Predators

"The weak fall, the strong reign supreme", declares one of the captions in Crucified, the two-minute 'motion comic' (viz. comicbook drawings presented as a slideshow with minimal movement of cut-outs), in which, according to a statement on the menu page, "the film's biggest mystery is revealed." Apparently, then, the film's biggest mystery is this: how did the old-style predator end up crucified as a living trophy in the new-style predators' base camp? And the answer: because he was hunted and then crucified as a trophy by the new-style predators.

In other words, there is nothing - nothing – in this motion comic that could not be inferred simply from watching the film itself. There is no mystery at all. Adding insult to injury, this cheaply produced non-cartoon is the only extra to be found on the DVD (or at least on the review copy) – although there is, it must be admitted, welcome provision of English descriptive audio for the sight impaired and of English subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as an extra digital copy of the film for easy downloading to portable devices.

What is so galling about this paucity of extras is that, in a world where the weak fall and the strong reign supreme, it is very much DVD users who are being forced into the weak camp. Purchase the Blu-ray triple-pack version of this film (catalogue number 4980507001), and not only do you get the Blu-ray, the DVD and the digital download copy, but also a host of élite extras, including a full commentary from director Nimród Antal and producer Robert Rodriguez, deleted and extras scenes, and a host of featurettes. The only discernible reason why these were not also included on the old-style DVD version is predatory marketing of the newer format. So if you happen not to own a Blu-ray player, you, too, will end up feeling crucified.