Here’s the story…

Seven year old Damian (Alex Etel) and nine year old Anthony (Lewis McGibbon) are two brothers still coping with the death of their mother and along with their father Ronnie (James Nesbitt) are about to move into a new house.

Near his new home and right next to some railroad tracks, Damian builds his own little playhouse made out of cardboard boxes.  One day his box home is almost destroyed by a Nike bag that seemed to come out of thin air.  The bag it turns out, is filled with money.

Damian shares his discovery with his brother Anthony, and both of them quickly learn that there’s over 200,000 pounds inside the bag. 

What do they do with it?  Who do they tell?  With time running out to spend it (the Pound is only days away from being permanently superseded by the Euro) and a dark and mysterious stranger (Chris Fulford) lurking around looking for it, the boys both have different ideas and they don’t have long to find the answers.

If you were expecting a fairly straightforward kids story about a young boy finding a huge wad of cash, then it's time to throw those preconceptions out the window quick smart.  An interesting plot coupled with intriguing characters, some quite beautiful cinematography, some wonderful music, and quality performances from both children and the adults make Millions a more interesting experience than I anticipated.

After somewhat bleak and cynical pieces of work like 28 Days Later, Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, Danny Boyle has tackled something completely different here.  Hopeful, thoughtful, and yet not overly sentimental, Millions is (in essence) a family film.  That’s not to say that it doesn’t have its dark moments though.  It’s a tribute to the abilities of the director and actor (in this case Chris Fulford) to make so much menace out of so little.

Funnily enough for a film called Millions, there was no way this film was ever going to make a killing at the box office.  For probably the biggest movie going demographic (teenagers) there is no appeal here whatsoever.  They’re too old to fall under the spell of the simple “boy finds stolen cash” story, and too young to appreciate the wonderful subtleties and complexities brought out by director Danny Boyle and writer Frank Boyce.

Like I said earlier, this film is almost impossible to categorise.  I suppose “family” is its closest genre relative, but even that is selling it short on so many levels. In the end, I simply see Millions as a real interesting piece of cinema.  It may be trite to say this, but bugger it, I’ll say it anyway, “I may not know art, but I know what I like”. 

I like Millions.

Another new film, another excellent transfer.

Colours are beautiful and strong, while black levels are pleasingly solid.  I didn’t see any film artefacts or excess grain.   Not much else I can say really.  Although if I had to nitpick you will notice some occasional aliasing on things such as rooftops during outdoor scenes, but overall Millions looks...well...a million bucks.

This is a RSDL disc with the layer change coming in at 61.07.  Even on my clunky old Sony that I use to accurately locate the layer changes, this one was very, very quick, taking place during a scene transition.

Great video presentation.

Dialogue is quite clean and clear, although the heavy accents sometimes make it a little difficult to catch everything that’s being said.  You may want the subtitles on every now and then, which are pretty much spot on.

There’s a magical quality to the score created by John Murphy, and it’s a rare thing for a film like this to have music with as much depth and scope as what's on offer here.  It has great dynamic range and clarity on this track too.

The surrounds and subwoofer aren’t used extensively but they do come to life quite often and manage to support the score superbly.  The rocket take off scene near the film’s conclusion sounded tremendous.

Like the video, this is a quality audio presentation.

COMMENTARY BY DIRECTOR DANNY BOYLE AND WRITER FRANK COTTRELL BOYCE

A really good track here as both men talk in great detail about pretty much everything in the film.  Casting, characters, plot, shot composition, story, production design, the complications of working with kids and just about everything in between are discussed in a manner that makes this track an easy and enjoyable listen.

Danny provides quite a thought provoking line in this track about kids and money today.  “The age of consent of consumerism has been lowered.  The ceiling at which kids join the consumer society now has been forced down and down and down”.  Accurate and slightly disturbing.

Ludicrous to hear that the film was given a 12A rating (no one under 12 can see the film without being accompanied by an adult) in the UK by the BBFC.  The reason being because it contained scenes with kids close to train tracks and there were concerns that this would somehow be imitated.  It’s easy to sympathise with Danny Boyle’s frustration.

DVD CUTDOWN (3.52)

Sort of like an extended trailer/condensed version of the film with the wonderful score in the background.  Just like the film itself, this is a slightly odd little extra.

Presented at 1.85:1 without 16:9 enhancement.

MILLIONS SOUNDTRACK SPOT (0.33)

Just an ad for the beautiful soundtrack for the film.  Narrated by composer John Murphy.

Presented 4:3 without 16:9 enhancement.

THEATRICAL TRAILER (2.18)

Nice little trailer presented at 1.85:1 without 16:9 enhancement. 

DELETED SCENES (31.41)

As you can see there’s over half an hour worth of stuff in the 10 scenes on offer here, and amongst it all is some very interesting material.

We see Damian interacting more with his classmates, as well as talking to more Saints.  We also get a much stronger sub plot driving home the point that Dorothy might betray them all and take the money for herself. 

Plus we get an extended version of the scene where the group of people looking for money are lined up around the block, as well as seeing what happens after the boys return home from their burning escapades at the train tracks.

Perhaps the most interesting of all these scenes is the final one which isn’t a deleted or extended sequence at all.  It shows the final version of the attic sequence but includes on the set audio so we get to hear the (sometimes frantic) directions given to Alex as he goes through the scene.

While there aren’t any specific director’s comments for these scenes, he does mention a few of them and the reason for their removal in the main audio commentary.

These are all presented 1.85:1 and are not 16:9 enhanced. 

BEHIND THE SCENES

This is split into four sections that must be selected separately. 

·        Million Pounds (2.27) – Director and actors talk about the issue of the money in the film.

·        Saints (3.33) – Director, writer and actors talk about the issue of saints in the film and in particular we get to see the background of the scene where Damian releases the birds.

·        Spirit of the Film (3.31) – Talks more about the adult actors in the film, their casting and their importance.

·        Robbery (4.11) – Dissecting the wonderful robbery sequence.  More proof of the talent of Danny Boyle.

These are presented 4:3 without 16:9 enhancement and are all in very good shape.

WWW.FOXMOVIES.COM.AU

A single page ad for that particular web site.

What’s more, it looks and sounds great as well as including some high quality extras in the package.

Recommended viewing that has something for the kids and the adults.