6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
During World War II, a Basque peasant smuggles a French scientist and his family into Spain. They are pursued by a brutal German SS officer.
Starring: Anthony Quinn, James Mason (I), Malcolm McDowell, Patricia Neal, Kay LenzWar | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
With 1979’s “The Passage,” director J. Lee Thompson returns to the Men on a Mission formula that served him well during 1961’s “The Guns of Navarone,” out to mastermind a cinematic take on Bruce Nicolaysen’s novel. It’s a return to a World War II landscape, this time taking the action to the Pyrenees mountains, where a story of survival is allowed time to explore numerous physical and psychological challenges. While Thompson brings a meaty, action-centric mood to the feature, he’s less certain with its dramatic capabilities, rendering “The Passage” a strange mix of indulgence and inattentiveness, with the production as a whole struggling to define its tone as the effort swings from nobility to camp without warning.
I'm going to trust there were good intentions with the AVC encoded image (2.35:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "The Passage," with disc producers working with less than ideal elements to bring the feature to Blu-ray. It's a problematic viewing experience that favors a darker appearance, which dims delineation needs, solidifying many scenes as black figures interact with other black figures. When the frame is fully illuminated, detail is more easily accessible, with adequate textures on facial particulars and location highlights, delivering passable distances. Colors aren't explosive, but they manage intent, working with a subdued palette that communicates hardship and wintry vistas. Source is in rough shape, with constant speckling and scratches, and cinematography is all over the place (gauzy one moment, sharp the next), with a scene at the 85:00 mark showcasing a squeezed look for a moment that seems inherent to the original shoot, but there's no explanation for it.
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix also struggles with consistency, finding dialogue exchanges thin and artificial, with the picture's crummy ADR work disrupting the aural flow of the film. Crispy extremes are common, but intelligibility isn't entirely ruined, with basic dramatic efforts followed, while McDowell's work is unmistakable. Scoring also suffers from age and condition, with its sweep muted by shrillness and a clouded instrumentation. Sound effects are more insistent, with loud gunfire and explosions, and atmospherics are thick. Hiss and pops are detected, but never distract.
"The Passage" is on the sluggish side, in need of editorial tightening, especially when the characters pause to regroup and rethink their mission. There's a solid dramatic foundation as doubt comes into play, and a powerful scene of sacrifice adds something to final act, supplying necessary inspiration for the participants to take survival seriously. I wish there was more depth to the picture, which often stalls as it allows great actors to wallow in nonessential scenes. "The Passage" eventually settles on violence to close out the viewing experience -- a wise choice to numb the viewer, helping to erase memories of dreary scenes that fail to ignite the hunt at the heart of the feature. Sadly, bullets and bombs do little to salvage the mediocre effort, which struggles far too often with surefire elements.
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