5.6 | / 10 |
Users | 2.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.8 |
John Travolta stars as Carson Phillips, an ex-football star turned PI, who's got a soft spot for a lady in distress. Like the classic tales spun by the masters, he takes on a routine missing persons case which slowly reveals itself to be a complex interwoven web of crimes, suspects and dead bodies. When he discovers his long lost daughter is the number one suspect, he races a ticking clock to save her, solve the murders, and uncover the town's dirty secrets.
Starring: John Travolta, Morgan Freeman, Brendan Fraser, Famke Janssen, Ella Bleu TravoltaThriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.38:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
“The Poison Rose” is meant to be throwback entertainment, restoring an interest in noir entanglements that haven’t been a staple of big screen entertainment in quite some time. The production isn’t shy about its fondness for the genre, with the lead character living above a movie theater showing “The Maltese Falcon,” while a cat is named Raymond and a character is branded Chandler. I’m sure there are more references to be found, and perhaps finding these touches is more entertaining than the actual film. Loaded with characters and motivations, “The Poison Rose” is a buffet of dangerous activity from untrustworthy characters, but director George Gallo doesn’t show much enthusiasm for the construction of suspense, keeping the feature fatigued and overly expository, turning the central mystery into homework, unable to create a delicious cinematic stranglehold. The production wants the audience to know it understands the basics of classic noir, but it shows limited interest in becoming one.
The AVC encoded image (2.38:1 aspect ratio) presentation preserves Gallo's attempt to replicate cinematography from the 1970s, with a softer, warmer palette that favors golden urban glow and sunlit exteriors. Hues are secure throughout, working to communicate period outfits as browns and grays are commonly displayed, while dresses offer livelier looks, bringing pinks and reds into the film. Greenery is appreciable as the endeavor travels around palatial estates, and skintones are natural. Detail emerges from the cinematographic haze, identifying weathered faces on Travolta and Freeman, with aging offering decent texture. Locations remain dimensional, working around long alleys and large homes. Delineation loses consistency at times, with a few evening skirmishes solidifying. Compression issues are periodic, encountering some banding and posturization issues.
The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix leads with dialogue exchanges, which retain sharpness to best embrace some of the performance choices offered, including Travolta's tight-jawed delivery. Emotionality is never lost, and more aggressive encounters don't work their way into distortive extremes. Surrounds aren't animated, but atmospherics are understood, capturing coastal activity and hospital bustle, also expanding room interactions during club visits. Scoring delivers some weight, with low-end synth drops for suspense needs, providing a little rumble, which is also found with automobile arrivals.
Complications ensue for multiple plotlines, dealing with Texas Rules concerning oil and football that Carson doesn't respect. Gallo tries to wake up the proceedings with a few shoot-outs, including a decent one inside an empty football stadium, but the movie doesn't stay in action mode for long. It concentrates more on troubled people doing bad things, and that's never as compelling as the production hopes. There are good actors here collecting big paychecks (Travolta commits the material, and it's hard to get a bad performance out of Freeman, even when he's bored), but Gallo can't shake the slightness of the endeavor, which doesn't connect as a character study or a mystery, never offering a reason to care about criminal intent.
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