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List Price: $59.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 16475
Released: July 8, 2008 |
| Our Price: $26.91 |
| Used Price: $21.97 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Van Ray and Deaq Hayes are cops, but they don’t carry badges. They’re more likely to carry a case full of Benjamins. Everything they need to fight high-end criminals, they get from the Candy Store – the armory of toys and bling confiscated from busted crimelords and used to help the cops pass as legit criminals. From creators McG (the Charlie’s Angels movies) and John McNamara (TV’s The Fugitive) comes the undercover overdrive of Fastlane. Tiffani Thiessen plays the hip Candy Store overseer. Peter Facinelli and Bill Bellamy are Van and Deaq, who may have different ’tudes about movies, tunes and hotties but who agree that what’s good is taking down the bad. Buckle up for their fast, 6-disc, 22-episode ride.
Description of Fastlane - The Complete Series:
Fastlane's "Candy Store," with its way-cool cars, gadgets, and bling, is once again open for business. Peter Facinelli, on live-wire (Tom) Cruise control, and Bill Bellamy star as Van and Deaq, two cops; one white and one black; one from Los Angeles, the other New York. They become partners when Van's partner, Deaq's older brother, is killed. Saved by the Bell graduate Tiffani Thiessen costars as Billie, who recruits them to join an elite undercover unit that makes full use of the Candy Store, "the ultimate backstage pass," a stockpile of the spoils of the unit's busts. "What we seize we keep," she informs them. "What we keep, we use." According to one of the bonus segments, Fastlane's creators wanted to produce a weekly movie. Apparently, that movie was The Fast and the Furious, by way of the Miami Vice TV series. This one-season guilty pleasure has some "serious oversteer," which makes it great fun to take out for a spin. Each flashy episode pulsates to the stylistic sizzle that co-executive producer McG brought to his Charlie's Angels films. There is elliptical editing, split screens, extensive use of slo-mo, envelope-pushing sex, and explosive violence. We'll never know how much gas Fastlane had in its tank; the series was reportedly too expensive (but it is all on the screen) and its viewership too low. So why invest in a canceled series that leaves viewers with a cliffhanger that will never be resolved? Because, it's a non-stop thrill ride that consistently subverts cop show conventions. The pilot episode, with McG behind the wheel, offers a scene that echoes 48 Hrs., in which Deaq cools a hostile country bar by leading patrons in a line dance. As did Miami Vice, the series also makes effective use of guest stars, including Iggy Pop, Tommy Lee, Naomi Campbell, Jay Mohr, and, in pre-stardom appearances, Terrence Howard and Mischa Barton. Another memorable recurring character is Maxim fave Jennifer Sky as bad girl Cassidy Shaw. Best of all is an old pro, Robert Forster, who gives an Emmy-worthy performance as Ray Ray, Van's estranged convict father who is sprung from prison to help Van get the psycho-bad guy who murdered Ray Ray's partner and best friend. Unfortunately, much of the show's killer soundtrack was not cleared for DVD. Even so, Fastlane is a chrome-tastic gas. --Donald Liebenson
Fastlane - The Complete Series Reviews:
Confussed about DVD Set 
2009-09-17 - I don't get it. Everyone keeps saying that the set has
NO widescreen
NO Dolby Digital 5.1 surround Sound
No animated menus
But mine does , I agree about the music part. But my copy which by the way was bought from Amazon is widescreen, has Dolby Digital 5.1 surround Sound and ok only four of the six disc has menus, but that is fine with me. Everyone keeps giving a list of things that their copy does not have and most of the stuff they list mine does have.
....what a disaster..... 
2009-08-06 - Well, not so good. The three gifted actors in the fastlane series really must be irritated. Not only did their great series get cancelled after one year, now their dvd release gets completely, for lack of a better word....screwed.
The integrity of the show is totally diminished with the original music taken out. I know that other reviews have pointed this out, but it is true. And the fact that it's not offered in widescreen would make someone just take the darn set and throw it against the wall.
Warner Bros. knew that saving money on both counts would be enough for the audience new to the show. Warner Bros. knew what they were doing. Hard time fans of the show would be upset, but it wouldn't effect sales too badly. The fact that the (and i don't know for sure, but i venture to guess) men in white suits thought this one up, is really tacky and cheap.
Maybe they will remaster the set with enough complaints.
Unexpected Awefulness
2009-05-03 - I bought this expecting it to be quite good, as I read some enticing reviews from some places, but don't be fooled by the Peter Facinelli fans who love everything he does. This DVD is, to put it simply, bad. I blame it on the writers, though, because the acting IS good, but what they are forced to be acting is TERRIBLE. The dialogue is really lame and awkwardly placed at points, the plots are ridiculous and the character development was extremely rushed and really odd. Peter's character, Van Ray, seriously falls in love with every girl in almost every episode after knowing her for one day...it gets really old. I really would not buy this unless you want to laugh, because that is exactly what I did when I watched it.
Great TV Show!
2009-04-25 - I think this is one of the best tv series I have seen. I seriously recommend it. It's very sad that it was just ones season...
An insult to the video encoding profession
2008-11-21 - If you want a better picture, you may be better off downloading the HD DivX from a Russian torrent, then transcoding to a 160x120 AVI which is then uploaded to YouTube, then watched in a Mosaic 1.0 browser with a 16-color display. You then get out your grandpa's Super8 handheld camera, the film inside which is eaten by a panda and excreted in to a DVD case.
