Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Power of Few Blu-ray Movie Review

Actually more like the power of one—Quentin Tarantino.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 8, 2013

“Crowdfunding” has become the latest craze among filmmakers, with Variety reporting that various Kickstarter projects have raised north of $119 million over the past four years. This “grass roots” approach tended to initially be the preferred method of raising funds for those without a strong industry presence, but more and more established stars and other creative types have taken this path, often to rather startling results. The film version of Veronica Mars raised almost four million more than its goal, and Zach Braff just had a cover story in Variety touting his bid to raise around three million for the follow up to Garden State. (Other stars like Melissa Joan Hart have been considerably less successful with crowdfunding.) So with this sudden onslaught of “group investment”, perhaps it’s not so very odd to hear that The Power of Few got some pre-release buzz with an announcement that the film would try something that might be termed “crowdediting” (I fear this may be the start of a brave new world of “crowd” prefixed terms), with an online contest to determine the cut of the film’s final sequence. That buzz was fairly short lived, however (news reports of it date back to 2011), and for whatever reason the film wasn’t released theatrically until earlier this year. Despite a rather remarkably diverse cast and a Tarantino-esque interweaving of tangentially connected stories, as well as a decidedly non-linear storytelling approach, The Power of Few ends up being more like a fairly interesting experiment than a full fledged cohesive film experience. Writer-director Leone Marucci’s only previous feature film was a 2004 effort called Reaction, so it’s obvious the filmmaker isn’t in any big rush to get new product to the screen, and The Power of Few definitely shows a burgeoning talent who isn’t afraid to bite off quite a lot—even if that means he can’t quite chew all of it.

The Power of Few might have been better titled The Power to Choose, for writer-director Leone Marucci’s perhaps unremarkable thesis in the film seems to be nothing other than a riff on that old adage of “be careful what you wish for”, or perhaps more saliently, “be careful what you choose to do”. We’re introduced, Tarantino style, to a bunch of different characters whose stories honeycomb around each other in unpredictable ways, but with several of the tales ending in carnage rather surprisingly early in the film. What gives? Then through a bit of sleight of hand which might be thought of as the flip side of George Bailey’s experience in It's a Wonderful Life, we’re shown another set of outcomes which are decidedly rosier. Marucci hedges his bets here, hinting that homeless person Doke (Christopher Walken) may either be experiencing massive hallucinations or at the very least is a magically infused individual who can alter reality himself with his own version of a Jedi mind trick. And just for good measure there's a subplot involving the theft of The Shroud of Turin which may or may not have something to do with the mysterious goings on.

Aside from Doke and his tagalong little person Brown (Jordan Prentice), the cast is rather wide and as they say eclectic. The New World’s exotic Q’orianka Kilcher is on hand as Alexa, a motorcycle delivery woman who takes possession of a mysterious package but who then gets mixed up with Dom (Jesse Bradford), a young guy who’s on the lam for an initially undisclosed reason (Kilcher is also one of many co-producers of the film). Christian Slater and Nicky Whelan are two undercover operatives working for some mysterious shadow agency and who are tracking, and ultimately questioning, the guy who handed the package off to Alexa. Cory (Devon Gearheart) is a well meaning teenager who resorts to some bad decision making in an attempt to get a needed prescription for his ailing baby brother, after his harridan mother and addlepated grandfather refuse to help. And Juvenile and Anthony Anderson portray two street toughs who are chasing Dom. Moon Bloodgood is a sort of super spy who is behind the theft of the Shroud of Turin, and through this weird web of interconnectedness a young girl played by Tione Johnson wanders, complaining about having bitten her cheek while chewing some gum.

All of these characters (and several more, in fact) intersect in various ways and actually in several scenarios as the film progresses. Marucci exploits a lot of gimmickry throughout the film, both technical (fast motion, a quasi-newsreel) and structural (we get little vignettes told from various points of view). While The Power of Few is often really interesting in little dribs and drabs, as a cohesive work it tends to fray at the edges, especially with the sudden change from tragedy to something at least approaching happy endings. The whole Shroud of Turin subplot is odd, to say the least, and while it seems to be hinting at a sort of Divine Intervention, there’s no really explicit nod in that direction, making the whole enterprise ultimately a bit off putting. Marucci has the directorial finesse of a young Tarantino (despite the gimmicks), but his storytelling doesn’t have the same grace or wit, let alone the hyperverbosity that is Tarantino’s trademark. That aspect may actually be a good thing, for Marucci makes his points in small touches rather than grand gestures. The Power of Few may not be a completely realized success, but it’s fascinating enough to engender hope that there is more Marucci coming down the pike.

The Power of Few Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Power of Few is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Vivendi Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This Red One shot feature offers the typically sleek, crystalline appearance of this format, with accurate, if at times intentionally muted, color and excellent fine object detail. Marucci exploits extreme close-ups quite a bit of the time, which only helps fine detail pop all the further. Marucci also engages in some "bells and whistles" filmmaking, utilizing "helmet cams" for some of the motorcycle footage, speeding things up during a foot chase, and, in one odd but funny moment, making things look like a television news broadcast as we see what's going on inside Doke's mind. Contrast is pushed at times, giving the often sun dappled outdoor scenes an effulgent glow surrounding the characters.

The Power of Few Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Power of Few sports a very effective DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which offers consistent, if sometimes subtle, immersion and surround activity. The best moments are the manic motorcycle and foot chases, where a glut of discrete channelization ably creates a panicked feel. But even some of the relatively quieter scenes, like a pivotal moment in a drugstore where some characters are out in the market area while another character is in a storeroom, offer really effective uses of differing ambient noises and senses of aural space. Fidelity is excellent and there is some boisterous LFE at several key moments in the film.

The Power of Few Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Power of Few (1080i; 4:05) offers several of the film's stars musing about choice and philosophy.


• Cast Interviews includes:

  Christian Slater (1080i; 4:02)

  Christopher Walken (1080i; 3:54)

  Anthony Anderson (1080i; 5:12)

  Juvenile (1080i; 3:20)

• Community Outreach are brief interviews with some of the extras in the film and Includes:

  Clementine & Carrie (1080i; 1:03)

  Local Teens (1080i; 2:22)

• Deleted Scene (1080p; 1:21)


• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:24)

The Power of Few Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tarantino delights in weird tangents and apparently unconnected stories which then magically interconnect, but even with the wildly hyperbolic elements that have come to define this immensely influential auteur, his film usually have at least a semblance of reason and sense. The Power of Few is a bit too circumspect for its own good. It raises a lot of compelling questions, but it offers few concrete answers. That may actually make it enticing for a certain breed of filmgoer who likes provocation without explanation, but for those who prefer things at least a little more straightforwardly presented, this experience may be frustrating, at least at times. Marucci obviously has a strong grasp of film craft, and a lot of The Power of Few works very well indeed, at least in parts, even if as a whole things are too disjointed to ever completely gel. Despite some passing reservations, this Blu-ray, which features great video and audio, comes Recommended.