The Devil's Own Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

The Devil's Own Blu-ray Movie Review

Bland movie, bland Blu-ray.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 1, 2008

Don't look for a happy ending. It's not an American story; it's an Irish one.

What happens when you combine arguably the hottest star of the 1980s -- Harrison Ford (Blade Runner), -- with one of the biggest of the 1990s -- Brad Pitt (Ocean's Eleven)? Well, not much of anything, sadly. It's not like placing two top-tier actors in a movie together spells instant doom. Take Heat, for example. Did anyone have any doubt that a movie starring both Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro could possibly be anything other than fantastic (not to mention under the direction of Michael Mann)? Then again, the problem might be that Ford and Pitt really aren't top-tier actors like Pacino and DeNiro. Sure, they attract crowds and sell tickets, and they've been in some very good movies, but it seems like in The Devil's Own the two had no idea how to play off of one another, not to mention being under the subpar direction of the late of Alan J. Pakula (The Pelican Brief). Once again, a movie takes a decent idea (and believe it or not, I think that most movies, even the bad ones, are rooted in decent-at-worst ideas, unless you're dealing with something epically bad like One Missed Call). Here, the idea revolves around the purchase of missiles by a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to be used to further that organization's cause and the choice two men must face in light of their backgrounds, personas, and level of trust. It's a good idea, though perhaps one that might be more befitting as the plot of a novel where the storyteller would have more opportunity to flesh out the characters and create a more immersive world and backdrop than what we see here.

Frankie McGuire appears stunned when his target informs him that he forgot to load the gun.

Frankie McGuire (Pitt), a young Irish lad of 8 years, witnesses his father murdered over dinner. Years later, he's become a member of the IRA, fighting against those very people responsible for his father's death. Lacking sufficient military grade hardware to continue on with the fight against the heavily armed and modernized British Army, Frankie travels to the United States, assumes the name Rory Devaney, and with the help of a new and sympathetic friend, plans to purchase stinger missiles from a black market arms dealer (Treat Williams, Deep Rising) which he'll take back to Ireland to help further his cause. Rory is housed with police officer Tom O'Meara (Ford), a good cop with a conscience who puts people (including his suspects) ahead of himself, his aspirations, or his emotions. Ultimately, Tom will begin to piece together the true identity and motivations of the seemingly friendly Irishman living in his home, and he'll have to choose to help or hinder his task.

The Devil's Own, in the end, comes off as a completely uninspired and frankly boring movie whose plot gets lost in dull cinematography, plot contrivances, mediocre acting, badly placed and stereotypical Irish music, a slow pace, and several sequences that have very little to do with the central focus of the story. Other than fleshing out Tom's personality and morals, which is important to the story, two sequences, one where he chases down a small-time thief and lets him go, the other where he breaks up a domestic disturbance, really add no value to the movie, appearing completely out-of-place and useless. I appreciate the need to get the audience's mindset in the right place and learn who the characters are and what it is they believe in to make the story work, but such necessities are generally handled in some way relevant to the primary plot line, but not here. I was taken out of the movie both times and found it difficult to get back in.

The movie's main problems stem from its lack of originality. Absolutely nothing stands out; as mentioned above, the cinematography, the look of the film, is so drab as to make it difficult to get into the spirit of the thing. We are presented with one generic scene after another, even the shootouts dull and tedious. Even as a fan of loud action scenes with plenty of gun play, the ones featured in this movie are so lifeless as to make them only moderately watchable and completely forgettable. While I've heard worse accents than Pitt's (hear Kevin Costner's in 13 Days or his co-star Ford's in K19: The Widowmaker), it sometimes distracts, sometimes not, but the main problem with the character is his lackluster and clichéd persona. His story sounds like a bad movie trailer: "when a young boy witnesses the death of his father, he'll grow up with the singular goal of bringing justice to those responsible." It sounds like a bad Steven Seagal movie, and the theme is one that's been done countless times before (Beowulf & Grendel comes to mind as a crude yet perfectly fitting example). Worth a watch but completely worthless in terms of replay value and thought-provoking stimulation, The Devil's Own ranks right up there with the best of the most average movies Hollywood has ever produced.

The Devil's Own Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Nearly as disappointing an experience as the movie is this 2.40:1, 1080p high definition transfer of The Devil's Own. While serviceable, this image clearly lacks clarity and definition. Softness, albeit somewhat subtle in some scenes, is seemingly ever-present. The image constantly looks dark and bleak, no doubt a stylistic choice employed by the filmmakers to suit the subject material, although it doesn't help that both Ireland and New York often appear drab and overcast throughout the course of the film. Black levels are solid, serving as one of the transfer's assets. I was not overly impressed at first, noting a mostly ho-hum reaction to the depth of the blacks, but I become more impressed with them as the film moved along. A fine layer of film grain can be seen throughout the picture, but it doesn't really benefit the look of the film insofar as aiding in recreating the joyous cinematic/theatrical look and feel. I noted some instances of shimmering and slight contrast wavering in the image, and flesh tones often appear red and unnatural. Detail is also unimpressive. On occasion, we see some fine nuances in the picture, the best I saw being the leather of McGuire's leather jacket in several shots, or in the texture of the leather making up the backseat of a car. Otherwise, detail is disappointingly low in this movie, the result a mostly flat and lifeless picture. There also appear to be a few instances of sharp edges on naturally smooth surfaces. Take a look, if you buy or rent this movie, at a wooden chair at the dinner table about 21 minutes in. The edges of the smooth, rounded chair definitely exhibit a case of the jaggies. Even taking into account the age of the movie, this is a very lackluster transfer, though much of the depressing look of the movie does appear to be intentional rather than any fault of the disc. Still, The Devil's Own never approaches the level of quality or reference material we're beginning to see in so many releases, new or catalogue.

The Devil's Own Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Neither angelic nor demonic is The Devil's Own Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound mix. Overall, the sound track is sufficient, but it certainly lacks the punch and definition we've come to expect from superior mixes. Granted, The Devil's Own is more of a drama than an action film, but there are several action sequences, most of which come off as drab and uninspired from an audio perspective. Gunfire doesn't really make much of an impact. It's represented here as standard-fare sound with decent reverberation and presence, but there is no hard-hitting thuds to make us feel like part of the action. The subwoofer felt subdued during many such scenes, notably the shootout near the beginning of the movie, and the overall result was disappointing to say the least. The film's music is also simply adequate. Much of it comes across as subdued, especially the cheesy, clichéd, and seemingly out-of-place and forced Irish tunes that play over the more easy going and heartwarming scenes of the movie, a respite between the more tense and/or chaotic sequences. It does sound pleasant enough, not quite awe-inspiring, but good enough as to have you believing you just popped in your favorite Celtic-themed CD for some relaxing music while cleaning house. Dialogue reproduction proves to be one of the strengths of this disc, never presenting me with any reason to rank it below the level of "excellent." This disc doesn't feature much surround activity, and ambience only really caught my ear a few times, notably and pleasingly in the film's third act during a sequence in an abandoned warehouse. The entire soundstage is well-used, and imaging is excellent. Loud voices echo with a natural verve, water drips off to the side of you and, eventually, shotgun blasts ring your bells and create in this room (and the listening area) a fine and frightening resonance. Still, this soundtrack is lackluster at best, falling way short of attaining the heights of the elite sound mixes yet released on Blu-ray.

The Devil's Own Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

I guess the producers of this disc decided their fans wouldn't want any supplements, so the decision was made to release this disc almost completely bare-bones. The Devil's Own Blu-ray contains only 1080p trailers for Damages: The Complete First Season and Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season (the same two previews that appeared on The 6th Day), as well as a Blu-ray promotional montage, also presented in 1080p.

The Devil's Own Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It seems like I have been reviewing quite a few movies recently that I've seen before but had forgotten about, the movie obviously not holding my interest back then, and once again failing to entertain me now. The Devil's Own is another such movie, one I saw on DVD back when it first hit that format, but hadn't watched since, remembering only Brad Pitt's questionable accent. The story here is a good one, the IRA always making for a good backdrop to a film, but this one just can't seem to keep up a decent pace or figure out exactly where it is going. Even Brad Pitt wasn't happy with the final product, and production and script squabbles, not to mention egos, plagued the filming of the movie. To make matters worse, this subpar film is now a subpar high definition Blu-ray release. Perhaps the dullest audio and video quality yet from Sony, The Devil's Own's subdued and bleak look doesn't help a transfer that exhibits some flaws but also proves itself worthy in a few other areas, and its sound mix is a very average one at best. With no supplemental materials relating to the film to be found on this disc, I cannot even recommend a purchase to fans of the movie who already own a copy on DVD.