Hugo seemed like such a departure for director Martin Scorsese; a man who usually delivers very adult and captivating crime films that usually revolve around gangsters and are nothing less than extraordinary. A family film featuring none of a director's known genre trademarks and relies on nothing more than his visionary and artistic style just feels so rare these days. Not many directors are willing to take that sort of risk, especially at this point in their career. That's where "Boardwalk Empire" comes in. "Boardwalk Empire" feels exactly like what you'd expect and love from Scorsese and was more than likely the happy middle ground while he was working on Hugo. Even though Hugo didn't make its way into theaters until 2011 and "Boardwalk Empire" debuted on HBO in 2010, Scorsese probably had some overlapping duties on both projects somewhere in there. But enough about Hugo, "Boardwalk Empire" is very much its own beast and it wastes little time ripping into your core right from the start.
"Boardwalk Empire" uses every inch of its HBO television format; every curse word under the sun is used frequently with a very particular fondness for the F-word in general, women seem to be itching at the chance to take their clothes off (and more than likely are since a good portion of the first season takes place in a brothel in Chicago) as both full frontal nudity for both sexes is included along with fairly explicit sex scenes, and then there's the exceptional amount of violence in the show you've become familiar with when stories are told about gangsters. Guys getting whacked, headshots, beat downs, choke-outs, hangings, and robberies that go south only begin to skim the top of what to expect from the show. None of this should be considered a bad thing either as all of these ingredients along with the storyline, the cast, and the exceptional set pieces only help contribute to the powerhouse the show has become.
Take Shelter was one of the films that made it on to many "top 10 best films" of last year and it's fascinating that two thirds of its main cast are supporting characters on this show. Shea Whigham plays Eli Thompson, the brother of Steve Buscemi's Nucky Thompson. Despite being brothers, the underlying tension between the two is what you'll take away most from their relationship as Eli seems to not only envy his brother's treasurer position but feels like he could do what his brother does even better. Michael Shannon is Agent Nelson Van Alden; a strict prohibition agent that puts his job before anything else. Van Alden is a very religious man, but the way he honors The Lord becomes very peculiar as his personal demons come to light as the season progresses. Steve Buscemi is excellent as Nucky Thompson, but Michael Pitt really comes into his own as Jimmy Darmody. The way Jimmy evolves, his past with the war, and the struggle to keep his family together causes Jimmy to be the most standout character of the entire cast. Stephen Graham, Michael Stuhlbarg, Kelly Macdonald, and Vincent Piazza aren't to be overlooked either. The ensemble cast is just really spectacular all around.
What makes "Boardwalk Empire" work as well as it does is the way it seems to capture the atmosphere of 1920. The set pieces are extraordinary, especially on the boardwalk. The classic cars and the custom made suits for the men and the extravagant dresses for the women all seem to be pulled straight from that particular time period and placed on this boardwalk of a rebuilt Atlantic City from over ninety years ago. Then there's the way that nearly everyone smoked back then and that is more than relevant here. If somebody isn't drinking, then they're more than likely smoking and there's rarely a scene without one of the two occurring. The music may be the coup de grace though that really seals the essence of the early 20's. They really did an exceptional job making you feel like you've traveled back to this time period.
"Boardwalk Empire" seems to have all of the appropriate seeds planted to achieve greatness. You get a front row seat to see how gangsters and politicians do business, you have a fascinating storyline with a rogue's gallery full of interesting characters all featuring their own quirks and traits to allow you to fall in love with or come to hate each and every one of them, and the show really makes you feel like you're walking on the boardwalk of Atlantic City in 1920. It is on the cusp of really fantastic things. With that said, I don't think season one really gets to those things just yet. There are teases that feature some really incredible scenes (Jimmy's boardwalk beat down of the photographer is a favorite of mine), but the first season feels like just that; an introduction. Hopefully the seasons to come can capitalize on this and "Boardwalk Empire" can evolve into one of the greatest shows to ever be produced.
The Blu-ray set is pretty loaded with special features. Each disc features an Enhanced Viewing Mode for all twelve episodes. This mode goes behind the scenes while discussing the production, history locations, the music, and cast interviews among many other things. The main issue I had was that every time I tried to watch the Enhanced Viewing Mode on any episode my Blu-ray player would reboot. I made sure it was up to date, but it still had this problem. I also had this problem whenever I went to "Episodes" on any of the main menu on the discs. I had to "Play All" and skip through the episodes I'd already seen if I only watched one episode at a time and returned to it later. So I'm not entirely sure if that's because there was a problem with the set or my player, but considering the player is only a few months old I'm thinking it's the former.
Other special features include a Character Dossier which features profiles of every character and full length bios, six audio commentaries with Terence Winter, Steve Buscemi, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Shannon, and more, Speakeasy Tour which is a twenty four minute tour of some of the famed Prohibition speakeasies in Chicago and New York with cast from the show, Atlantic City: The Original Sin City is a nearly thirty minute documentary on the history of Atlantic City during the 1920s, a nineteen minute Making Boardwalk Empire featurette is mostly just an intro to the characters but also goes into detail about the show's conception and how Martin Scorsese became involved, and my personal favorite Creating the Boardwalk. It's only five minutes long, but it gives you a look at how the boardwalk was built on the show. A real set was built outside as CG was used to add extra stories and the ocean. It's just really incredible to see just how much of this show is computer generated.
The Blu-ray set of The Complete First Season of Boardwalk Empire is unrated, presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio in DTS Surround Sound, features all twelve episodes, and is approximately 733 minutes long. It (along with the DVD version of the set) is now available in most retail outlets and online stores.
Comments