5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
In 1960s New York, Walter Stackhouse is a successful architect married to the beautiful Clara who leads a seemingly perfect life. But his fascination with an unsolved murder leads him into a spiral of chaos as he is forced to play cat-and-mouse with a clever killer and an overambitious detective, while at the same time lusting after another woman.
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Haley Bennett, Eddie Marsan, Vincent KartheiserMystery | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
The working title of director Andy Goddard's second feature was The Blunderer, which is the title of the Patricia Highsmith novel on which the film is based. By the time Goddard's effort premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2016, it had been rechristened A Kind of Murder ("AKoM"), a more overtly lurid monicker presumably adopted for marketing purposes. The original title would have been more apt, because the film is a blunder from first to last.
A Kind of Murder was shot on the Arri Alexa by British cinematographer Chris Seager (whose most recent credit is the Starz series The White Princess). Seager's atmospheric lighting makes the most out of the fussy production design, which is routinely clouded by fog, rain, snow and ever-present cigarette smoke to the point that these conscious efforts at "atmosphere" become a distraction. The DP's work is well represented on Magnolia Home Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, which features superior sharpness and detail without any hint of digital harshness. Blacks are solid and accurate, and the colorfully affluent surroundings of Walter Stackhouse's life and work contrast effectively with the dull and worn environs inhabited by Marty Kimmel (not to mention Det. Corby's spartan precinct). Aliasing, noise or other interference are wholly absent, and the average bitrate of 22 Mbps is adequate for this digitally acquired project.
AKoM has a functional but unremarkable 5.1 sound mix, presented on Blu-ray in lossless DTS-HD MA. The surrounds provide environmental ambiance but little else, and the fidelity and dynamic range are what one expects from a contemporary production. The dialogue is clearly rendered and correctly localized. The edgy thriller score is credited to the team of Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans (The Autopsy of Jane Doe ), and it's better than the movie.
Warning! Spoilers abound.
Highsmith's novel supplied intriguing potential, and the cast of AKoM is certainly up to the task
of conveying the characters' conflicted mentalities, but they are betrayed by a director who
maroons them in surroundings that are pretty to look at but dramatically blurred. The Blu-ray's
presentation is capable, but the film is a disappointment and worth a rental at most.
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