The Warriors [Ultimate Director's Cut]

"There's something stinky about The Warriors: Ultimate Director's Cut and it's not the packaging. Simply put, the disc is a sham. This version is possibly the most unnecessary director's cut out on the market -- and that says a lot. When Walter Hill talks about his loathing of special edition DVDs in his introduction, you almost believe him, until the computer-colored comic book opening begins. Mix the inventiveness of Creepshow's animated montages with cheap comic-book CD-ROM sensibilities and you basically have what amounts to the ""added"" footage in the film. Beginning with good old Walter Hill doing a voice-over about the Greek myth that inspired the film, the picture begins as the camera rolls over a comic-styled illustration that then segues into the film via animated comic-book panels. If that wasn't enough, the film is littered with over a half-dozen more of these kind of gratuitous transitions at the expense of trimming certain scenes. If this sounds cool to you, then haven't seen it -- or you might possibly be part of the fan minority for whom this is made. At the heart of it, most will not be happy about these silly additions. The genius of The Warriors was that its otherworldliness lent itself perfectly to comic book styling, but as soon as you blatantly present the film as if it were some kind of interactive comic -- using modern technology to clumsily do so -- the outcome becomes sloppy, unneeded, and severely unwanted. To do this in such a way as to not give you the chance to watch the original cut is even worse -- and there's where the DVD gripes start. One, the disc does not come with Walter Hill's audio commentary, which the PAL version does include. Two, the long-awaited deleted scenes have been left in limbo yet again. You briefly see part of the original opening in one of the featurettes, but otherwise, you'll need to go on the Internet to find just bits of the rest. In its defense, the DVD looks good and does feature the original theatrical trailer along with four new featurettes that span over an hour. With cast and crew interviews that go in-depth on the genesis of the film as well as casting, production, and its controversial release, these really do make a fine compliment to the movie and would have been gloriously welcomed in another release. As it is, those who already own the film should not get rid of it anytime soon. Check this release out for curiosity's sake, but don't say you were warned."