Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

A Shock to the System Blu-ray Movie Review

Raising Caine to the Top of Corporate Ranks

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson July 27, 2017

"Here's a film for anyone who ever muttered, "DIE YUPPIE SCUM!" So the headline screamed at the top of promotional posters for Jan Egleson's American feature-film debut, A Shock to the System. (Corsair Pictures, the movie's distributor, plastered this large quote from critic Eleanor Ringel's review that originally appeared in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.) It speaks to all the backstabbing and one-upmanship that corporate yuppies had engaged in with each other both figuratively and literally since the early eighties. Michael Caine's Graham Marshall is the embodiment of this outcry in the film. Marshall has worked hard over the years as an advertising executive on Wall Street and is eager to hear if he will receive a promotion to head of the ad agency's department. When he learns that the position has gone to upstart yuppie Robert Benham (Peter Riegert), Marshall becomes flabbergasted and enraged at the decision. Benham has replaced the beleaguered George Brewster (John McMartin), who is forced into retirement. A reason for Brewster's exit is a corporate takeover (a hint of the fledgling multinationals). A despondent Marshall heads for the subway but is harried by a panhandler who he inadvertently pushes under a train. When Marshall discovers that the death is ruled a suicide rather than manslaughter, he feels the same jolt of energy that he first got when trying to fix the electricity in the basement at the beginning. Marshall hence ponders how he can create more "accidents" for not only his business colleagues (who have become his competitors), but also his wife, Leslie (Swoosie Kurtz). The Marshalls have apparently been in a loveless marriage for a while and Leslie shows no emotion after her husband fails to get the promotion (she rubs it in).

Graham gets a laugh out of killing.

In his sixty-fifth film, Michael Caine is in top form playing a smarmy and charming con man that he has so mastered by this point. In conversation with various characters and in voice-overs, Caine's cockneyed accent and flat delivery persuasively carries them and us the audience along into his diabolical schemes. Stella Anderson (Elizabeth McGovern), a junior account executive at the firm, is seduced by Marshall's romantic charm but she's also smart enough to detects signs that something is fishy. The same is true of Lieutenant Laker (Will Patton), who is investigating the deaths and keeping an eye on Marshall.

By the time of A Shock to the System's release, business films had made a bit of a comeback since their heyday in the fifties. Alan J. Pakula's Rollover (1981), John Landis's Trading Places (1983), Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987), and Brian De Palma's The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990) are all important films for very different reasons. A few were hits and others tanked at the box office. Egleson's sharp-edged black comedy certainly merits inclusion at or near the top of the group but it contains a flaw that could have made it even better. In a syndicated and widely published review, Jack Garner of the Gannett News Service asserted: "A Shock to the System is first-rate as a dark character study, but would be a better film if the criminal aspects of the tale were more tightly drawn, more logical and suspenseful." The fact that the audience is so privy to each and every move that Marshall will make, it knows his motives in advance and can telegraph the next act he takes. Admittedly, Caine is the star (and the film would definitely not be the same without him). Egleson and screenwriter Andrew Klavan deserve credit for shifting the POV to Anderson but that is very late in the third act. All in all, the movie is really good but it lacks an aura of mystery that could have produced more tension.

A Shock to the System Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A Shock to the System makes its global debut on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Select (#25 in the sub-label's series) on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-25. Shout has encoded the main feature with a standard bitrate of 25928 kbps and a cumulative bitrate of 32.52 Mbps for the entire disc. The transfer has been struck from an older master, perhaps Millennium Entertainment's 2004 DVD, which promised "HD digitally re-mastered" picture. The various UK DVDs of the film presumably sourced the same dated master. However, Milennium opened the frame to 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen while this BD maintains the film's native ratio of 1.85:1. According to Egleson, this movie was shot using the Panaflex Platinum Camera and his camera crew also often employed a Lumicrane and Steadicam to track action, particularly the bustle on Madison Avenue and the elevator rush. As a result, there is some blurriness in the shots. The main titles and first reel show blips and other markings (see just to the left of the light switch in Screenshot #16.) In his audio commentary, Egleson states that he had Nunnally Johnson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) in mind for the color scheme. Grays and a desaturated palette predominant the look of this 1990 film. Some colors are washed out such as in #17. There is heavy coarse grain and I admire Shout for refusing to wipe it out. However, there is also some dirt on the print and a lack of detail is missing from the backgrounds of wider shots in the film. On the plus side, the greens on bushes, shrubs, and trees are rich and nicely stand out (see #s 12-15).

Shout gives A Shock to the System twelve scene selections. (The US DVD had twenty-three chapters.)

A Shock to the System Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout Select has supplied a DTS-HD Master 5.1 Surround track (2793 kbps, 24-bit) and the film's original DTS-HD Master 2.0 Stereo mix (1574 kbps, 24-bit). The American DVD only provided the 5.1 remix. Voice-overs and dialogue are front heavy and sound pretty clear and crisp. The notes emanating from Gary Chang's quirky score provide most of the surround channels' coverage. The lossless audio doesn't over-impress but it does an adequate job of conveying the sound track, albeit with limited range.

English SDH are available on the main menu and via remote control for the movie only.

A Shock to the System Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Audio Commentary with Director Jan Egleson - a pleasant and very informative track from Egleson, who overs a range of topics such as tweaking the end of Simon Brett's eponymous 1984 novel, working with Michael Cain and Elizabeth McGovern, and beta tapes that were cut with a computer. In English, not subtitled.

• Interview with Jan Egleson (9:10, upconverted to 1080) - this interview originally appeared on the Millennium DVD. The director talks about how he came on board A Shock to the System, his thoughts on Cain, and the two endings that were shot. In English, not subtitled.

• Alternate Ending (5:48, upconverted to 1080) - this is the ending that was shown to a test audience. The image looks hazy and zoomed in. There are black bars on the sides. In English, not subtitled.

• Theatrical Trailer (1:05, upconverted to 1080) - Corsair Pictures's original theatrical trailer for A Shock to the System. The image has been panned and scanned. Don't watch it if you haven't seen the film before as it slips in some big spoilers. In English, not subtitled.

• Still Gallery (1:58, 1080p) - with a background photo collage, this short slide show presents a compilation of twenty-five black-and-white/color pictures during the making of A Shock to the System. They contain portraits of the actors and panoramic snapshots of cast/crew. Each image becomes a little bigger as it comes toward the center of your screen. Accompanied by excerpts from Gary Chang's score.

A Shock to the System Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A Shock to the System features a maniacal and deliciously wicked performance by Michael Cain that makes the picture worth seeing for that reason alone. Shout Select delivers acceptable video and serviceable audio presentations. Jan Egleson's commentary is terrific and he even explains why he pauses (which is just a couple times): i.e., because he's so mesmerized by Cain's character. The rest of the extras are basically holdovers from the DVD. The film's interpositive could use a new scan and remastering but this transfer is likely the best we'll get for some time. A SOLID RECOMMENDATION for the Blu-ray.