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Centennial Collection review

Brian | New York | 05/29/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Everything about the style and substance of Polanski's legendary 'Chinatown' has been covered thoroughly in the surrounding reviews. This is simply to clarify what's included in the 2009 Centennial Collection edition (recently discontinued) of the film versus earlier versions: new features in this two-disc release are an audio commentary by CT screenwriter Robert Towne with David Fincher (the director of 'Seven' and 'Fight Club' I presume); 'Chinatown: an Appreciation,' a 26-minute documentary composed mainly of interviews with a handful of unrelated Hollywood illuminati; and three marginally interesting featurettes delving into the technical background of CT's 'Water and Power' plot thread. The transfer and other bonus material (three mini-docs with insights from Nicholson, Polanski, Towne and producer Robert Evans, plus theatrical trailer) seem to be identical to those that appear on the 2007 Special Collector's Edition. For completists, all that's missing here is the 13-minute Nicholson-Polanski-Towne-Evans interview featurette which can be found on the original CT DVD release (and 2006 re-release), although this becomes more or less redundant if you have the three mini-docs. So, in a nutshell, while the Centennial edition offers nothing spectacular it's probably the copy you want to own if you're reading this."