By Adam Rosenberg

Someone ought to sit down with the suits at Fox Home Entertainment and have a talk with them about being good to their customers. There’s this new trend of releasing DVDs and then, mere months later, re-releasing those same films in fancier ‘special edition’ packaging. Fox isn’t the only offender, but they’re up on the chopping block today for their May 24th releases of I, Robot (first released to DVD in December), The Day After Tomorrow (released first in September and then again in March at a lower price), and Man on Fire (released in October). Not only are these DVDs coming out less than a year after their initial releases, but only one of them, Man on Fire, really deserves any kind of deluxe treatment.

I, Robot is number 17 in what appears to be a series of Collector’s Editions for Fox Home Entertainment. The DVD cases for all three releases have a number printed on their spines, a la The Criterion Collection. I, Robot is loosely (some would say not at all) based on the Isaac Asimov short story collection of the same name. The story is set in a near future of Earth where sentient robots have moved in to help humans with daily, mundane tasks. The robots are ruled by three simple laws: (1) a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; (2) a robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and (3) a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Things go haywire when one particular robot works his way around the laws and only a technology-wary detective (played by Will Smith) can save the day. This is the epitome of the formulaic blockbuster action film with poor dialogue, a weak story, and no stand-out technical work. Just flashy special effects and big-name stars.

Release number 18, Man on Fire, is a real treat. Jim Creasey (Denzel Washington) is a retired CIA operative who moves to Mexico City when he is hired to protect Pita (Dakota Fanning), the young daughter of a wealthy family there. Kidnapping is something of an epidemic in Mexico and Pita, with her status, is a natural target. Creasey, who is a semi-suicidal alcoholic, begins to piece himself back together as he feels a growing fondness for Pita. When the young girl is inevitably kidnapped, Creasey takes on the kidnappers, Mexico’s underworld, and a corrupt police force to find her again. Man on Fire seems like just another blockbuster thriller on the surface. However, Washington feeds into the energy he channeled for Training Day and delivers a solid performance, with more than a little assistance from director Tony Scott and screenwriter Brian Helgeland (adapted from a novel by A.J. Quinnell).

The Day After Tomorrow is release number 19, and it falls between the former two in terms of quality, though it definitely skews closer to I, Robot. Climatologist Jack Hill (Dennis Quaid) is just as worried about the threat of global warming as everyone actually should be. Unfortunately for Jack, his son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal), and the rest of the world, global warming grows some teeth and actually gives people a reason to be afraid as the next ice age begins. Disaster ensues in the form of tidal waves, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other such signs of a pissed-off Mother Nature. This is an unabashed global disaster flick and at first seems more suited to the mid- to late-90’s when this sort of blockbuster release ruled the roost. The movie relies completely on the strength of its special effects to wow audiences and, ultimately, it does a pretty good job. The dialogue and story are painfully cookie-cutter, as are the two-dimensional characters. That’s to be expected. However, this isn’t a terrible way to spend two hours if you’re in the mood for some mindless entertainment that looks cool.

Now, on to the reason you’re all here. What’s added to these releases to make them ‘special?’ I, Robot adds two commentaries to the director/writer commentary included with the original release. One is a tech commentary, with production designer Patrick Tatopoulos, editor Richard Learoyd, and the visual effects crew while the other is with soundtrack composer Marco Beltrami. The tech commentary is pretty much what you’d expect, and a worthwhile addition considering the film’s extensive use of digital effects. The composer commentary is interesting; Marco Beltrami discusses the score, which he wrote in 17(!) days, between each composition. The second disc collects several documentaries and deleted scenes (including an alternate ending). The centerpiece of the disc is “Day Out of Days,” a production diary broken into nine chapters that covers every facet of the filming. This would probably have been very interesting if the film were any good. Next up is “CGI and Design,” which is pretty self-explanatory. This one is more interesting (and shorter) than the first one, mainly because I, Robot, for all of its shortcomings, actually had good visual effects. The next documentary, “Sentient Machines,” considers the truth in the possibility of the science fiction future portrayed in the film. Interviews with scientists from MIT as well as creative minds from the world of science fiction (including Ralph McQuarrie, famed Star Wars artist) help make this feature a worthwhile watch. “Three Laws Safe,” the next documentary, has the screenwriters talking about how the film came together and how they were influenced by Asimov’s work. The last ‘documentary,’ “The Filmmaker’s Toolbox,” is really just a presentation of how visual effects shots come together. It’s nothing most people haven’t seen before, where each layer of the shot is presented (from green screen footage on up) until the whole sequence is finished. Finally, there are a two deleted scenes and two alternate endings. This kind of thing is always fun to have added to any DVD release, but it further begs the question of whether the film was good enough to warrant a special edition release in the first place.

Man on Fire is similar in content to I, Robot, but the bonus material is more valuable when weighed against the quality of the film itself. The first disc is unchanged from the previously available DVD, containing the film and two commentaries (one with director Tony Scott and the other with actor Dakota Fanning, producer Lucas Foster, and screenwriter Brian Helgeland). Disc two is all new and packed with bonus content. First is the documentary “Vengeance is Mine: Reinventing Man on Fire.” It’s a solid, longish (just over an hour) making-of piece, containing interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. The only other feature resembling documentary material is a close analysis of the “Pita’s Adbuction” scene. Viewers can look at a script excerpt and storyboards as well as a multi-angle breakdown of the scene (the last, with optional director commentary). The multi-angle breakdown allows you to select one of four starting camera angles or a four angle composite. There are also fourteen deleted scenes and an alternate ending, all with optional director commentary. The alternate ending is more of an extension of the film’s actual ending and proves to be the most worthwhile of the cut footage. It certainly didn’t belong in the film (the ending of the final cut is far more elegant), but it’s still nice to see. Also on the disc are the usual photo gallery and trailers/TV spots as well as a music video of “Oye Como Va” by Kinky.

The Day After Tomorrow also contains both commentary tracks included on the original release (one with director/co-writer Roland Emmerich and producer Mark Gordon and the other with co-writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff, director of photography Ueli Steiger, editor David Brenner, and production designer Barry Chusid) on disc one. The second disc is divided into five sections, each covering different elements of the bonus content selections. The first is “Pre-Production,” and it contains two short pieces, one about how the special effects came together and one capturing part of a pre-production meeting for the film. On top of those are a storyboard gallery and a concept art gallery. Nothing very exciting here. The next section, “Production,” contains one of the centerpiece documentaries included on the disc, “Two Kings and a Scribe: A Filmmaking Conversation.” This is a pretty typical behind-the-scenes documentary, which means it’s really not worth investing the time into unless you truly enjoyed the film. That’s not to say it’s a bad documentary; only that the content it covers isn’t all that great. The next section, “Post-Production,” is where most of the good stuff can be found (since post is where all of those cool effects get added in). The first feature, “Pushing the Envelope: Visual Effects,” focuses on just that. It’s here that you get the interesting behind-the-scenes scoop; this feature (which runs about a half-hour) is well-worth watching. Next is “Scoring,” which covers the musical elements within the film. It’s not terribly yawn-inducing, but some of that could be attributed to its length, which is about ten minutes. The next feature, “Audio Anatomy,” is a holdover from the initial DVD release of the film. It’s a sound demo for one scene that lets viewers see how the audio all comes together. Finally, there are ten deleted scenes (with optional commentary from Roland Emmerich and Mark Gordon), eight more than those included on the original release. These really don’t add much to the overall value of the set since very few visual effects, the film’s only real strong point, were actually cut. The next section, “The Science,” has just one documentary, “The Force of Destiny: The Science and Politics of Climate Change.” This is the obligatory investigation of the real-life topic that the film explores. It’s the best of the bonus features, containing interview footage with a variety of scientific and political thinkers on the subject of global warming. The last section is a total throwaway based just on its title, “Trailers & TV Spots.” You get material for The Day After Tomorrow as well as other Fox films.

That about does it for the next batch of ‘Collector’s Edition’ releases from Fox. The new content varies in quality depending on your impression of each film, but one thing is clear: these are thoroughly complete special edition releases. There’s an exhaustive amount of material in each set, sure to please even the most ardent fan. It may have been deceptive for Fox advertise and release the original DVDs with no word of these, but the depth of the content is hard to deny. Renting it versus buying it (or just ignoring it) for any of them depends on personal taste, but Man on Fire is the strongest film of the bunch.

I, Robot
DVD Film Score: C-
DVD Special Features Score: B+
Overall Score: C

Man on Fire
DVD Film Score: B+
DVD Special Features Score: B+
Overall Score: B+

The Day After Tomorrow
DVD Film Score: C+
DVD Special Features Score: B+
Overall Score: C+