Ang Lee's RIDE WITH THE DEVIL Blu-Ray Review

Ang Lee's first American studio film Ride with the Devil was released, albeit briefly, in 1999 with numerous cuts that were either ordered by the studio or made by the director himself. The Criterion Collection has released a restored director's cut that includes all of the excised footage. With or without the changes, Ride with the Devil is a subversive, action-packed film with the idiosyncratic touch that has come to define Lee's career.

Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire) and Jake Bull (Skeet Ulrich) are young friends living in Missouri during the height of the state's border war with Kansas. After Roedel's father is killed by abolitionist Jayhawkers, he and his buddy join up with an outlaw band of Confederate sympathizers called the Bushwhackers. Along their marauding path through the forests, the two Jakes encounter an odd pair of Bushwackers: George Clyde (Simon Baker) and his black friend Daniel Holt (Jeffrey Wright). Holt was once a slave, but Clyde bought his freedom was after his master was killed. Over time, Roedel develops both a nemesis (John Rhys Meyers) and a reluctant love interest (Jewel).

James Schamus' screenplay, which was adapted from Daniel Woodrell's novel Woe to Live on, is setup like a standard Hollywood historical drama. However, the owls are not as they seem because the script pulls some non-standard moves like dropping seemingly major characters deep into the story and unexpectedly shuffling the narrative. The major turning point in the story is a full-scale reenactment of William Quantrill's apocalyptic 1863 raid on Lawrence, Kansas in which the town was razed and dozens of people were slaughtered. It is at this point that the film shifts from a story of two conflicted childhood friends into a complex, nuanced portrait of race in America.

As one might expect from Ang Lee, Ride with the Devil has a visual richness and scope that belies its modest budget. Although the film is predominantly focused on dramatic scenes, action is used to drive the narrative. The battle scenes are big and thrillingly violent. Frederick Elmes' cinematography (the film was shot in and is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio) gives these scenes an epic feel.

The film boasts an extremely interesting cast with appearances by familiar faces like Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, Jeffrey Wright, Jim Caviezel, Jewel (her first and only film role), and Mark Ruffalo. The performances generally strong with Wright and Maguire as standouts. There are also few outliers, including Jewel, who is OK, and Skeet Ulrich's wild portrayal of a flamboyant racist guerrilla.

Criterion's cut of Ride With the Devil clocks in at 2 hours, 46 minutes while the theatrical version ran 2 hours, 19 minutes. The additional scenes, which are discussed in depth in an audio commentary with Ang Lee and James Schamus, mostly involve exposition or tonal tweaks (e.g., showing more period detail that doesn't necessarily drive the narrative).

The Blu-Ray specs and extras are superb. The main Blu-Ray audio track is encoded in DTS-HD Master Audio. The disc features not one, but two full-length audio commentaries. As mentioned earlier, one commentary captures Lee and Schamus in conversation. The other commentary track assembles Frederick Elmes (director of photography), Drew Kunin (sound designer) and Mark Friedberg (production designer). A new interview with Jeffrey Wright is the sole video extra. A booklet with three essays, including a cinematic history of the Lawrence raid by Daniel Woodrell, rounds out the package.