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Wu: Story Of The Wu-Tang Clan
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jeremiah Chin (27th December 2008). |
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The Film
 Musicians have played a fairly popular role in documentaries or biopic subjects, mainly because of their prominence and fame outside of the film or TV industry that will bring people in to watch. Usually it’s a rags to riches story, with some problems (typically drugs) thrown in the middle. “Wu: The Story of the Wu-Tang Clan” isn’t particularly different, following the lives of the 9 members of the Wu-Tang Clan rise from the rugged land of shaolin to become a huge hip-hop empire with different production venues and aspects. The film focuses on the origins of the "Wu" in Staten Island and the different members different roots in Staten Island and Brooklyn, putting together their first music videos and building up to the release and success of "36 Chambers." Using early music video footage, interviews with those who were around in the beginning of the "Wu," with a voiceover by director Gerald Barclay (also known as Gee-Bee), the story and evolution of the Wu-Tang Clan growing from the love of old kung-fu movies into a super group that would try to divide and conquer the hip-hop world. Footage that Gee-Bee was able to put together into the documentary was incredibly impressive. There are some fantastic early interviews with the Wu-Tang Clan, especially an early interview with the RZA where he explains “I’ve mastered sound. That’s what makes my beats so faaat.” It seems though like there’s some odd jumps in terms of the documentary’s chronology where a good deal of time will suddenly pass where it feels like there’s some details missing, but the story of the "Wu" stays cohesive and fluid through the documentary. The film mainly focuses on those surrounding the Wu-Tang Clan, with interviews with the "Wu" themselves peppered in. The choice to spend nearly the entire second half of the film on ODB’s imprisonment and eventual death is an interesting decision and works well, but skips over a few parts that may have been out of reach due to rights concerns, like his infamous appearance at the Grammy Awards. It’s a great, if short, inside look at the Wu-Tang Clan that could have gone further, but what makes it unique is the lack of dependence on interviews with the "Wu" themselves. Talking to people that most people (or even some Wu-Tang Clan fans) may never have heard of such as Popa Wu, Iceline Jones, and others who have spent time around the "Wu" in their early careers brings up an interesting perspective, a way of seeing where the "Wu" comes from and giving a richer perspective of their origins and growth. Overall, “Wu: The Story of The Wu-Tang Clan” is a brief and entertaining documentary, with a mere 80 minute run-time it’s a worthwhile look for anyone who ever caught any Wu-Tang Clan members or affiliates in other movies, or even anyone who has just heard their songs on the radio. It complicates the lives of the "Wu" members to a degree, especially the pressure Russel Jones felt to maintain his ODB persona. However the documentary misses out on some key points, such as ODB’s Grammy appearance, that would have made for a fuller documentary experience and smooth out some of the rough patches within.
Video
Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen the video quality is not spectacular, but not bad either. Most of the early footage is in fairly low quality, but understandable considering that the early 90’s footage would have been in lower quality cassettes that would be harder to up convert after the fact. Additionally the documentary was made to air on TV, so there’s some grain and quality issues that come with that, but overall it’s fine to look at and not distracting.
Audio
The English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo also results from the made-for-TV quality, but comes through clean and fine. There’s a good audio and levels balance between different interviewees and the beats played for background throughout the documentary never get too distracting. There are no optional subtitles on this disc.
Extras
The single disc set comes with a fair amount of quality special features including four featurettes, a music video and a bonus trailer. “‘Raekwon the Chef’ reveals the Wu-Tang Recipe” this featurette runs for 9 minutes and 35 seconds. This is an extended interview with Raekwon where he talks about the origins and formula behind the "Wu," going in to the origins of their names like Method Man or Ol’ Dirty Bastard. A nice extended interview that’s well supplemented with clips of "Wu" music videos. “a href=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0753526/>RZA ‘cuts’ through the Hip-Hop World” runs for 4 minutes and 32 seconds. This featurette features clips from the documentary and an extended interview with the a href=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0753526/>RZA where he discusses the financial and business side of the group and the gap that’s been left in the "Wu," or as he puts it the leg missing from the Voltron, now that Ol’ Dirty Bastard has passed away. Another interesting interview. “Behind the Wu with Director Gee-Bee” featurette runs for 15 minutes and 32 seconds. The director does an interview with himself, it would have been nice to do in a commentary but on it’s own it’s still a good featurette. The director goes through his life with the different members of the group, telling stories of childhood growing up with different people and how the group got together. Another interesting backstory, though may have been better as a commentary. “Iceline’s Loss: Her Relationship with ODB” featurette runs for 6 minutes 48 seconds. In this extended interview, Russel Jones AKA ODB’s widow talks mostly about their personal relationship and the relationship between ODB and drugs and what happened in his final days when he died soon after being released from jail. Another nice feature, a brief though interesting interview with the widow. "Wu-Tang is Born: Protect Ya Neck" music video runs for 4 minutes and 40 seconds. This is simply the "Protect Ya Neck" music video, a good look at the early Wu. Bonus trailers include: - “American Gangster: The Complete Second Season” runs for 31 seconds. - “BlacKout” runs 2 minutes 30 seconds. - “American Gangster” runs for 1 minute 10 seconds. - “Hustle and Flow” runs 2 minutes 34 seconds.
Overall
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