Enemy Mine Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Enemy Mine Blu-ray Movie Review

Crash landings make strange bedfellows.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 8, 2012

It’s often said that there are no new ideas, and here’s a case in point: imagine a film about two warriors on opposite sides of a battle who are marooned on a strange world and must learn to work together to survive. Enemy Mine? Well, yes, but also Hell in the Pacific and any number of other films that are built up around this same general premise. That might be one of the reasons Enemy Mine failed to ignite at the box office despite an aggressive (if slightly misleading) marketing push and two popular stars as its nemeses. Considering the fact that the alien in this piece looks like an overgrown lizard (or an undersized dinosaur), some viewers of a certain age may even be reminded of that old Star Trek episode “Arena”, where the always stalwart Captain Kirk gets to fight the insanely costumed alien that looks like one of Barney the Dinosaur’s cousins, though of course Kirk and the so-called Gorn never quite become true friends and instead reach a sort of interstellar version of détente. Enemy Mine is a film that really should have been firing on all cylinders, especially with regard to its then state of the arts special effects and makeup. But perhaps because of the tired foundation of the premise, the film tends to lurch along in a fairly predictable fashion, at least in its early going. It may not be World War II with an American and a Japanese soldier on a deserted island, but quite a bit of Enemy Mine often has a distinct feeling of déjà vu about it.

The saving grace in Enemy Mine is that the familiar aspect of the story, namely of two bitter enemies coming to respect—and perhaps even love—each other, is only the first act of the film. We meet Davidge (Dennis Quaid), a gung ho earthling space pilot who is part of this film’s “Federation”, the BTA (Bilateral Terran Alliance), as well as the alien Jeriba (Louis Gossett, Jr. under what must have been pounds of latex), a scaly individual of the Drac species. The two are engaged in a fierce battle which ends up with them both crash landing on the bizarre planet Fyrine IV, which due to the always questionable conveniences of science fiction films has a breathable atmosphere and something approaching water to drink. However Davidge and Jeriba soon discover there are various terrors waiting to pounce out there in the dark cold Fyrinian night (despite the light afforded by two moons).

The opening arc of Enemy Mine is easily the most predictable section of the film, and in fact that very predictability is what may have sunk it at the box office. By the time people got to the much more interesting and well developed second and third acts of the film, they had probably ceased to care very much or felt that had been misled by an advertising campaign which seemed to promise yet another science fiction special effects spectacular. Enemy Mine is instead a much more intimate, character driven affair. Yes, of course it takes place on an alien planet and (later) in various spaceships and futuristic high tech surroundings, but this is at its core a story of friendship and loyalty.

Without spoiling too many of Enemy Mine’s nice meanderings away from the expected, it turns out there are some kind of smarmy humans called Scavengers who have been utilizing Dracs as slave labor on mining excursions and of course there are riches to be had on Fyrine IV. Playing into this scenario is one of the most interesting aspects of Enemy Mine, wherein it turns out that the Dracs reproduce asexually and Jeriba discovers that he’s “pregnant”. The rest of the film is a much more compelling portrait of the lengths an individual will go to to keep a promise made to a friend, and it’s here that Enemy Mine really finds its most authentic voice.

Enemy Mine is an impeccably handsome film, well crafted from a purely design standpoint and nicely directed by Wolfgang Petersen, who was brought on board the project after the initial director was dismissed, shutting the production down for some time. While some of the practical effects may look a little goofy to younger viewers more accustomed to the sleek perfection of CGI, there should be nothing but amazement over the incredible makeup that encapsulates Louis Gossett, Jr., transforming the actor into an easily believable alien species. The sound editing is also very good, with weird guttural utterances emanating from Gossett’s mouth even as he attempts to master English. The alien planet setting is very well rendered as well, with some nice miniature and matte shots that ably represent a completely foreign environment.

The film does manage to work up a considerable amount of emotional impact by the time it reaches its denouement. Davidge’s evolution from alien hating space cowboy to something decidedly kinder and gentler may go against the grain of the traditional “western” (or even Western) hero, but it’s rather well handled here. Enemy Mine’s third act is in fact probably its strongest asset, as Davidge attempts to help Jeriba’s offspring and reunite the child with its own kind. Had the film gotten to this aspect a little quicker, it might have escaped its own formulaic gravity a little more successfully. As it stands, Enemy Mine is about two-thirds of an interesting film, somewhat marred by a trite opening scenario.

Enemy Mine Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Enemy Mine is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.37:1. The recent brouhaha over the simultaneous Twilight Time release of Night of the Living Dead may have led some to be fearful that this release, too, had been tinkered with, but that's certainly not the case. Enemy Mine, while as dark as it's always been, is a really great looking Blu-ray experience, with lushly saturated colors, appealing fine object detail (the level of detail on Gossett's makeup is nothing short of astounding at times) and an excellently vivid and clear image. The film retains a natural layer of grain as well. While contrast is strong and stable, a lot of the film takes place in filtered or dimly lit scenes, and that just slightly diminishes clarity and shadow detail from time to time. On the whole, though, Tony Imi's evocative cinematography shines through exceedingly well and the film's process shots look surprisingly spry for their age.

Enemy Mine Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Enemy Mine is a rare Twilight Time release that has two regular audio options in addition to the typical isolated score mix. Both a DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix are available. The 4.0 mix rather significantly opens up the soundfield in a number of key sequences, including the opening battle scene, and in some of the alien environments that include weird foley effects. Jarre's score is somewhat amplified as well, though perhaps not as much as might be expected. Both of the mixes offer excellent fidelity and wide dynamic range. The dialogue is very cleanly presented, and the bizarre guttural sounds that are added to the Drac vocabulary really register with some nice lower frequencies.

Enemy Mine Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Isolated Score. Maurice Jarre's score is presented via a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix. I know this is going to be heresy to some (maybe even many), but I personally think Jarre's music tends to work sometimes in spite of the composer, rather than because of him, but Enemy Mine is certainly one of the weirder outings for the Oscar winner, no more so than in its frequent use of electronic instruments, something that really would be more expected of his son, Jean Michel, who was an early proponent of multilayered synthesizers. All of this said, Jarre's contributions sound beautifully clear and precise in this rendering.


• Trailer (SD; 2:02)

Enemy Mine Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Enemy Mine has its stalest material up front, which is kind of a shame, because once we get past the "combatants learning to live together" scenario, the film really starts to move in some unexpected and even moving directions. Quaid and Gossett are both excellent, with Gossett doing a really remarkable job at actually getting a performance out through all that latex. The film is nicely designed (the planet is somewhat reminiscent of Byron Haskin's Robinson Crusoe on Mars), and the makeup is really incredible. If you can either forgive or just simply tolerate the first half or so of this film, things pick up substantially in the second half and deliver some excitement and emotional impact. This Blu-ray offers excellent video and audio and comes Recommended.