The Warriors: Ultimate Directors Cut DVD Review:

The introduction to this DVD by director Walter Hill is basically just Hill proclaiming how much he hates the director’s cut and special edition DVDs, and then explaining why The Warriors Ultimate Director’s Cut is the exception. The reasoning behind this is that audiences haven’t been able to capture the Greek mythology and comic book feeling of the film, until it was put together again in the director’s cut, which surprisingly is no longer than the original theatrical cut.

The Warriors follows a gang on its journey home one night through the streets of New York. After being framed for the murder of a leader who was going to join all of the New York gangs to take over the city, every gang wants to kill the Warriors. They have to make it back to their turf in Coney Island or they will be hunted down by the many gangs of New York. As they make their journey they must pass through different parts of the city, and in each area is a different gang. Whether fighting their way out, or making alliances, or just plain running, The Warriors must use wit and skill to get home. It ends up being a long night for the gang and some of them don’t make it home.

Much of the film is surreal, with gangs in full costume and makeup. This is unlike a realistic styled gang film, but instead it is meant to be slightly futuristic and stylized. The high point of this is the chase and fight between the Warriors and the Baseball Furies, who all have their faces painted. It takes understanding to know that this film is not meant to be realistic, which makes the whole journey much more fun.

Along with the director’s cut of the film, this new DVD also features a four-part documentary about the making of the film. It gets into all of the details in the making of the movie, but it also goes in order of how the film is seen, rather than how it was filmed, which is great. We see the making of the beginning to the end with comments by important cast and crew members. There is also a lot of attention given to the casting process which featured all new talent since this was such a low budget film. There is also a theatrical trailer to go with the special feature.



Ryan Izay