Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 10, 2018

At first glance the cumbersomely titled Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House looks more like Liam Neeson: The Man Who Played Richard Gere if one if merely peeking at the cover image, but Director Peter Landesman's (Concussion) 1960s Political Thriller is actually a fairly engaging tale that tells the story of a dedicated company man who breaks away from his otherwise unflappable values and deception to the letter-of-the-law service to the FBI in the search for justice the Bureau refuses to pursue. The film tackles a well-explored period of chaotic American history, the draw here being that it's told from Felt's perspective, the man who only came clean about his identity as the infamous "Deep Throat" in a 2005 Vanity Fair article, only a few years prior to his death at age 95.

Mark Felt (Liam Neeson), long a fixture in the upper echelons of the FBI, is passed over for directorship following the death of the long-serving J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover is replaced by the relatively and comparatively inexperienced Pat Gray (Marton Csokas). Felt offers Gray this "guidance" not of generosity but rather his loyalty to the Bureau and his respect for its by-the-book operations. When word of the Watergate break-in reaches the FBI, Gray is quick to brush the investigation aside, much to Felt's shock. Felt believes the Bureau has an obligation to conduct an apolitical investigation, regardless of where or to whom it may lead. In defiance of the Bureau and his principles, he begins leaking to various news outlets including Time Magazine and The Washington Post, earning him the media monicker "Deep Throat" as he finds himself in the middle of an internal FBI investigation to identify the leaker.

As much of the story is told through Neson’s nonverbal physical performance, the emotional states and stares, as it is his increasingly dominant verbal journey from focused, tough, to-the-point, sometimes almost reticent demeanor to more explosive, combative, verbally sharp, frustrated leaker caught between his loyalties and Bureau dogma and his own shifting and evolving convictions. His is a completely commanding performance, nuanced, detailed, firm, and sure. Character vitality, even in a movie as tonally and visually dark as this and through a challenging character who is both at once steadfast and in command of himself and reluctantly but surely evolving, is no small challenge and one Neeson nails with impressive assuredness. He is aided by precisely fitted clothes, a perfectly fixed head of silver hair, steely eyes, and a firm countenance. Those qualities altogether yield a striking exercise in screen command, visually and tonally alike, as he finely molds and evolves an immediately and deeply fascinating character.

Mark Felt is an impressively crafted picture on the macro and micro levels. The film opens with an alluring opening sequence that follows Felt as he methodically prepares for his day, but for the viewer, the scene plays with an engagingly dark and almost mystical aura that captures the man’s essence before ever hearing a word or seeing his eyes. Landesman builds the entire movie with a similar approach, one that only compliments the man’s inner turmoil, shooting many of the FBI interiors coldly and darkly, with reprieves coming away from the Bureau where the film occasionally finds a warmer façade that plays in noticeably stark contrast. The film always seems to be reflecting and paralleling Felt, often focusing on Neeson’s eyes and countenance, which tell most of the story themselves. While the film’s core plot machinations yield little of groundbreaking significance, it’s the presentation, as it’s been put together on both sides of the camera, that make this a much more compelling and audience-commanding film than it otherwise would be considering the relative familiarity with the story, particularly with audiences who will be more drawn to a calculated and carefully crafted period Political thriller rather the typical noisy blockbuster.

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The digitally photographed Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House translates well enough to Blu-ray under Landesman's and Cinematographer Adam Kimmel's dark, steely production. The image presents with little in the way of eye-catching textural delights, favoring a sleek, almost smoothed-over, at times, presentation. Neeson's face is particularly vulnerable to the absence of detail, while clothes and environments find enough to satisfy format requirements but never really demonstrate a firm command of any object in the frame. Frame edges, occasionally of large proportion, can appear a bit smudgy. Colors are generally held in check, with the majority of the film favoring a cold, steely, gray-blue and mildly green tinted filtering. Some warmer shots play in contrast, and even more evenly lit and neutrally presented shots don't offer much in the way of bursting, abundant color. Black levels are generally strong and deep with rare exceptions of pushes to gray and bright. Skin tones are only reflective of the movie's intense filtering. Mild noise and trace amounts of aliasing are evident in spots, but neither prove all that troublesome or even noticeable.

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack that offers a good, sometimes substantial listen. Music is never timid, offering an impressive low end push and effortless full-stage immersion, obvious right away in the hauntingly deep and intense notes that open the film. The track creates a tangible, enjoyable, and lifelike sense of space, certainly not as full, round, and seamless as one might find in an Atmos track but enough to carry reverberations at Hoover's memorial service and swirling newscast overlays in chapter seven. Modest but critical environmental effects fill in various gaps to good effect. Dialogue dominates the majority of the film, and it plays with all of the clarity and precision one would expect of a modern soundtrack.

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Sony's Blu-ray release of Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House contains a commentary, deleted scenes, a featurette, and a trailer. No DVD or digital copies are included.

• Audio Commentary: Director Peter Landesman begins with a discussion of Felt finally revealing his identity in 2005 and continues with core discussions on film score, technical construction, production design, shooting locations, character details and motivations, the real history behind the movie, performances, and much more. This is a sound, solid, well-spoken, and informative track that serves the movie well. Fans will want to make an effort to give it a listen.
• The Secrets of Making Mark Felt (1080p, 10:25): Cast and crew discuss the historical time period in which the story is set, Landesman's dedication and detailed work on crafting the film, casting and performances, photography, production design, and more.
• Deleted & Extended Scenes (1080p, 16:19 total runtime): Felt Remembers, Any Word From Joan?, Audrey & Her Wig, No Comment, A Man with Vectors, and You Want to Know About Your Soul.
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 2:17).
• Previews (1080p): Additional Sony titles.

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House is a solid Thriller that explores a well-known slice of tumultuous American history with an impressively crafted core -- including another top-notch Liam Neeson performance -- and a fine-tuned narrative delivery. This isn't the first time the Watergate scandal has played in cinema, and it probably won't be the last, but with the relatively recent history of Deep Throat's identity reveal, the added "twist" of perspective makes this another must-see film on the subject. Sony's Blu-ray is rather good, featuring occasionally pedestrian but largely solid video, good lossless audio, and a fair little batch of extra content. Recommended.