THE MOVIE

The year was 1995. Inspired by actual and reported events. The kidnap attempt you have never heard about.

I’m sure Christopher Skase needs no introduction, but just in case you’ve been hiding under a rock. Skase was the guy who fled to the Island of Majorca off the coast of Spain after the collapse of his massive Qintex empire. It seems all the money mysteriously disappeared, leaving his creditors high and dry and extremely pissed off. The Australian government and the creditors tried to have him extradited, but every time they got close, Skase became ill and couldn’t be transported.

The basic premise this film... Well, a con-artist called Peter Dellasandro (Lachy Hulme) sees Andrew Denton’s “Chase for Skase” as a great money making scheme, and he quickly convinces the creditors that they should assemble a team to kidnap Christopher Skase from the Island of Majorca and bring him back to Australia.

First on board is Danny D'amato Jr. (Alex Dimitriades), the son of one of the creditors who shares Peter’s disdain for Skase. Then there is Mitchell Vendieks (Bill Kerr), the ex head of security for Skase who is eager for some payback. The rag-tag team also includes driver Dave Phibbs (Nick Sheppard), electronics and surveillance expert Sean Knight (Torquil Neilson) and brainiac Rupert Wingate (Adam Haddrick).

Meanwhile, Eric Carney (Craig McLachlan), the host of a television show called Debt Collector, is also planning to kidnap Skase. And so it becomes a race to see which team can kidnap Skase first…

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Let’s Get Skase is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 widescreen (16:9 enhanced). This is a reasonably good transfer, and for the most part it is quite clear, although shadow detail is not the greatest and there is some minor background noise to be observed in some of the darker interiors such as the board room scene during chapter 6 (42.05 minutes). Colours are very good, for example, the green grass and red flowers during chapter 4 (21.14 minutes) look great, as do the numerous bright suits that Lachy Hulme wears throughout the film.

The footage above is combined with some rather grainy stock footage of the real Christopher Skase (as opposed to the scenes featuring actor Wayne Hassell near the end of the film), presumably taken from real life news reports amid all the allegations and the collapse of the Qintex empire back in the 1990’s. Andrew Denton also appears as himself on yet more stock footage taken from the late night television program he once had. I didn’t observe any MPEG artefacts, and despite this being a dual layer (RSDL) disc, the layer change was not evident.

Audio:

Technically speaking, this DVD has a very satisfactory audio transfer. The default soundtrack is a Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack, and it is basically without any major problems. Dialogue is always clearly audible during all stages of the film and separation is quite good. There are some nice surround sound effects to be heard in the rear channels. For example, when the title zooms past in chapter 1 (1.38 minutes), the sound of the audience in the background during chapter 2 (13.28 minutes) and the gunshot in chapter 4 (26.36 minutes). Low frequency output is also reasonable. Interestingly, the film features a song by a group called The Debt Collectors with Craig McLachlan lending his vocal talents. This DVD also comes with a Dolby Digital 2.0 channel audio commentary, which is explored further below.

THE EXTRAS

Audio commentary
The audio commentary soundtrack features writer and director Matthew George as well as writer and actor Lachy Hulme. The two of them discuss shooting the film in and around Perth and in Melbourne, the sets used, etc. They also consider the use of real news footage and the Andrew Denton show as well as re-creating the news reports that were based on the research these two carried out when writing this screenplay. The characters, and the cast are also discussed. These two guys even give some interesting tips for aspiring filmmakers who are working on a tight budget.

Theatrical Trailer
The trailer for this film starts much the same way that the film does. It’s one of those trailers that contains most of the best bits from the film. It is presented in an aspect of 2.35:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Running time is 2.29 minutes.

Deleted Scenes
Selecting this option plays a montage of deleted scenes from the film. All are presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 widescreen, but the visual quality is somewhat lacklustre. The deleted scenes have Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound and total running time is around 17 minutes.

SUMMARY

Written by Matthew George and Lachy Hulme (who also appears in the film as one of the main characters), and directed by Matthew George, Let’s Get Skase is an mildly interesting film, but I can’t say I found it overly entertaining. Perhaps the film might appeal to some of the creditors that Christopher Skase left in the lurch, but I reckon it’s a rental only. Technically speaking, the visual and audio transfer are quite good and there are a couple of worthwhile extra features.