Gangster Chronicles - Blu-ray

Movie: In the small Louisiana town of Erwin, the dog seems buried. There's really very little here to warrant a visit to the little town. And yet the strangest things happen here, with Alton`s (Vincent D`Onofrio) pawn shop always seeming to play an important role. Here, for instance, Vern (Lukas Haas) pawns the shotgun he, his buddy Raw Dog (Paul Walker) and Randy (Kevin Rankin) were going to use to rip off dealer Stanley (Norman Reedus). But how can they do that without a gun? Also, a ring that newlywed Richard (Matt Dillon) finds in Alton's pawn shop the day after his wedding to Sandy (Rachelle Lefevre), of all people, sets extremely bloody events in motion. For Richard is certain that this is the ring of his first wife, who disappeared without a trace years ago. When, after many detours, he finds the man (Elijah Wood) from whom the ring came, he makes a monstrous discovery. And finally, there's unsuccessful Elvis impersonator Ricky (Brendan Fraser), who must pawn his beloved Elvis medal at Alton's to get money. There's nothing Ricky wants more than to finally succeed. For that, he'd even be willing to make a deal with the devil. But some wishes might be better left unfulfilled...

Already in his thriller Running Scared, director Wayne Kramer took a look into the depths of the human soul, laced with dark cynicism. It was humorous, but also shocking, suspenseful and very bloody. Gangster Chronicles is in a similar vein. However, Kramer takes a much more humorous approach here. It's not until Johnny Shaw's (Elijah Wood) estate that a similarly gruesome gloom comes into play, like the one Paul Walker encountered in Running Scared at Edele's apartment. Anyone who has seen Running Scared can roughly guess what viewers can expect with a terrifyingly disgusting Elijah Wood. While there is definitely a certain humorous side to this, especially when a connection to the first story with Raw Dog and Randy is revealed here. But overall, this is where the film takes on extremely disturbing overtones.

Until it gets to that point, the mix of bizarre moments, over-the-top brutality and absurd dialogue works very well. The whole thing is extremely quirky and far from political correctness that it's just a whole lot of fun. Watching Brendan Fraser alone as a bad Elvis impersonator, or listening to Paul Walker and Kevin Rankin outing the somewhat underexposed neo-Nazis as non-racists, is wonderfully bizarre and makes for some really good laughs. However, these do threaten to get stuck in your throat at times later on. You have to accept the fact that the film is not only evil, but also delivers a punch or two in the pit of your stomach. Once you've accepted that, there's really nothing standing in the way of an enjoyable movie.

The great cast alone easily makes up for minor dramaturgical flaws. The much too early deceased Paul Walker reveals here a lot of comedic talent, Brendan Fraser proves courage to ugliness, Thomas Jane delivers a great cameo in best Marlboro Man manner, Vincent D`Onofrio shines as a somewhat simple-minded pawn shop operator and Elijah Wood may deliver here once again a similarly brutal anti-Hobbit performance, as nine years ago in Sin City. The cast and some wonderfully weird ideas make Gangster Chronicles a great treat for lovers of bloody gangster comedies of the politically incorrect and quirkier kind. Not a cult masterpiece, but absolutely worth watching overall!

Picture + Sound: The Blu-ray's picture is absolutely clean and presents the action bathed in warm, powerful colors. Overall sharpness is at a very good level, with even smaller details generally showing up well. The audio is presented in a pleasantly vibrant DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, which allows the voices to ring out from the speakers in a manner that is well-matched to the soundtrack and the various sound effects. While dialogue sets the tone in many scenes, sound effects like gunshots and punches occasionally provide audible movement on the surround channels. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, the disc has only the trailer and a fairly informative audio commentary by director Wayne Kramer and screenwriter Adam Minarovich to offer.

Conclusion: Gangster Chronicles is weird, bloody, nasty, and in some moments, extremely dark. In this way, the film strikes similar notes to Kramer's Running Scared, but is overall a bit weirder. If you don't mind the brutality and lack of political correctness, you'll be well entertained here, if only because of the cast of actors who enjoy playing. The Blu-ray presents the episodic film in good picture and sound quality, only the meager bonus material clouds the positive overall impression a little bit. Overall, however, there is still a more than satisfied: recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp