6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In 1959 Brighton, disgraced cop turned private detective Tony Aaron falsifies adulteries for use as evidence in divorce cases. When a client is murdered, Tony's ex-partner, Frank, still on the Brighton force, finds that the most likely suspects are Angeline, the client's mistress who is set to inherit all his property, and Tony himself, parts of whose story don't seem to add up.
Starring: Liam Neeson, Laura San Giacomo, Kenneth Cranham, Maggie O'Neill, Alex NortonDrama | 100% |
Period | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.38:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: LPCM 2.0
English, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Before becoming a bankable movie star in films like Taken and Unknown, Liam Neeson was still an exceptional actor who made interesting but often little-known films like 1991's Under Suspicion (not to be confused with the 2000 film of the same title starring Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman). A tautly scripted British thriller released by Columbia Pictures in just a few American theaters, the film is part of the Sony catalogue being issued on Blu-ray through Image Entertainment. Writer-director Simon Moore, who had already created the original miniseries Traffik for British TV, built his story from elements of classic film noir: a shady private eye with flexible ethics; a local cop who'd like nothing better than to nail him for a crime, and another who's his pal and protector; an alluring lady with a mysterious past and questionable motives; a large fortune that's subject to a conveniently timed new will; a couple of brutal murders; and several suspicious characters hovering around the edges. But Moore took these creatures out of their natural habitats in the American asphalt jungle and transplanted them to the British seaside resort of Brighton, circa 1959. Then he used effective location photography and provocative period recreation to keep reminding the viewer that this was no Yankee tale of corruption, but a hearty British cocktail of crime and iniquity. "You may have the guns", Moore seems to be saying (because it's essential to certain plot developments that British cops of the era were unarmed). "But we've been betraying each other for centuries!"
Sony and Image have done their usual commendable job in transferring Under Suspicion to Blu-ray. The 1080p, AVC-encoded transfer provides a smooth, film-like image that aptly conveys the foggy, seaside Brighton locale, the seedy interior and neighborhood of Tony's office, the lavish mansion where Angeline resides and the various bars, offices, police stations, courtrooms and prison facilities where the investigation leads. Blacks are black with the most minor crushing (probably source-based), colors are well-saturated, and images are finely detailed with a visible but not intrusive field of natural-looking grain. Fleshtones tend toward the ruddy, but that's appropriate for a coastal town in the middle of winter. There was no indication of high-frequency filtering, transfer-induced ringing or compression artifacts.
The original stereo soundtrack is supplied as PCM 2.0, and it's serviceable without being showy. Dialogue is clear, assuming you have no problem with the accents, which aren't especially strong, and there are subtitles if you need them. The atmospheric score is by Christopher Gunning, who has composed extensively for British TV and whose most recent major film credit is La Vie en Rose (La môme). One has to wonder, though, if the film would have been more successful with a darker, more foreboding score. Body Heat was artfully scripted and impeccably acted, but it wouldn't have been as effective without John Barry's horns prophesying doom from their opening notes.
None.
For fans of Under Suspicion, this disc is an easy recommendation, because the technical quality is up to the usual standards of Sony/Image releases. For those unfamiliar, a rental is advisable, because the film may or may not be your cup of tea (Earl Grey or English Breakfast). Then again, Image releases tend to go on special, and if you're a fan of Liam Neeson, he's great in this film, though in a very different role than the big-budget films he's made recently. Recommended.
2006
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1955
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1944
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Choice Collection
1958
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2016
1995
Tengoku to jigoku / 天国と地獄
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1997