Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Internal Affairs Blu-ray Movie Review

A Bad Cop Who Corrupts from Inside Your Head

Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 21, 2013

Internal Affairs was the first American film by English director Mike Figgis, and it retains the lush, noir-ish texture of his previous film, the British crime drama Stormy Monday. Nominally, Henry Bean's (The Believer) script is about that old standby subject of police thrillers, corruption in the L.A.P.D. In Figgis' hands, however, and with invaluable assistance from his two leads, Richard Gere and Andy Garcia (who reportedly didn't get along during production), it becomes something else: a sexually charged turf battle between two alpha males who sniff out each other on their first encounter, then never lose the scent. Their hunting ground may be Los Angeles instead of the jungle, but the way Figgis depicts L.A., the differences aren't that important.

The film was moderately successful when it was released in January 1990, an era when January was still viewed as the dumping ground for movies for which the studios had no expectations. Gere in particular received a much-needed shot of career-reviving adrenaline, after a string of flops, notably the disastrous 1985 King David. As corrupt cop Dennis Peck, Gere shed his Officer and a Gentleman image as a romantic lead to reveal a heart of darkness scarier than that of latter day successors like The Shield's Vic Mackey. At least Mackey always knew he was doing something wrong and that he might someday have to account for his sins. In Gere's portrayal, Peck never seemed to care. He actually enjoyed what he was doing, as if corrupting those around him were an end in itself, a pleasure more satisfying than all the money and sexual indulgence that came with it.

Internal Affairs is one of the Paramount catalog titles covered by Warner's three-year licensing deal, which is why Warner is releasing it on Blu-ray in the U.S. and Canada.

We first meet Dennis Peck (Gere) conducting a drug bust accompanied by his partner, Van Stretch (William Baldwin), and another officer, Dorian Fletcher (Michael Beach). In a moment of confusion, Fletcher guns down a fleeing suspect, and Peck plants a weapon on the body to ensure that the shooting appears justified. It's a small favor from one brother cop to another. But you only have to look at Dennis Peck, and it's obvious that he'll want something significant for every favor he provides. Officer Fletcher may not know it, but he's just sold his soul.

A day or two later, Raymond Avilla (Garcia) is receiving a perfunctory welcome to the Internal Affairs Division (or "IAD") from his new commander, Jaeger (Ron Vawter), who recites the usual bromides about the importance of their work. But Avilla's new partner, Amy Wallace (Laurie Metcalfe), doesn't varnish the truth: Other cops hate them, and all his old friends on the force will shun him. As if to illustrate Wallace's point, Avilla's first investigation is a complaint against Van Stretch, whom he knew at the police academy. When Avilla appears in Stretch's precinct, Stretch is pleased to see him, until his observant partner, Peck, points out that Avilla and Wallace are the IAD officers sent to investigate Stretch.

From the moment Avilla and Peck lay eyes on each other, they lock targets and never let go. Avilla has sharp intuitions about people, but it takes him a while to recognize just how dangerous Peck is and even longer to uncover the extent of his criminal empire. Part of the problem is Peck's ability to hide in plain sight. No one in the department will believe that a mere patrolman can possibly have the reach and range of influence that Avilla and Wallace discover in Peck.

Figgis doesn't bother with the minutia of the various sources of Peck's illegal wealth, although one subplot relates to contract killing, another involves money laundering, and a third suggests that Peck runs a protection racket for hookers and pimps. The logistics of illegal profit are easy for someone with Peck's daily proximity to criminal activity, but what interests Figgis (and Gere) is this shadow godfather's genius for finding people's weak spot and keeping them under his thumb, so that everyone does his bidding and no one suspects a thing—until Avilla.

But Avilla, too, has a weak spot, and Peck senses it immediately. He is insecure in his marriage to Kathleen (Nancy Travis), a beautiful art curator, whose work requires her to schmooze and flirt in glamorous company that includes a louche and possibly randy painter named Nicholas Hollander (Figgis himself, in a sly cameo). Avilla is jealous, and the long hours required by his new position are already straining the marriage. When Peck tells him outright that he plans to seduce Kathleen, Avilla is shaken to the core. Peck, after all, has three ex-wives, eight children and a ninth on the way with wife number four (Annabella Sciorra). He radiates a predatory masculinity to which women seem to respond (and it doesn't hurt that he looks like Richard Gere). The Avilla marriage quickly deteriorates under the pressure of Raymond Avilla's job demands and growing withdrawal, to which Kathleen responds with resentment and incomprehension.

Avilla, though, also knows where Peck is vulnerable. He pursues confederates like Van Stretch with a vengeance, backed by Wallace, the only woman around who is immune to Peck's charms. (She's gay.) Avilla's persistence, even after his bosses tell him to drop the investigation, forces Peck to take radical steps that raise his visibility and ultimately lead to a reckoning. But Peck does plenty of damage before he goes down.

Internal Affairs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Internal Affairs was photographed by the late John A. Alonzo, who shot Chinatown, one of the greatest L.A. noirs of all time. Regarded as one of the best handheld cameramen in the business, Alonzo's skill is demonstrated in many of Internal Affairs's most intense scenes, where close encounters between individuals seethe with the potential for violence (and often erupt).

Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray (from a Paramount transfer) is something of a mixed bag. It has wonderful color saturation and deep blacks and blues, which are essential in a film where patrolmen in "black and whites" are a constant presence. As director Brian De Palma has said many times, corruption always looks fantastic, and Alonzo (who shot Scarface for De Palma) makes Dennis Peck's world look warm and inviting, in contrast to the troubled household of Van Stretch or the chilly mansion of the Arrocas (John Kapelos and Katherine Borowitz), a wealthy couple who hire Peck for some dirty work and get more than they bargained for.

Where the image falls short is in the area of sharpness and detail. It's difficult to determine whether the issue is source-based or a product of transfer and/or mastering. Despite having started in TV and, late in his career, pioneered filming in HD, Alonzo shot films for the big screen, and he would have had no patience for the current Blu-ray enthusiasts' preoccupation for flyspecking screenshots. Still, there are undeniably shots and scenes in Internal Affairs that appear softer than they should be, and it is troubling to see Warner crowd this 115-minute film onto a BD-25 with an unusually low average bitrate of 19.43 Mbps. No compression artifacts leap out, which leads one to question whether some judicious detail stripping might have occurred, but there's no way to be sure.

Internal Affairs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Internal Affairs was released to theaters in Dolby Stereo, but the soundtrack was remixed for 5.1 when the film was released on DVD in 1999. The Blu-ray appears to contain the same remix, presented in lossless DTS-HD MA. It's a largely front-oriented mix, but it has never sounded better, with a truly impressive presentation of the film's dynamic and atmospheric score composed by Figgis, Brian Banks (Young Guns) and Anthony Marinelli (the underrated 2 Days in the Valley). As the music shifts from brooding detective noir to Latin beats to suspense mode to sudden short bursts of action rhythms, it almost feels like the film's narrator. On the Blu-ray's track, the left and right front speakers carry most of the score's weight, with the surrounds used as support. The dynamic range is wide, and the instruments are clear and distinct. The dialogue is also clear, and the ambiance of various environments can be heard, when it is not being overpowered (deliberately) in the mix by the musical accompaniment.

Several scenes involve gunplay, and the shots have impact without being overwhelming. This is a psychological thriller, not an action movie.

Internal Affairs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray has no extras. Neither did Paramount's 1999 DVD.

Internal Affairs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

With Figgis having now exiled himself from Hollywood and Gere and Garcia having moved to new phases of their careers, it's unlikely that Internal Affairs will ever be supported with any supplements to provide insight into its making. This Blu-ray is probably the best version we're likely to see (unless Paramount offers a different version in another region not covered by the Warner licensing deal). The film remains one of Figgis' best efforts and, especially with its revelatory soundtrack, the Blu-ray is recommended.