Narrow Margin Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Narrow Margin Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 4, 2020

Peter Hyams' "Narrow Margin" (1990) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage trailer for the film; audio commentary by the director; audio commentary by critic Peter Tonguette; archival featurette; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Blind date

Peter’s Hyams’ Narrow Margin is a remake of Richard Fleischer’s The Narrow Margin, but these films are actually quite different. Indeed, Hyams borrows elements from a couple of different genres and produces a tense and very twisty thriller that looks every bit as fresh today as it did a few decades ago. Fleischer does not overstep the classic boundaries of film noir, which is why his film is more predictable and remains representative of the era it emerged from.

After agreeing to follow her blind date (J.T. Walsh) back to his hotel room, Carol Hunnicut (Anne Archer) witnesses how a prominent underworld boss (Harris Yulin) and his executioner murder him over a financial dispute. The killers then exit the room, completely unaware of her presence. A few weeks later, LA District Attorney Robert Caulfield (Gene Hackman) and his colleague Sgt. Dominick Benti (M. Emmet Walsh) travel to a secluded cabin high up in the Canadian Rockies where Hunnicut has been hiding, hoping to convince her to testify against the underworld boss so that they can finally put him behind bars. While the visitors attempt to explain to the stunned Hunnicut that in exchange for her testimony she would be placed in a federal witness protection program, a helicopter with a sniper emerges and in the ensuing shootout Benti is killed. Caulfield and his precious witness barely manage to escape and get on a train heading toward Vancouver. A couple of executioners reach the train as well, but because they don’t know what the fugitives look like, for a while Caulfield is able to stay a few steps ahead of them and protect Hunnicut. But eventually Caufield runs out of tricks and the executioners identify their targets.

In a very interesting audio commentary that is included on this release, Hyams discusses a number of changes he made in the script for his film so that he can enhance the suspense in some very particular ways, which make it crystal clear that he wasn’t just trying to produce a modern replica of Fleischer’s film. These changes actually introduce entirely new characterizations and relationships, and they work really well for Hyams’ style. This is why his film has such a flexible personality -- the noirish concept behind it is just a starting point for what is essentially a brand new project.

The film maintains a truly relentless tempo, which is not at all as easy as it appears. There is a lot happening on the moving train, and yet somehow Hyams does not rehash identical or similar situations while trying to impress. Exactly the opposite happens. Each situation leads to a new situation, plus there are multiple tiny twists and turns that make the film quite unpredictable. (Perhaps the only entirely predictable aspect of the narrative is the fact that Hackman and Archer’s characters will eventually find a way to emerge unharmed). So, there is an avalanche of fast action and suspense on display that gets bigger and stronger by the minute.

The visual appearance of the film is also quite striking. Early on, but also later on the train, Hyams plays with light and shadow in ways that certainly provide his film with a fitting neo-noirish atmosphere. Also, there is an abundance of glorious panoramic footage from the Canadian Rockies and during the action sequences some equally outstanding camera movement that would be perfect in any serious contemporary action thriller. In other words, this is a fast and tense but also quite beautiful film.

What spoils an otherwise outstanding film are sporadic splashes of light humor that feel entirely unnecessary. Hyams should have made the action grittier, especially in the second half, which is a move that undoubtedly would have earned the film a cult status.

*This new release of Narrow Margin is sourced from an exclusive 4K master, which was supplied by StudioCanal.

Narrow Margin Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Narrow Margin arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a very solid new 4K master that was supplied by StudioCanal. On my system, the film looked so beautiful that after viewing it in 1080p a day later I revisited it but upscaled to 4K, and it looked even better. Even in 1080p, however, delineation, depth, and clarity are outstanding. I thought that the darker footage in particular looked very convincing because this new master makes it exceptionally easy to appreciate the director's unique stylistic choices (see screencaptures #1, 6, and 19). If you have a big screen, you will be enormously pleased with the great fluidity of the visuals, which becomes even more impressive in 4K. The color grading job is excellent. The entire film is very carefully graded and as a result there are outstanding primaries and terrific ranges of healthy nuances that produce some absolutely stunning visuals. Image stability is excellent. There are no distracting cuts, damage marks, stains, or other similar age-related imperfections. Fantastic presentation. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Narrow Margin Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

I viewed the entire film with the 5.1 track. I thought that it was outstanding. Clarity, sharpness, depth, and balance were excellent. However, even though there is quite a bit of action, from time to time it felt like there could be greater surround movement, especially during shootouts. Regardless, I did not detect any technical anomalies to report in our review.

Narrow Margin Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for Narrow Margin. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 480/60i).

• Audio Commentary One - in this audio commentary, director/cinematographer Peter Hayms explains how Narrow Margin was conceived and how his vision for the film evolved, and discusses the shooting of some of the more challenging footage (Gene Hackman apparently had a bad knee but was very easy to work with), the different lighting choices, Bruce Broughton's soundtrack and the perfect 'resolution' at the end of the film, etc.

• Audio Commentary Two - this audio commentary was recorded by journalist and critic Peter Tonguette, who has some very interesting comments about the visual appearance of the film (including the great opening sequence), its tone, Peter Hyams' style (and why it should be compared to Michael Cimino's), the use of music, etc.

• Featurette - presented here is a vintage EPK with short clips from archival interviews with cast and crew members. In English, not subtitled. (6 min, 480/60i).

• Selected Sound Bites - short clips from archival interviews with cast and crew members. In English, not subtitled. (10 min, 480/60i).

• B-Rolls - in English, not subtitled. (10 min, 480/60i).

Narrow Margin Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The only thing that I don't like about Narrow Margin is the presence of the sporadic splashes of light humor in its second half. Peter Hyams should have gone in the opposite direction and made it darker and grittier, and where appropriate perhaps more cynical. It is still a hugely entertaining and very beautiful film, which I believe deserves to be ranked higher than Richard Fleischer's The Narrow Margin. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from an outstanding recent 4K master that was supplied by StudioCanal. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.