6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.1 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.8 |
After assuming his dead cell-mate's identity to get with the other man's girlfriend, an ex-convict finds himself a reluctant participant in a casino heist.
Starring: Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise, Charlize Theron, Isaac Hayes, Ron JeremyThriller | 100% |
Crime | 83% |
Heist | 28% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 1.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Of all the directors who initially made their mark in fifties (usually live) television and then matriculated into a film career, none had the odd trajectory of John Frankenheimer. Frankenheimer managed to churn out one remarkable film after another in a hugely disparate variety of genres, films as different as Birdman of Alcatraz, The Manchurian Candidate, The Train and Grand Prix, often extracting Academy Award nominated performances from his actors, and yet he himself never managed to even be nominated for an Oscar. Furthermore, Frankenheimer’s career was oddly akin to a roller coaster, perhaps even more than the “standard” show business career, with incredible highs followed by just as incredible lows. The sixties were arguably Frankenheimer’s strongest decade, with the four films listed above and at least a couple of others helping to forge his considerable reputation, but the seventies, eighties, nineties and early two thousands are a decidedly different matter. 1977’s Black Sunday is probably Frankenheimer’s best known and most successful film from this multi-decade era, but even it has its detractors, and truth be told, a lot of Frankenheimer’s efforts over these many years are less than stellar, and include such critically reviled films as the Val Kilmer-Marlon Brando The Island of Dr. Moreau (which frankly probably isn’t that blamable on Frankenheimer, considering the film’s extremely troubled production history). But sprinkled in with the relative disasters are a number of interesting efforts, including Frankenheimer’s sequel to The French Connection (The French Connection II), Ronin and some good pieces HBO and TNT (Against the Wall, The Burning Season, Path to War) that saw Frankenheimer returning to his television roots to reinvigorate his directorial chops. Frankenheimer’s last theatrical film was 2000’s Reindeer Games, a fitfully exciting crime thriller that tries to provide a few too many twists for its own good, but which has some good elements sprinkled into an otherwise fairly turgid stew. Frankenheimer recut the film after its original release wasn’t exactly greeted with critical acclaim (or measurable box office returns), and this Blu-ray presents his “Director’s Cut”, which includes around 20 minutes or so of additional and/or reedited footage.
Reindeer Games is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate and Miramax with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. These Lionsgate-Miramax catalog releases have generally sported very good to excellent transfers, but Reindeer Games is a notable and noticeable exception to that rule. This is one of the roughest looking high definition presentations of a Miramax catalog release in recent memory, perhaps ever. The first issue is that so much of this film takes place in darkened environments, as is clearly shown in many of the screencaptures. With uneven black levels, persistent crush and often nonexistent shadow detail, this transfer descends into a muddy murky ambience in at least the darker sequences. Things are quite a bit better in more naturally lit sequences, though even these are typically filtered toward an ice blue side of the spectrum, which also robs the image of some fine detail and often leaves the film looking soft. The worst thing about this transfer is the really over the top digital sharpening, which adds some of the most persistent haloing I can remember ever seeing. It gives the film a jagged digitized look that is really unappealing some of the time. The one major plus is that this transfer gets the film closer to its original aspect ratio than previous releases, but that's not much of a consolation prize when the image itself is so disappointing.
Reindeer Games's audio story is a good deal better, though that may be damning with faint praise. The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track may not the bombastic LFE-fest that some might have wanted from a film advertised as an action thriller, but immersion is generally well done if not overwhelmingly consistent. The best surround activity takes place in both crowded environments, as in the busy casino scenes, as well as in some of the outdoor locations, as in some of the snowy, ice strewn moments where a nice sense of the vast open spaces is created. Fidelity is generally quite good, dialogue is crisp and clear, and effects are well mixed and well prioritized. This isn't a total knock your socks off presentation, but it's solid in its own way and should certainly not create the problems for high definition aficionados that the image quality will.
Reindeer Games is an abject lesson in not judging a book by its cover, though perhaps in the opposite way this aphorism is usually applied. In this case, seeing a film directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Affleck, Theron and Sinise would probably augur well for some great entertainment. Unfortunately, just about everything in Reindeer Games fails to find its mark. This is the rare Lionsgate-Miramax catalog release that does not offer a subtantial video upgrade from its DVD release, so it's hard to recommend anything other than a rental of this release for the curious.
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