21 Advantage Player, Basic Strategy, Money Plays, Commentary

21 is directed by Robert Luketic and stars Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, and Lawrence Fishburne. ***

21 is based on the true story of MIT students who developed a card-counting strategy, and took a trip to Vegas to put their skills to the ultimate test - and financial gain. A young man with a high level of intelligence is recruited into this group - with hopes that it will help him pay his way through school. But it isn't long before this venture becomes overwhelming - and he finds it increasingly difficult to stay one step ahead of things. ***

21 is one of those many movies that straddles the thumbs up/thumbs down border. It's not a great film, but not a bad one by any means. The stylized production jazzes up what would otherwise probably come off as a boring experience, and the cinematography and usage of colors are fantastic throughout. But the experience as a whole feels overwhelming, with too much crammed into a single movie. ***

21 is not award-winning material. It's (probably) not going to show up on any critics “best films of the year” lists. It's not even a great film. But it is an entertaining story, and worth watching at least once. So rent it. ---

Image And Sound:

A very good DVD transfer. The audio quality here is top notch, and the whole thing looks fantastic. The cinematography and color usage that stand as some of the movie's best assets come across great on a home video format. There are no major picture issues that detract from the experience. ---

Not a whole lot of stuff to speak of here. The commentary track from the filmmakers is the stand-out feature in this set - any fan of the movie will enjoy it. It's more from a “making of” perspective, but it never gets stale. I wish they'd gotten the cast involved as well, but no big deal there. The “Advantage Player” featurette is a brief (only about 5 minutes) featurette that deals with the history of blackjack and strategies players of the game have used over the years. While an entertaining view for any fan of the film or blackjack in general, it's way too brief. Money plays is almost equally brief, focusing on the film's production design. Like the aforementioned featurette, there is a lot of entertaining stuff here, but it's too brief. Topping off the package is Basic Strategy, a nearly half-hour piece that goes into more behind-the-scenes detail - it's an excellent supplement to the already-impressive commentary. There aren't a whole lot of features here, disappointingly, but I'm grateful anything got included at all. ***

If you have a Blu-Ray player, get the Blu-Ray edition. In addition to the obvious improved image/sound quality, it also includes an exclusive Java-based blackjack game. ---

Final Words: