6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
After a woman suffers a brutal rape in a bar one night, a prosecutor assists in bringing the perpetrators to justice, including the ones who encouraged and cheered on the attack.
Starring: Kelly McGillis, Jodie Foster, Bernie Coulson, Ann Hearn, Carmen ArgenzianoCrime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
German: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0
English, English SDH, French, German, Japanese
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The Accused is a very good film, but it is also a difficult film to watch. It deals with intense subject matter and a broad spectrum of human emotion and human depravity. It is unflinchingly raw in both areas, and it is built for both narrative authenticity and dramatic and cinematic impact. The film, from Director Jonathan Kaplan (Unlawful Entry) and Writer Tom Topor (Nuts), is a visceral experience, an edge-of-the-seat film not because of its tension but because of its gripping rawness and roughness. Yet the film is elegantly crafted and acted, a deadly combination that garnered the film widespread acclaim and box office success despite its unpalatable core story mechanics.
Paramount's 1080p Blu-ray presentation of The Accused is very good. There is some evident telecine wobble during the opening titles and the title letters display jagged edges. Fortunately, beyond a few more fleeting examples of jagged edges here and there, that opening represents the beginning and the end of any truly bothersome issues with the image. Once beyond that the picture looks very good. Grain is naturally present and filmic, helping to create a healthy, satisfying film-like appearance. Textural definition is very good as well. Faces and clothes come alive with commanding clarity, revealing complex components with remarkable ease and efficiency. Facial close-ups are amongst the highlights, but clothes and various environments, from a barroom to a courtroom, look wonderfully complex and natural. Colors are well saturated. There is no problem in terms of color pop and depth. Everything is dialed in just right for contrast and temperature. Black levels are solid if not slightly prone to favor crush a few times. Whites are suitably crisp. Skin tones are healthy. There are some very minor examples of print wear and speckling, but these are never distracting. There are no obvious encode issues to report. This is a very healthy and a very satisfying catalogue Blu-ray release from Paramount.
Paramount brings The Accused to Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation rarely takes advantage of the surround speakers, at least not in any meaningful or even, usually, just evident way. The front end carries the majority of the content, with the center channel handling the bulk of those duties. While music spaces nicely enough along the front, boasting good foundational clarity and separation, it is the center that gets most of the action. This is a dialogue intensive film. The spoken word is clear, natural, and lifelike with flawless prioritization in evidence throughout. Beyond that, the track offers good little examples of ambient fill flowing through office spaces and city exteriors (the 55-minute mark offers both). Again, such sound elements present with a very heavy front side focus, but also with impressive front side width, at least making a larger environment through which the support sounds operate. There's nothing too terribly unique, flavorful, or even distinguishing about this track, but the 5.1 lossless presentation handles core duties admirably. Listeners should be more than satisfied with this transmission of the original sound design.
This Blu-ray release of The Accused contains only a single extra: the film's Theatrical Trailer (480i, 2:10). No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover. Aside from the trailer and the presence of a main menu screen with four selectable options (Play, Settings, Scenes, Extra), this one is pretty well bare bones.
This is an excellent picture that brings together thrilling legal depth and raw human content in a way that few other kinds of the courtroom genre manage. Foster is special in the role and McGillis is rock solid, too, in what might be her best performance. Paramount's Blu-ray is sadly devoid of bonus content beyond a standard definition trailer. However, the video and audio presentations are very good. Recommended.
Warner Archive Collection
1990
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1981
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...And Justice for All
1979
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1988
Eager Beavers / Room Service Sex
1975
2013
1997
1959
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Retro VHS Collection
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