Oh Dear, where do I start ?Reviewed by Dr. Metal, 2009-11-25
There are so many things that are messed up with this DVD that one
really has to go through a list of all the things that can go wrong
with a movie, especially one that is transfered from another
language like Spanish to English.
This DVD was viciated thoroughly, first of all, because of the
aweful syncronization effort. You can actually see how the lips of
the actors are moving but for a slight moment no words are heard
from them! In the beginning of this movie its really terrible,
simply cause its so obvious.
Then there is the picture quality, although the movie is from 1993
it looks as if it had been filmed in the late 1970s (no joke), or
at least my Malaysian version of it. Needless to say that is
totally unacceptable.
Then there's the story, or what claims to be a story. I mean, who
came up with this unbelievably lame story? Antonio Banderas dosen't
look believable as the love sick man chasing a circus women around
that he just met. But far worse is the behavior of this women, who
goes on a killing spree that simply defies any logic. Especially
the scene where she kills two cops feels absolutely contrived. When
it comes to acting, its really only Banderas that manages to hold
this botched mess together, and from witnessing a total
desaster.
In the end, you're better off skipping this one. As others have
indicated this movie was probably much better in the original
Spanish version, without the rediculous synchronization efforts
that failed virtually at every lame attempt.
"Dispara!" - in Spanish, it means: "Shoot!"Reviewed by sheshetta, 2008-11-28
Outrage!This DVD, called "Outrage!", is the Spanish film "Dispara!", which means "Shoot!". I have the original Spanish language VHS, and no English language dubbing can do justice to the original Spanish version. Why even change the name? "Shoot!" has so much subtext. She's a sharpshooter to begin with. She goes after the men who raped her with her rifle... It nakes so much sense to call it "Shoot!". Antonio Banderas - pre-movie star - is so good, here, as an earnest reporter. He is stuck in the predicament of falling in love with a circus performer who will move on. The real star is Francesca Neri, the Italian actress who seems to do her own riding and shooting. Everything about this movie looks authentic, including the brutal rape and murder scenes. If you are looking for a happy Hollywood ending, go elsewhere. These characters are doomed from the first "shot". -Sheshetta
Never got it!Reviewed by Shannon Lay, 2007-01-06
After getting several notices that the movie had been delayed, but
would ship eventually...I decided to cancel the order. I waited
months on it.
I suggest Amazon taking this movie off their list, since they don't
have it, nor can they get it.
Very Dreary Film. Watch only for Neri's Heartbreaking PerformanceReviewed by M. Celaschi, 2006-11-10
The story follows Ana (played wonderfully by the beautiful
Francesca Neri) as a sharp shooter performing in the circus. She
falls in love with a journalist named Marcos (Antonio Banderas).
After a brutal rape and several murders later, she finds herself on
the run with Marcos chasing after her.
The DVD story would have you believe that this is a typical Rape/
Revenge flick where the rape occurs early on and the rest of the
film is the woman seeking vengeance. But the rape doesn't occur
until 40 minutes in giving the viewers plenty of time to get to
know Ana and like her character. She looks like Rachel Weisz and is
quite impulsive and quirky. Her character is very likable and you
will find her emotionally honest even when she is lying. This will
make watching her downfall a little difficult to bear.
You watch Ana fall in love with Marcos, make love with him, and
then you see the excitement in her eyes when she runs to her door
one fateful night expecting Marcos on the other side. The gang rape
is brutal, but most of the violence (outside of the rape) is
implied. The revenge part takes place very soon after. The rest of
the film is Ana and Marcos trying to reach each other one last
time, making several mistakes along the way, and a very climactic
reunion at the end.
Where the story veers into stupidity, is when Marcos sees the news
story of the rapists murders, assumes Ana is the killer without
even speaking to her, and then proceeds to rat on her instantly.
That amore'. Soon after, Ana visits a doctor for her excessive
bleeding (ahem, vaginal, due to the "bottle assault"), the doctor
immediately calls the police on her the moment Ana leaves the room.
Rape Advocacy, yeah! And get this...the doctor then goes on the
radio giving the victims name and detailing her vaginal wounds!
Ethics? We don't need no stinking Ethics!
Ultimately, this film is incredibly depressing and bleak. The
ending will not make you feel any better about what transpired
before hand. The victim gets no justice and she is punished for
being victimized. A cop even refers to her as "the bitch."
Favorite Quote: "I said I'd follow you to Hell, well, here I am,"
spoken by Marcos to Ana after he finally catches up to her at the
end.
DVD Extras: Scene Selection and brief Film Facts. There is an
Italian and English dubbed version. The dubbed version is terrible
and takes away from the atmosphere. Plus, I know what Antonio
Banderas sounds like and I can assure you that was not it.
Bottom Line: Very dreary film with not much to recommend here
except Francesca Neri's great performance.
Rating: 6/10
Molly Celaschi
A Spanish tragedy.Reviewed by Epops, 2005-03-28
I saw this film in Spanish-language VHS format with English
subtitles. My experience with dubbed foreign films has been
uniformly bad, and I avoid them like the plague. Dubbing ALWAYS
makes a film worse, without exception, and no matter what the
language.
I enjoy Saura's Flamenco films, and so was curious about what a
Saura "action" film would look like. The fact that Antonio Banderas
appears in it was a side issue for me. It was made before he made
the Hollywood big-time, and was still trying to be a serious actor.
He is actually quite good as the idealistic but jaded young
newspaperman.
It is a curious film, not what I expected. Although it was made in
1997, and has televisions, computers, and cell phones in it, it
reminded me of the bleak French and Italian films of the '40's and
'50's, after WWII, before Europe became prosperous again. It has a
distinctly unmodern, pessimistic atmosphere. The setting of the
circus, and the character of a trick rider recall the 19th century.
Anna, the rider/shooter, is clearly not at home in the contemporary
world, seems to be caught in a time warp, and lives according to
her own, pre-modern rules. The circus life has much in common with
the gypsy life portrayed in Saura's flamenco films, and much of the
flamenco "duende". (Note: The character Anna is the daughter of
circus people, trapeze artists, from Bolzano, in the Alto Adige
region of northern Italy, which accounts for her German surname.
She is joking with Marcos when she says her mother was a Russian
countess. Anna speaks Spanish with an Italian accent.)
The story is a revenge tragedy, a very old dramatic form, in a
modern setting. But Saura, perhaps because he is Spanish, and has
submerged himself in pre-modern gypsy culture, manages to avoid
modern cliches while using this ancient form.
Her brief love affair with Marcos, the young reporter, is
interrupted when she is raped by three young thugs, in one of the
most brutally filmed scenes I have ever seen. Saura doesn't clean
it up at all. You really want her to kill these vermin
afterward.
A woman of Anna's accomplishments and character clearly isn't going
to rest until her assailants have been punished. But this is a
tragedy, not really an "action" film after all. Her killings of the
rapist thugs are convincing in their ugliness, but her revenge is
not sweet. It only makes her position more desperate, speeding her
inexorable descent into hell. In the end, Saura makes us believe
that Anna, guilty as she is, had her reasons, and that her death
frees her of her sins.
The melancholy music adds to the bitter-sweet mood of the
film.
The acting by Banderas and Neri is first rate. One believes that
they are desperately in love, and that it would have ended badly
regardless. In spite of the brutality, it is a romantic film, in
the 19th century sense of the term.
It looks to me as though Neri did much of her own riding and
shooting. The cinematography is quite good, Italianate, and Madrid
has the look of a city lived in, not a movie set.
To make a DVD of a film like this in dubbed English only is
complete philistinism, verging on the criminal.
Highly recommended in its original Spanish-language form. Even if
you speak only a little Spanish, you will realize that the
subtitles, even though they are pretty good, don't capture the
profanity. There's no point watching it dubbed in English.