Crash: Director's Cut (DVD Review)

9 Mar, 2006 By: John Latchem

Crash

Street 4/4/06
Lionsgate
Drama
Box Office $53.4 million
$26.98 two-DVD set
Unrated.
Stars Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon.

Three core bonus features are essential for a DVD to be considered more than just a modest presentation of a film: a making-of featurette, deleted scenes and a commentary track.

The first Crash DVD, released in September, had all three, plus a music video, and was a good presentation of the Academy Award-winning film. An exclusive Best Buy bonus disc offered script and storyboard comparisons and a musical montage.

So, what does the new two-disc special edition offer? A director's cut of the film, for one, purported to be 15 minutes longer than the theatrical cut. And it has commentary and deleted scenes.

But while the previous DVD had 10 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage, the new one has more than an hour, including a profile of writer-director Paul Haggis, who discusses how being carjacked in the early 1990s helped inspire the movie. There's also a look at the role the city of Los Angeles plays in the film. These featurettes do a good job of examining the film's themes of racism, but they get repetitive and the same interview footage is reused.

The special edition also has new script and storyboard comparisons and two more musical montages. Also included for the first time is a music video for the Oscar-nominated song “In the Deep.”

Fans of the film will definitely want this new edition, which is timed perfectly to take advantage of the film's Best Picture Oscar win. Casual fans and those who already own the movie can take comfort in knowing the first DVD was a good-enough release on its own.