Blu-Ray Review: ‘Stardust’ Sparkles with Exuberance, Imagination

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CHICAGO – Matthew Vaughn is a filmmaker unafraid of taking risks. His films are often messy and uneven, but they have more energy, exuberance and conviction than the vast majority of Hollywood blockbusters. Though he’s never quite topped his directorial debut, “Layer Cake,” his 2007 sophomore effort “Stardust” has nearly all the trappings of a future cult classic, with the key exception of a large fan base.

Hopefully this luminous Blu-Ray release will endear Vaughn’s under-appreciated lark to a fresh new audience. Though it lacks the uproarious laughs and electric romantic chemistry of its obvious inspiration, “The Princess Bride,” “Stardust” is far more sprawling in its tireless invention. Yet the convoluted plot is nearly ambitious to a fault, threatening to implode on itself as it attempts to cram in as many elements as possible from its source material (the whimsical novel by fantasy author Neil Gaiman). What makes Vaughn ultimately triumph is his utter refusal to sanitize or commercialize the material for mainstream consumption.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

From one end of the screen to the other, “Stardust” consistently brims with life and unpredictability, exuding a spirit of cheerful playfulness that is utterly infectious. As in “Kick-Ass,” Vaughn took a gamble here by casting a relative unknown, Charlie Cox, in the lead role of Tristan, since most female viewers would’ve preferred the more standard hunk, Ben Barnes (the future Prince Caspian), who plays Cox’s father in the film’s prologue. Tristan may be the least interesting character in the film, but Cox brings a sweet vulnerability to the role that is quite disarming. After promising to fetch a falling star for the girl of his dreams, Tristan encounters the star, who takes the form of a beautiful yet agitated young woman named Yvaine (played by ever-ethereal Claire Danes). Soon, the two reluctant companions are being pursued by an assortment of evildoers, including Septimus (Mark Strong), the ruthless would-be heir to a throne, and Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), a wretched witch hellbent on obtaining everlasting life. There’s also a cross-dressing pirate, a goat awkwardly transformed into a man, an elderly guard with a startling mastery of martial arts, several wisecracking ghosts and Ricky Gervais.

Charlie Cox initially tries to win the heart of Sienna Miller in Matthew Vaughn’s Stardust.
Photo credit: Paramount Home Entertainment

Not every gag works, but that hardly matters in a film chockfull of unexpected delights. There are several moments in the picture that deliver the sort oddball surprise that made the Hit Girl sequences in “Kick-Ass” such a kinetic blast. That is most true of the scenes involving Robert De Niro, who effortlessly steals the film as Captain Shakespeare, a friendly pirate with a formidably macho exterior, who keeps his homosexuality a secret from his crew. His character could’ve been a cartoonish stereotype, but De Niro proves to be a natural charmer in a role that couldn’t have been more far removed from Travis Bickle (though the captain does partake in a show-stopping solo dance in front of his mirror). When Gervais pops up in a priceless cameo, and engages in some verbal repartee with De Niro, I finally realized what “Stardust” so obviously resembles: the feature-length version of one of those absurd fake movies witnessed in the great British sitcom, “Extras” (where Gervais plays a struggling actor forced to take bit parts in films). Gervais even gets to rattle off his trademark “Extras” catchpharse, “You havin’ a laugh?” “Stardust” is the type of curiosity so off-the-wall goofy that it must be seen to be believed. One thing’s for certain: everyone involved was clearly havin’ a laugh.

Stardust was released on Blu-Ray on Sept. 7, 2010. Photo credit: Paramount Home Entertainment

“Stardust” is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio), accompanied by English, French, German, Italian, and two Spanish (Castilian and Latin American) audio tracks. The disc is loaded with extras, several of which are recycled from the film’s DVD incarnation, though the five-part, hour-long making-of documentary is featured in pristine HD. Gaiman is prominently featured in the interviews, where he reveals the origins of his story, which he says was never built to be a film. Vaughn says he envisioned the project to be a hybrid of “The Princess Bride” and “Midnight Run,” while admitting that he had to greatly alter the book’s uncinematic third act, while condensing the book’s first sixty pages into the film’s opening two minutes (which distressed Gaiman, to say the least). Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura says that Vaughn aimed to translate his smaller independent aesthetic to a larger canvas while keeping the same crew members he had worked with since producing “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.” The filmmakers consciously avoided borrowing from popular fantasy franchises, such as “Harry Potter” and “Lord of the Rings,” and sought out beautiful locations in Iceland to Scotland in order to bring a level of visual gravity to the fantastical landscapes.

Vaughn and co-writer Goldman share a vibrant audio commentary in which they candidly point out the sequences that could’ve been improved with more money. The director is hilariously self-deprecating while analyzing a climactic wolf attack that is glaringly toothless. They also highlight a fascinating bit of studio hypocrisy centering on a scene where Cox wakes up in bed next to Danes. Both actors are clearly shirtless, yet the studio ruled that Cox’s lack of a shirt was “too sexual,” therefore forcing the effects artists to digitally add a shirt onto Cox (the effect is truly impressive if thoroughly inexplicable). In a brief 10-minute featurette, Gaiman and his illustrator, Charles Vess, prowl through a studio backlot while lamenting about elements of the book that were understandably cut. Five minutes of deleted scenes include an odd alternate ending (featuring Cox in old age makeup) and more mugging from the ghostly greek chorus. The biggest missed opportunity on the disc is the all-too-brief blooper reel, which should’ve included the complete unedited outtakes from the improvised routine between De Niro and Gervais, which offers ample evidence that they may very well be the next great comic duo. Scorsese, I hope you’re listening!

By MATT FAGERHOLM Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com [email protected]