Buckle your seat belts - this may be an odd review, and I have to admit that I decided to check out Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me for a somewhat unusual reason. When I viewed it in 2002, I did so simply because David Bowie appeared in the movie. As a huge fan of the man’s music, his presence made the film more appealing to me.

However, Bowie appeared in many flicks I never saw, so why’d I elect to screen Fire when I skipped so many others? Frankly, I’m not sure, especially because I never watched the TV series on which it was based.

I recall the fuss made over Twin Peaks when it aired in the early Nineties, but for reasons unknown, I didn’t ever bother to give it a look. Sure, I knew something about it, as the series penetrated the culture too substantially for me to remain fully ignorant. Nonetheless, I remained a stranger to its potential charms.

That situation didn’t change over the decade between Fire’s cinematic debut and my viewing of its DVD in 2002. Before I watched Fire, all I knew was that it presented a “prequel” that told the tale of Laura Palmer before her death. From what I gleaned, that demise offered the main raison d’être for the series, as it revolved around the search for her killer.

Apparently the TV series eventually related the identity of that murderer, which makes Fire less of a mystery for those in the know. For those of us out of the loop, however, it functions better in that regard. I didn’t know squat about the world of Laura Palmer, so everything was new to me.

As noted, Fire follows the tale of Laura Palmer. Actually, it starts a year prior to her murder, as we see an FBI investigation of a different killing.

Someone offed Teresa Banks (Pamela Gidley) and agents Chet Desmond (Chris Isaak) and Sam Stanley (Kiefer Sutherland) look into the slaying. They discover some unusual elements, most notably a missing and mysterious ring. As soon as Desmond locates the absent piece of jewelry, he vanishes.

At that point, the movie jumps forward to present the final days of Laura Palmer. Pretty and popular, we quickly see that the homecoming queen’s life isn’t as sweet as one might expect.

Laura toys with boyfriends like Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) and James Hurley (James Marshall) while she snorts cocaine and parties at a rough nightclub. Her father Leland (Ray Wise) displays very odd and controlling behavior around her, and she professes that a monstrous man named Killer Bob comes in through her window and molests her. Her best friend Donna (Moira Kelly) knows about some of Laura’s behavior, but the troubled girl tries to keep Donna from following in her footsteps.

As I’ve established, I knew little about the TV series. So how did Fire play as a stand-alone feature? Acceptably well, though I wouldn’t call it a total success.

Director David Lynch’s unique brand of oddness appears in full flower here, as the film offers a slew of apparently nonsensical images. Perhaps not coincidentally, the flick opens with a shot of a TV being destroyed, which seems to be Lynch’s commentary on the less-than-tactful way ABC dealt with the series. More chutzpah reigns as Lynch himself plays the first character we see, FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole.

With Lynch’s exaggerated and loud declamation of his lines, at the start it seems like Fire will become some sort of bizarro comedy. The semi-goofy interactions between Isaak and Sutherland contribute to this tone as well, and I think one of the scenes actually provides a blown take that Lynch used in the film: at the 21:45 mark, you’ll hear Sutherland say a line twice before Isaak responds. This sure looks like a goof that made the final cut nonetheless.

Whatever the case may be, the first act shows more of the odd and quirky dark humor for which Lynch is known. The examination of the corpse of Banks alters the tone somewhat, but the film resembles a warped black comedy for its first act.

That begins to change more strongly when we meet Laura. Some of her early scenes play as a parody of teen love, especially when she and James have an (intentionally?) awkward heart to heart chat. However, as we learn more about Laura’s depraved existence, the more overtly comic elements dissipate and the tone becomes darker.

The film also introduces more apparently nonsensical aspects. Despite my lack of background in regard to the series, I knew Kyle MacLachlan’s Agent Cooper was the focal point. He appears only briefly in Fire, and his segments are genuinely bizarre.

In fact, MacLachlan’s segments are so weird that I can’t explain them without potentially spoiling the film, so I’ll have to omit specifics. Suffice it to say that they become quite surreal at times and really open up some potential issues.

Note that those segments include Bowie’s brief participation in Fire. If you - like me - watch the film to see him, you’ll also be disappointed. He doesn’t do much as a freaky FBI agent with the worst Southern accent I’ve ever heard. His scenes make a little more sense by the end, but on their own, they don’t merit much comment.

Lynch populates Fire with much of the self-consciously bizarre imagery that showed up in other flicks. As I noted in my review of Blue Velvet, I think Lynch often goes for weirdness just for the sake of being unusual. The odd elements can appear gratuitous and forced to me.

This proves true at times during Fire, but by the end, a lot of the warped visuals and actions make more sense. Fire revolves around the sad existence of Laura, and though initially much of the weirdness seems random and disjointed, it becomes more comprehensible once we gain additional insight into her personality.

Buried beneath all of the strangeness, Fire really offers little more than a tale about an abused girl and how she reacts to that behavior. That said, Lynch creates a fairly vivid look at the mindset of such a person, which is why the bizarre elements make sense in the long run.

Well, some of them do, at least. The Cooper scenes and aspects that surround Banks’ ring create more questions than they answer, but a lot of the imagery distinctly illustrates the depths of Laura’s soul.

As one who never saw the TV show, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me becomes a weird experience. Actually, even if I had watched the series, it still would feel odd, but my lack of experience impacts this interpretation.

Whatever the case may be, I can’t say that I really like Fire, but I must admit it delivers a strangely powerful piece. Frankly, the first two-thirds or so can be rough-going at times, as they seemingly make little sense. However, the final act helps tie these segments together, and the film ends on a haunting and powerful note.

Honestly, I was ready to slam the flick until I got to the last half hour or so, and my negative assessment wouldn’t have been alone. Critics savaged it during its original run, and apparently the Frenchies at Cannes booed it viciously. On one hand, I understand some of the nastiness, as much of the movie seems incoherent.

Nonetheless, I must acknowledge that if you can hold out until the end, the journey seems worthwhile. As bored as I felt at times - and I occasionally really regretted my decision to review Fire Walk With Me - the film stayed with me and actually made me more curious about the whole world of Twin Peaks. The more I think about Fire, the more I like it.

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a fairly good presentation.

Sharpness was one of the up and down elements. While much of the film displayed excellent delineation, more than a few exceptions occurred. These usually occurred during interiors, as those could seem a little soft. I have to suspect these instances stemmed from the source photography, but the movie still looked oddly soft at times.

General definition was fine, though, and I saw no signs of jagged edges or shimmering. No edge haloes interfered and I saw no print flaws.

Colors were generally positive. The movie came with a fairly amber orientation but it broadened at times. Overall, the hues were reasonably peppy, though once again, interiors tended to become a little flat.

This impacted blacks and shadows as well. Exteriors showed nice depth and range, but inside shots could be on the bland side, with mediocre delineation of low-light segments. While this wasn’t the best-looking image, I suspect it replicated the source.

Despite a soundfield that didn’t exactly push my system, the DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio seemed good for this kind of film. To be sure, the track remained heavily oriented toward the front, and many elements stayed largely focused in the center.

Dialogue and effects generally emanated from the middle. In regard to the latter, the audio offered very nice ambient sensations, and on occasion, some good panning and movement occurred. For example, at one point James’ bikes drove accurately from one side to the other.

However, the effects didn’t often escalate beyond general atmosphere. Since that was an important aspect of Fire, I won’t complain; the mix helped create a very moody and foreboding atmosphere.

Music played a key role, as the score and various songs offered a virtually omnipresent force in the film. Though still focused on the front, the music poured nicely from all the speakers and it really enveloped me with the dark tone.

Audio quality appeared good for the most part. Speech showed some minor edginess at times, and a few lines sounded boxy and stiff, but usually the dialogue seemed reasonably natural and distinct.

As noted, effects usually played a pretty minor role in the movie, but they came across as clear and distinct nonetheless. Some elements - like the slamming of car doors and the destruction of the TV - even boasted good bass thump.

Still, music remained the star of the film, and the mix replicated the score and the songs well. They always sounded clear and bright, and they also showed positive bass response.

The scenes in the nightclub probably offered the best use of music in the movie. In the end, the soundtrack to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me won’t dazzle anyone, but it worked well for the material.

How did the Criterion Blu-ray compare to the Blu-ray from 2016? Audio seemed identical while visuals showed a minor uptick, mainly because the Criterion release lost the edge haloes from the 2016 disc. For the most part, though, I thought the two looked a lot alike.

The Criterion release mixes old and new extras. Also found on the 2016 Blu-ray, Missing Pieces provides 17 Deleted/Extended Scenes that occupy a total of one hour, 31 minutes, 23 seconds. That’s what we call an abundance of cut footage, and we mostly find deleted clips, as the extended sequences are a distinct minority.

Because of this, we find a slew of new story/character pieces in these clips – too much to discuss in detail, really. Suffice it to say that the collection of deleted/extended scenes offers a wealth of footage that will interest the movie’s fans. A version of Fire Walk expanded to include a lot of this material would be interesting to see.

Note that the prior Blu-ray provided 33 deleted/extended scenes vs. this set’s 17 but I claim the two discs offer the same footage – how is this possible? I think it comes down to simple chapter placements, as the 2016 release split up the scenes into smaller bits.

Because I no longer own the 2016 disc, I can’t directly compare the two, so it’s possible I’m wrong. However, given that both compilations of cut footage run almost exactly the same length, I think it’s safe to say they include the same deleted material.

New to the Criterion set, we get three interviews. First, actor Sheryl Lee chats for 22 minutes, 16 seconds about how she came onto the TV series as well as aspects of her character/performance and working on the film. Lee provides a good overview of these areas, especially when she discusses working with David Lynch.

An interview with composer Angelo Badalamenti runs 20 minutes, 15 seconds and provides his thoughts about his music for Twin Peaks as well as his collaboration with Lynch. This doesn’t seem like the most coherent discussion, but Badalamenti offers some useful notes.

Finally, we get a 2014 Actors’ Discussion that involves Lee with director David Lynch and actors Ray Wise and Grace Zabriskie. It lasts 28 minutes, 24 seconds and examines aspects of Twin Peaks and the actors’ work.

Since Lynch rarely comments on his projects, it’s nice to find him involved here, but don’t expect much from him, as he mostly serves as moderator for a discussion among the actors. Still, he chimes in a little material, and it’s interesting to get the “Palmer family” all together for a chat.

We finish with three trailers: two for the film itself and one for “The Missing Pieces”. We also find a booklet that provides credits, photos and excerpts from 1990s interviews conducted by critic Chris Rodley. It concludes matters well.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and I’m still not positive what to think of it. Alternately boring and engrossing, the movie offers an odd experience that seems strangely compelling nonetheless. The Blu-ray provides generally positive picture and audio as well as supplements highlighted by a large collection of deleted scenes. Fire Walk can be willfully weird but it pays off in the end.

To rate this film, visit the DVD review of TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME