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Movie:		8.0
Picture:		6.0
Sound:		8.0
Extras:		6.0
Score:		7.0

Director(s):	Brett Ratner
Starring:	Mariah Carey • Mickey Rourke • Public Enemy • Wu Tang Clan • Sean Combs • Redman
Genre:	Documentary
Release Date:	September 15, 2009

List Price:	DVD - $24.95
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Not long before Michael Bay poured acid down fanboy throats with his double whammy of escapist fertilizer, one name could be heard used with an equal amount of fervor: Brett Ratner. “The rat,” as he was affectionately dubbed by a cavalcade of enraged fanboys, had done a major disservice to the community in the form of X-Men: The Last Stand. Rumor of rushed rewrites and a hectic shooting schedule plagued the film and though Ratner’s entry opened with the biggest box-office take of the trilogy, The Last Stand was critically derided and universally cast out by most fanboys.

My own relationship with Ratner’s work skews on the side of shrewd criticism. I enjoyed Rush Hour 1 and 2, thought Red Dragon was effective if not particularly stellar and was one of the few people I know (aside from my Dad) who enjoyed Ratner’s oft-quoted critical and box office failure The Family Man. I walked out in a huff at the end of The Last Stand, genuinely pissed off at how Ratner squandered Bryan Singer’s carefully manufactured set-up in X2. Rush Hour 3 fared no better, a glossy and empty sequel to two pretty entertaining flicks. It is with this background that I came to The Shooter Series, Volume One: Brett Ratner, a presentation that most meticulous cinephiles will immediately admit apes the successful Director’s Label Series, which brought us the works of Spike Jonze and Mark Romanek, among others.

That detail aside, this single-DVD comes with a 32-page collectible book and provides a surprisingly streamlined, confident presentation of Brett Ratner’s past and present work. Don’t expect to see an Bonus Features bit at the end of this review, this DVD is all about extras, though the bulk of the presentation is taken up by Ratner’s sometimes admirable but mostly sizable collection of directed music videos, numbering at 21. Featuring Mariah Carey, P. Diddy, LL Cool J, Madonna, and Wu-Tang Clan, the videos vary from grainy low-budget quality to the eye-catching luster of P. Diddy’s titular “Diddy,” one of the best videos of the bunch.

The majority of Ratner’s work has the distinct or rather distilled appeal that made him a fixture in Hollywood. I could not single out one video that lacked professionalism, even the gritty and probably made-on-the-cheap Redman video showing a streamlined commercial artistry. The best videos on the disc, for my money, are LL Cool J’s “Pink Cookies in a Plastic Bag Getting Crushed by Buildings,” a smooth old-school classic that recalls the ease of Spike Lee’s lighter features in how it tells its simple story, Diddy’s aforementioned self-titled video, expertly cut and thoroughly entertaining to watch, and of course Wu-Tang Clan’s “Triumph,” probably the best music video Ratner has ever shot as well as one of the all-time best rap videos I’ve ever seen.

The downside to the majority of the videos is the similarity with which the biggest stars bellow out their hits. The Mariah Carey videos are chiefly unappealing, with celebrity cameos scattered throughout and a shine that's false and unearned. Each video comes with a director commentary, a welcome addition that is not always the case on the Director’s Label.

The videos clock in at around 90 minutes, but there are plenty of shorter features to round out this collection. “A Gun for Hire” features a number of commercials helmed by Ratner for Coca Cola and Guitar Hero among others. The commercials are often 30-minute spots, short and sweet but quite effective, especially the memorable PSA for the International Center for the Deaf. “NYU Films” present four of Ratner’s shorts, made while studying at NYU. These are, for lack of a better word, poor in execution, but ambitious in concept and feature a young Rebecca Gayheart.

Finally, “The Vault” features home footage of a young Ratner, a short film on modeling titled “Beard” and a segment of The Charlie Rose Show on which Ratner made an appearance. Particularly curious is “Meet Mickey Rourke,” looking at the still-rugged actor in the midst of preparing for a bout during his boxing career. It is a very well-shot, quick snapshot of the actor who would disappear only to reemerge in recent years and the producers of this collection do well to include it here. Rounding out the set is a 30-minute documentary on Ratner, titled “From Hip-Hip to Hollywood,” which offers marginally useful info and features the director himself, who shows off the fast-talking enthusiasm that made him well-known and similarly much-criticized.

Overall, the video quality varies, from the grainy early music videos and NYU shorts to generally excellent looking high-production-value videos that are the majority of this set. Audio quality is good throughout, naturally suffering on some of the aging works but coming through loud and clear most of the time. As a look at Ratner, this is not brief but not predominantly in-depth. Maybe that’s the way the director would have wanted it, a veneer that reveals essentially little under the surface. Ratner’s skill is in making that veneer look like a million bucks and this set is a clear testament to that talent. Whatever your opinion on the director, this is worth taking a look at if only to broaden your horizons and get a minor insight into a divisive helmer whose films have together grossed more than a billion dollars. Go figure.