The Salton Sea on DVD

It’s pretty much a safe bet these days that any movie starring Val Kilmer won’t be very good.

It’s not that he’s a bad actor, and probably not even because he chooses bad scripts, but it seems that perhaps because of his bad boy reputation, few filmmakers are willing to hire him.

Anyway, Kilmer plays Danny, an undercover drug-addict who turns dealers into the police. He was arrested for being under the influence, but the cops cut him a deal provided he helped them. He’s lost, depressed, and searching for a way out of his rut.

Or is he…?

The Salton Sea does it right in that we never really know who Danny is or whom he’s really working for. Is he Danny, is he Tom, or is he someone completely different? The idea behind this movie is great. It could have been one heck of a flick.

We’re not even sure where it went wrong; it just doesn’t have anything that's really memorable in it. The cast are all great, particularly Vincent D’onofrio as the noseless drug dealer, and the screenplay is pretty good. But somewhere along the line, The Salton Sea just fizzles out to a predictable and unsatisfying ending.

There’s lots of drug use, violence, and twists and turns (some good, some bad). If that sounds like your bag, check out The Salton Sea.

The DVD looks better on paper than it actually is. The picture (1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen) is not all that great. It’s soft, grainy, dark; in its defense, this actually adds a little to the feel of the movie, but it doesn’t need to be this bad. Since the movie is so dark anyway, a clear picture would have made it easier to see. The audio, despite being 5.1 Dolby Digital, is pretty much an all-front track. There are a couple of gunshots that manage to ooze out of the rear speakers, but everything else is confined to the front of the room. Dialogue is clear and music is perfectly audible, but more surround use is always nice.

On the back of the box, it appears as though there is a multitude of extras, but it’s really only two; Warner just decided to take up a lot of space explaining them in this case. Two “documentaries” entitled “Meth and Method: The Production Design of The Salton Sea” and “Embracing the Chaos: A Conversation with the Cast of The Salton Sea” are pretty much all there is aside from the trailer, and both docs are fairly short. Understandably, this is an indie film that didn’t light up the box office, so the lack of features is not a big deal. Still, the picture and sound should have been better.

The Salton Sea, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
103 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) 16X9 enhanced, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Starring Val Kilmer, Vincent D’Onofrio, Doug Hutchison, Peter Sarsgaard, Adam Goldberg, Deborah Kara Unger, Chandra West, B.D. Wong
Produced by Frank Darabont, Eriq La Salle, Ken Aguado and Butch Robinson
Written by Tony Gayton
Directed by D.J. Caruso

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