5.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.4 |
Cello-playing cop Jack Friar searches for a teenage runaway on Turk Street and ends up in the home of an elderly couple. The house also turns out to be the headquarters for a gang of criminals who are planning a bank robbery, and Jack is quickly held hostage. When Jack is left alone with gang member Erin, he teaches her to play the cello and the two share a mutual attraction. Meanwhile, Erin continues to manipulate gang leader Tyrone, violent thug Hoop, and inside man David.
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Milla Jovovich, Stellan Skarsgård, Doug Hutchison, Joss AcklandDrama | 100% |
Crime | 94% |
Thriller | 74% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 kbps)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 2.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
No Good Deed, Director Bob Rafelson's (Five Easy Pieces, The Postman Always Rings Twice) cinematic retelling of Author Dashiell Hammett's short story The House on Turk Street lacks the fine-tuned noir stylings, character depth, script polish, and technical prowess of the finest likeminded genre films -- including the legendary Humphrey Bogart picture The Maltese Falcon -- but presents as a serviceably dark Thriller nonetheless. It's a film that covers familiar territory and does so more by way of subtle hints and nudges and nods towards its styling rather than bludgeoning the audience with it, never taking it to the extreme just because it can, not because it should. The payoff for that well-struck balance, however, isn't particularly noteworthy. The film promises more than it delivers, slyly manipulating and maneuvering its audience right alongside its characters, but a disappointing hollowness keeps the movie better enjoyed along the periphery as a mildly moody escape rather than an immersive, precise picture of humanity at its worst.
Hostage.
No Good Deed's 1080p transfer, presented at a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, generally disappoints. The image is flat and absent the sort of higher end detailing, crispness, and filmic façade fans expect from even a mediocre presentation. Here, grain appears largely pushed aside, yielding instead an inorganic, lifeless picture that doesn't see it excel -- at least not more than a smidgen thanks to the raw muscle of the 1080p resolution -- beyond previous generation home video versions. The film's noir stylings mean it's not particularly lively; bold colors are infrequent but even so there's a dullness to the palette that favors bland, tired hues over bright, lifelike colors. Even the brightest sun-soaked exteriors fail to produce the sort of alive greenery one would expect to find. Black levels aren't particularly accurate and flesh tones favor a little bit of flatness and warmth. Blocking is a concern, as are some trace speckles and pops. All in all, this is a watchable transfer but not leaps and bounds better than DVD.
Speaking of DVD, No Good Deed contains a no-frills, no-effort Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, presented at 192kbps. While there's a decent sense of center imaging -- dialogue always focuses up the middle -- there's not much spread for music or effects. Support pieces, such as passing traffic, never flow with the motion or screen, staying locked around the middle. Thunder and rain present with only the most basic sonic structure. There's no weight or lifelike definition to such supportive pieces, either, and the disappointment extends so far that a shotgun blast near film's end is barely audible, never mind forceful or deep. Even some of the beautiful classical music pieces heard throughout the film limp through the speakers with only the most cursory, raw definition at its disposal. The track gets listeners through the movie but it does nothing other than present the bare minimum.
This Blu-ray release of No Good Deed contains no supplemental features.
No Good Deed doesn't quite climb to the top of the mountain. It's not a risk-taker, but it's a comfortable little bit of mildly intoxicating noir cinema in which its best qualities are also often its worst enemies. It's a bit too safe, a touch too flat, its core rather dull but its periphery alive with countless examples of dark and stylish character and dramatic arcs at its disposal that never see the full realization they deserve. The movie errs on the side of caution, keeping things so low-key that it never can bring all its juicy little morsels to full flavor. It's a decent enough little movie that's more style than substance and probably best suited to the most patient of moviegoers who haven't been fully Michael Bay'd. Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of No Good Deed features pedestrian video and scraping-by audio. No extras are included. Rent it or wait until the price falls in-line with what the package has to offer.
(Still not reliable for this title)
2006
Import
1978
2002
1998
1999
2002
1971
Reissue
1968
2006
2013
2007
1972
1971
1989
2007
2013
1997
2015
2004
40th Anniversary Edition
1975