Suspect Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		1.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Suspect Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 23, 2017

Director Peter Yates' (An Innocent Man) Suspect fits neatly into the mid-tier of the courtroom drama genre, certainly one of the more storied genres through the annals of American film, producing classics such as 12 Angry Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, and A Few Good Men that not only open up the courtroom and allow access to the inside baseball outside of it but often offer substantial human interest and drama along the way, for where else is so much -- a life, the truth -- so deeply at stake? Suspect, with a strong cast, good pacing, and a unique twist ending makes for a comfortable, if not occasionally engaging, watch as it maneuvers through standard genre permutations while taking a few interesting detours along the way. The film holds up even thirty years after its release, but Mill Creek's Blu-ray is unfortunately not up to par, incapable of offering more than a crude and flawed and bare-bones presentation of an otherwise enjoyable film.

A D.C. judge commits suicide. A woman is found murdered. The suspect in her killing is a homeless Vietnam veteran named Carl Wayne Anderson (Liam Neeson) who can neither speak nor hear, making his defense, already a monumental task, all that much harder. Unfortunately for him, Kathleen Riley (Cher) has been named his public defender. It's not that she's not capable, it's that she's burned out, dejected, looking for a way out of her life-sucking career. But she takes the case, reluctantly, and finds herself pitted against a quality prosecutor, Charlie Stella (Joe Mantegna), and under the thumb of a judge (John Mahoney) who isn't keen on taking her side in any matters relating to the trial. One of the jurors selected for the trial is a D.C. lobbyist named Eddie Sanger (Dennis Quaid) who wants no part of the trial. He's too busy in his private and professional lives, but as the process gets underway he finds himself drawn into the case and, well outside the purview and responsibilities of his position as a juror, he clandestinely teams with Kathleen to discover the truth behind the case, a truth that has been well-hidden from the courtroom and kept far away from their reach.

Even as the film traverses through many of the usual genre permutations -- periods of discovery are interspersed around their presentation within the courtroom -- the film's key selling point isn't its ability to wade through a basic cadence but rather in how it mixes things up a little bit along the way. Most notably is the intersection between the despondent defense and a reluctant juror, the former a woman who is burned out on her work and the latter a D.C. lobbyist who wants no part of the process, not necessarily because he doesn't want justice to be served -- "punishment should fit the crime," he says as the attorney grills him in the pre-trial selection process -- but because he's got bigger fish to fry in his own life and line of work. But as she finds herself struggling through the case, he steps up, essentially conducting his own investigation along the way. That's well outside the law, as is his contact with Kathleen, never mind feeding her information or signaling her in the courtroom, but it makes for an interesting approach and a fairly novel one at that. The characters are well constructed and their actions and reactions by-and-large organic, never forced or conveniently stretched thin to fit the plot.

Liam Neeson impress as the "deaf and dumb," by his own admission, suspect in the case and the man who faces trial for murder. He's unable to verbally communicate, leaving the actor to emote through body language and facial expression, both of which he accomplishes without even a hint of an unnatural or forced presentation, unsurprising given an actor of his skill. Cher, better known for her music than her acting, is strong in the lead role, bringing a believable sense of despair both within the general confines of her job and as she runs into one brick wall after another as the judge, capably portrayed by John Mahoney, throws up roadblocks and seems intent on not allowing her to do her job to the fullest of her abilities, within the legal scope of the law, or, perhaps most damaging to her case, within the limits of common professional courtesy. Cher's character works with her hands tied behind her back, which perhaps makes her a bit more amenable to Dennis Quaid's unusual approach to and interest in the case. She's left with no choice but to look into his revelations, and as he becomes a more reliable partner, the relationship grows but becomes strained as it's clear that their actions are not only outside of the scope of the law but that others may be catching on to their relationship. Quaid is excellent in his part, transitioning from a man desperate to escape jury duty to a man desperate to uncover the truth.

Suspect Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Suspect's 1080p MPEG-2 transfer is well beyond suspect: it's guilty of a very subpar presentation. The image has been extensively processed, presenting with significant noise reduction that results in an unstable and artificial image plagued with digital artifacts and no inherent grain. Shaky and uneven edges, textures on the verge of digital collapse, and various other examples of distortion are ever-present. It's a shame, because the foundations of a solid enough transfer are evident. Facial close-ups reveal good depth and detail, for instance, and the image certainly benefits from the raw resolution boost Blu-ray affords it, but there's no mistaking it's been worked over nearly to death. Color saturation and depth are fine, and though hardly game-changing, probably the single best quality the transfer has to offer. Black levels hold very deep but are prone to murky crush. Occasional speckling is also evident.

Suspect Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Suspect testifies by way of a bland, but generally effective, Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Opening title music serves well enough, offering honest front-end spacing and generally good instrumental clarity. There's a fair sense of space and place during an opening scene where traffic lurches through the stage. A few key sound effects offer mixed results. A ringing telephone heard around the 61-minute mark sounds far too sharp, but a blaring fire alarm heard a little later offers more balanced definition. Some large, violent slams and reverberations during a key sequence late in the film manage enough power and stage presence to please. Dialogue is generally clear and presented with a serviceable center-imaged position. The track would have scored a mite higher were it not for two glaring, but brief, flaws: lip sync falls completely off the map for about a five-second stretch at the 26:30 mark while sound drops entirely -- the movie goes silent (albeit during an otherwise quiet scene) -- for, again, about five seconds at the 1:07:25 mark. Note that subtitles default to "on."

Suspect Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Suspect contains no supplemental content.

Suspect Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Suspect offers enough storyline novelty and an out-of-nowhere but interesting twist ending sandwiched around some good performances and a quality rhythm. It's a solid enough courtroom drama, featuring several engaging performances that keep the movie rolling right along. Unfortunately, Mill Creek's Blu-ray leaves the technical presentation well below ideal. No supplements, very subpar video, and merely adequate audio with a couple of brief trouble spots makes it hard to recommend the disc for any reason other than film's quality and only then at a rock-bottom price point.