option of selecting them falls upon them and there is a rather light and whimsical track playing in the background. The Scene Select screen uses small stills from the feature as chapter representations and the other two menus use a pair of images separated by a gold star with a red trail from the feature. The options here that are currently highlighted are shown with a small red arrow pointing toward them which turn colors when selected. The menus are quick to respond to changes in selection and to implementing selections when chosen.
Extras:
The release contains a small in amount but fairly deep in length of extras. The first extra is a theatrical trailer for a fake film featured in the film. Also included are a selection of deleted scenes but the biggest bonus is an audio commentary track featuring three of the key figures behind the film.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One morning Dax Shepard woke up after having an idea while sleeping energized with a new dream. He has come up with what he thinks is a brilliant idea for a film and calls his friend Nate Tuck to come over so they can start working on it and start by going off to pitch the project to his agent. His idea- “Brother’s Justice” a film that will have Dax playing the title role of a martial arts expert in the line of Chuck Norris.
Of course, it turns out that a good agent wants to know just a little more about the film than the title and what role Dax will be playing, which Dax either isn’t willing to share or (possibly much more likely) he hasn’t thought that out yet. Upon facing a stone wall at his agent, Dax decides to shoulder on undeterred and visits his lawyer to have contracts drawn up but finds that there are skeptics all around him. A trip to a producer he worked with in the past who also feels that a single sheet isn’t quite enough to green light a picture has the two men trying to come up with a new way of pitching the project.
As the two try to brainstorm ideas they look back on some of their past experiences which includes the conceptual shoot for a film they made for a pitch- and not being deterred that that film wasn’t bought either. Plan B is for Dax to try to find one of the big name stars he has worked with in the past to help make the picture more desirable for a studio. This approach also meets with some resistance from the first person he calls on, Ashton Kutcher, and the two friends are sent scrambling for ideas and so they approach another friend, Tom Arnold.
Tom is thrilled that they approach him, but some miscommunication between the two leads to sparks flying though the chance that Tom could contact James Cameron to direct is a prize Dax can’t pass on. The joy of hearing later that Cameron is interested dies though when Cameron won’t be available until 2014 and also that he thinks that Leonardo DiCaprio would be better in the role than Dax.
With events breaking against them, Dax will devote himself to getting in shape but this myopic pursuit of this dream film may leave him on the outs with many of his friends- including producer/ friend Nate Tuck. Is the prize of seeing a dream realized worth all this pain and suffering, and even if it is will anyone be left standing to pick up the pieces to bring Brother’s Justice to the silver screen?
Brother’s Justice is a film whose impact will depend greatly on a number of factors, not the least of which is the spoof aspect the feature works at early on but also it will depend more than a little on the affinity the viewer feel for feature lead Dax Shepard. The early parts of the film play fairly well with the connected- but not overly so- star deciding he wants to get a feature made, even though he barely has any of the pieces worked out. This actually works sort of well as other films have been made about the process of making a film, as well as of the unknown trying to do so and break in to the industry and when done skillfully they can be a treat to watch and the start seems promising.
The concept of in-between novice and superstar level actor trying to get a feature made plays well for a portion of the film. The audience gets to watch some of the process as the people who work in the field try to deal with this client who has some fame, but not nearly enough to just drop some very vague concepts and get a picture approved. There are some really fantastic moments, if occasionally a little uncomfortable looking, where Dax approaches many people who are better connected and more accomplished in an attempt to use them to further his goal.
The feature starts to derail a bit as Dax starts to blur the line between reality and his fiction as he had started to live the gimmick a bit in public (to use a pro wrestling term) which included appearances by him at a award ceremony and on a late night talk show in his red karate gi. Dax isn’t the first person to blur the lines of the performance art/real life- Andy Kaufman and his wresting shtick come to mind for example- but it is a difficult thing to pull off as it risks alienating people who feel a joke is being played on them rather being in on it and being able to enjoy the performance.
From here the film seems to get lost as it seems less spoof and more the cast deciding to play things a bit more straightforward and it appears they are almost becoming the role in real life. While believability in an actor is good, if Tom Hanks spent all his time walking around spouting Gumpisms it might cause some alarm and the film kind of feels like it takes this path of turning from spoof to straight forward film.
This lack of being able to tell what is real and what is spoof by the end does translate into a bit of a chore and makes it feel like the creative team lost their original goal. The interplay between Dax and some of his friends, particularly Tom Arnold, here just fabulous and I wish more of the film could have been about that. It certainly would have been an improvement over the part of the film that has Dax suddenly sprouting homophobic things when he goes to train in the martial arts. The segment isn’t funny in the least and it completely turned me against his character which created some issues with reconnecting with events after that as it makes the character seem needlessly cruel and a jerk.
In Summary:
Brother’s Justice is a film that starts with a somewhat quirky concept that struggles a bit to find its voice. At times it feels like it wants to be a spoof and at others it moves into an area where it seems the spoof concept was misplaced and now the cast is doing things that they feel like doing, dismissing the concept of a narrative. The film has some interesting moments but it never manages to establish a flow that carries to the end. Some of the parts in-between the open and the credit role just become almost painful in their dragging on or in their uncomfortable nature. The film feels like a low budget movie created by some friends (which one a line near the end of the movie states up as well) who happen to be big enough names to get it published but it lacks a good deal of payoff for the viewer. It isn’t a horrible film, but it isn’t exactly something that can be recommended either, despite some interesting high points.
Features:
English 5.1 Language, English 2.0 Language, Trailer, Deleted Scenes, Commentary Track
Content Grade: C-
Audio Grade: B-
Video Grade: C+
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B-
Extras Grade: B
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Released By: Well Go USA
Release Date: July 12th, 2011
MSRP: $24.98
Running Time: 85 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Samsung 50″ Plasma HDTV, Denon AVR-790 Receiver with 5.1 Sony Surround Sound Speakers, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080.
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