5.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A teenager takes on his own investigation of a murder in Washington D.C.
Starring: Chloë Grace Moretz, Ansel Elgort, Catherine Keener, David Strathairn, Terry KinneyDrama | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Polish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Russian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Russian VO
English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Swedish, Turkish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 1.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
This review contains no explicit spoilers for the movie, but some of the comments could be construed as heavily hinting at spoilers. Then again,
the big reveal was explicitly shown in the trailer, anyway.
November Criminals never offers a compelling reason to exist. Its story is one of slow-developing revelations about a character the audience
barely knows, a character the protagonist apparently barely knows, too. Its side story involves a stale romance between he and a young lady, a
dynamic that ultimately adds little, if anything, to the narrative. The film, from Director Sacha Gervasi (Hitchcock) and based on the novel The November Criminals
by
Sam Munson, simply never takes off, serving up a decent sense of mystery in its opening act but failing to capitalize with any intriguing twists,
dramatic
turns, or much of a reason to become absorbed in the story.
November Criminals was digitally photographed, and Sony's 1080p presentation handles the material fairly well. Colors appear the slightest bit washed out, a touch less than fully saturated and naturally vibrant, but there's enough stability of presentation and richness to what's there to satisfy. Noise creeps into lower light shots, as expected, but black levels largely hold deep. Skin tones appear a touch pale. Details are generally strong, often bordering on excellent. Like was the case with Flatliners, there's simply not a lot of skin imperfections to be found on the lead actors, but all the little visible pores, moles, and general textural qualities are presented with fairly good definition and attention to detail. Clothes and environments likewise find enough complexity to satisfy. This is a good presentation, certainly just another fish in the Blu ocean at this point in the game, but viewers will find little worthy of serious complaint.
November Criminals features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Much like the video, everything is in good working order, but the track never makes a statement, never offers any reason to remember it or, on the flip side, to dismiss it. Music is pleasantly rich and wide, whether score or pop songs, finding width, depth, and a solid low end accompaniment. The track releases ever more intensive bass as Addison (I actually had to scroll up to the movie review to see what his name was again...that's how forgettable this movie was) approaches the crime scene. Positive environmental effects help give shape to a couple of scenes, notably one near film's end when croaking frogs, gently falling rain, and distant rolling thunder create an ominous nighttime setting. Dialogue drives most of the movie, and it's clear and well defined with consistent front-center positioning and prioritization.
November Criminals contains one extra. Taking Care - Making 'November Criminals' (1080p, 6:53) is a basic EPK that explores story, characters, performances, locations, etc. The disc also includes an assortment of previews for other Sony titles. No DVD or digital versions are included.
November Criminals hopefully made for a better book because it made a lousy movie. It's adequately crafted and David Strathairn and Catherine Keener give it a little gravitas, but the story fizzles under the pressure of a largely directionless, far too diluted, slowly developed narrative centered on the death of a character the audience barely knows (he works at a coffee shop, loves to read, is friends with Addison, and seems nice enough...end of story) and follows a character who apparently didn't really know his friend, either. The film offers no significant action, its hero is determined but never shows any spark, and the romance is stilted and pointless. Sony's Blu-ray offers good video and audio. Extras are unsurprisingly slim for a movie as weak as this one. Skip it.
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