R Generation (DVD/CD set)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B- (B for CD)     Extras: C     Main Program: B-     Music: B-

 

 

The special interest series of souped-up cars and that of economy and lower-cost luxury cars being pushed to the performance limit (ala The Fast & The Furious) of the latest cycle of drag racing come together in the new R Generation set.  Instead of a hapless journey with handheld camcorders, we get interviews with serious owners and customizers as follows:

 

Nilo Capiz - Acura Integra

Andrew Abraham - Ciclon Car

Dara Sodana - Honda Civic

Ian Shoel - Toyota MR2 Turbo

Bucky Lasek - BMW M3

Dary Ryan - Mitsubishi Eclipse

Gregg Chupp - 98 Honda Civic

 

 

Except for the BMW, I have to admit that none of these cars impress me, no matter what they do with them.  The interviews with the women are also intelligent who happen to model at these shows.  It also is not a customizing culture as appealing to me as the customizing that used to cars in the 1960s and 1970s.  However, I have more respect for what is going on in this field after seeing this program as this may be the first serious, non-flashy, mature title possibly in the entire home video/film field.  Yes, there is still flash and some female sex objects (maybe not enough here), but that was not the overbearing problem in past such titles.  R Generation is more for real than its competitors.

 

The letterboxed 1.78 X 1 image is not bad, but limited by simply not being anamorphically enhanced.  The source of what looks like video converted to a film look.  If it is film, there are some issues.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo are not bad, with the 5.1 being a bit better and a recent recording.  This is not a sound demo as the cars are more seen standing still then moving, but it is not bad.  Extras include a CD soundtrack in the single clear case.  On the DVD, the order of the owner/vehicle list above also points to the order of bonus scenes in the few extras, minus a section with more on the models.  A motion photo gallery with music and the promo trailer for this program are the remainder of what you get, but the DVD case is in a paperboard slide and a nice full color booklet is included inside.

 

I have to say the Holy Rollerz Christian Car Club was an amusing twist to the scene, though I doubted that we would have necessarily seen such a thing in the earlier waves of customizing.  It does show how safe (and maybe too restrained) and somewhat mainstreamed this has all become.  Hope we get a show on the “old school” days of such things.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo