| FILM
This
is one of those strange reviews. Right from the start you can
see that I only gave the film two and half stars. With that
level of rating you may think that I didn�t enjoy the film.
Not true at all. I actually thought it was a fairly well done
film. It kept me interested the whole time. My main problem
with the film was that it had absolutely nothing new in it.
This is a �paint by the numbers� script in almost all aspects.
Every conflict, every self doubt, every character are one�s
that we have seen in some other submarine or war film. That
to me is a disappointment because the set up to the story is
done very well.
Now
that my major complaints are out of the way lets get to some
of the films positive aspects. Right from the top every performance
was quite good. Matthew McConaughey obviously has to carry this
film and all though he has been hit or miss in the past he gets
it all right in this film. (His best performance is still the
small part he has in John Sayles� Lone Star) We definitely feel
the pressure and uncertainty he is forced to deal with throughout
the film. Harvey Keitel is up to his usual standards and even
Jon Bon Jovi was good in his small role.
The
film is well put together and fairly well directed. Jonathon
Mostow does a good job bringing his script to life. My biggest
problems come more with the writing as I said before. On the
commentary track Mostow says that he was actually going for
an old style submarine picture and not a Saving Private Ryan
on a submarine (In reality Saving Private Ryan was an old school
war film, but with realistic violence). I don�t have any problem
with paying homage to something, but when you bring absolutely
nothing new except really well done sets and models I am not
sure what the point is.
VIDEO
Video quality is very good. Most of the film is either at night
or inside the submarine. There are obviously a lot of details
that could be lost with a less than exceptional transfer and
encoding but none of that occurs here. Colors are muted, fitting
with a period type of film, and shadow detail is outstanding.
With a film as dark as this one, there are a few digital artifacts
but nothing I would consider distracting.
AUDIO
The sound quality is at the same level as the video quality.
If there is one thing a submarine movie needs to really sell
the claustrophobia inherent on being on a sub, it is great sound
effects. Since the crew can't see what is going on outside of
the sub, sound becomes the key to survival. The soundtrack on
this film uses every trick in the book to really put you in
the middle of the action.
EXTRAS
All the supplemental materials on this disc are quite interesting.
The commentary is informative and Mostow keeps things interesting.
The Making of Featurette covers a lot of the same ground as
the commentary but we do get to hear from some of the other
cast and crew members. Two interviews are included which are
both very interesting. The first is with a British captain who
was in charge of boarding a U-Boat and retrieving the first
Enigma machine for the Allies. The other is with the military
advisor on the film. Both have very interesting stories from
WWII.
SUMMARY
For as cheap as I have seen this disc you might as well buy
it. Although it does not have an original bone in its body it
is still a well put together film with a compelling cast.
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