7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.7 |
Jake Gyllenhall plays Adam, a university lecturer nearing the end of his relationship with girlfriend Mary. One night, when watching a film, Adam spots a minor actor who looks just like him. Consumed by the desire to meet his double, he obsessively tracks down the actor and engages him in a complex and dangerous struggle. Dark, gripping and pulsating with atmosphere, ‘Enemy’ is a haunting and provocative thriller based on the novel ‘The Double’ by Nobel laureate José Saramago.
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Isabella Rossellini, Sarah Gadon, Stephen R. HartPsychological thriller | 100% |
Mystery | 63% |
Surreal | 57% |
Erotic | 19% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
If you subscribe to satellite television or a major cable system, chances are you were inundated by “on demand” ads for Enemy, touting the fact that in home viewing was available on exactly the same day as the film’s (limited) theatrical release. What was interesting about these nonstop advertisements is that they proffered what seemed to be a kind of dark and twisted take on The Prince and the Pauper, where two look-alikes trade places with unexpected consequences. There was nary an attempt made to disclose what is arguably Enemy’s most memorable element, a kind of magical realism or even surrealism that would be more at home in a work of, say, Darren Aronofsky than in a by the numbers thriller (which is exactly what Enemy’s on demand advertisements made it seem like). The problem is these very elements stick out like a sore thumb (or at least like a mutant spider), evading accessibility and simply seeming to add to some general muddle. Enemy is a thriller with evident philosophical ambitions, but just what exactly that philosophy might be is anyone’s guess. Jake Gyllenhaal is on hand in a dual role as a mousy university professor and also as a not very successful actor whom the professor recognizes as his virtual double when the professor rents a DVD to break up what is by and large a stifling existence. Both the professor and the actor circle each other like wary though captivated combatants, but scenarist Javier Gullón (adapting José Saramago’s novel The Double) and director Denis Villenueve ( Prisoners) play it close to the vest in terms of who may be playing whom and what the actual game between these two doppelgangers may ultimately lead to. Add in a soupcon of intentionally provocative yet weirdly dissociative sexual imagery that recalls Eyes Wide Shut and a recurrent spider motif that is also intentionally provocative if finally more baffling than anything, and Enemy is certainly not just a dark and twisted take on The Prince and the Pauper.
Enemy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. If as has been posited Orange Is the New Black, I would submit that perhaps yellow is the new blue, for suddenly films with a thriller or mysterious edge are supplanting the ice cool hues that have been overused for years with a new, amber glow. Such widely disparate efforts as Blood Ties and The Bridge: The Complete First Season traffic in various shades of yellow, but nowhere is it more in evidence than in Enemy, which was shot digitally utilizing the Arri Alexa. With the exception of just one or two sequences, this film is virtually dripping in a sickly yellow to pea green ambience that makes everything appear to be seen through a weird miasma of sorts. This approach is obviously intentional (everything from the credits to the Blu-ray's insert are similarly saffron colored), but it does tend to rob the image of some significant fine detail, an anomaly that's further exacerbated by Villenueve's tendency to film in near darkness quite a bit of the time. Extreme close-ups still can reveal very good to excellent fine detail (see screenshot 19). Several of the establishing shots of Ontario are so bathed in this odd hue that it almost looks like we're seeing a smog laden view of Beijing instead, something that tends to mask the first view of a giant spider overhanging the metropolis. There are some notable exceptions, none more evident than the sequence from the film that Adam watches where he first sees Anthony. This section at least approximates "normal" color, as does a later snippet that features Anthony on a motorcycle. Despite the really aggressive color grading, the image otherwise has no issues to speak of, offering good stability and no compression artifacts to note.
Enemy's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is rather nuanced, with nice effects like "thunks" and LFE suddenly emitting from discrete channels or the subwoofer and adding a bit of menace to the already unsettling atmosphere. There's some good attention to ambient environmental sounds and general sound effects as well, including things like an impressive pan of Anthony's motorcycle roaring down a freeway. Dialogue and score are both cleanly and clearly presented on this problem free track.
Some may read this review and come to the conclusion that I didn't much like Enemy, but that's actually not the case. I was intrigued and perplexed by the film in about equal measure, and I would be the last person to deny the film's absolutely disturbing mood. But that doesn't necessarily mean this is some Mensa-esque etude that requires poking around the soft underbelly of a giant mutant spider. For probably any hypothesis on what Enemy "means", there is going to be a resounding chorus of "Yeah, but. . ." pointing out flaws or at least fissures in that take. That means that many viewers will simply have to leave their need for ultimate answers at the virtual door, for there may be none here. Enemy is definitely an unsettling experience, but whether that feeling leads to any kind of catharsis may be debatable. Technical merits here are generally strong, though one needs to keep the film's intentionally bizarre color grading in mind to fully accept some aspects of the video quality. For those in search of something a little (a lot?) different if for no one else, Enemy comes Recommended.
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