I'd been meaning to catch this one for a long time; when BB was selling the DVD for $13 I decided to jump. Man, I'm glad I did. This is among the best movies I've seen in the last couple years.
First off, what can you say about Tom Hanks? Some people love him, some hate him. I'm ambivalent; I agree that in almost every movie he seems to play the same character, with the same low key, deadpan delivery. Regardless, here his style really works, and we get a great sense of this "regular guy" who goes to church and supports his family, he just happens to do it by murdering people. We see the complexity and contradictions of Mike Sullivan, and Hanks manages to make him likable, or at least understandable, without making any apologies for his nature.
I've never been a fan of Paul Newman, but here he's exceptional. Alternatively grandfatherly and menacing, he's powerful in the role of the "honorable" man put in the unenviable position of choosing between his worthless blood son and his "adoptive" one, ie Sullivan. The interplay between him & Mike, as well as Mike and his own son, are the heart of this movie.
Technically, I think the DVD is a standout, too. I love the muted, almost somber color palette, and despite the dark look the transfer looks good and nicely detailed to me. I didn't notice a lot of compression artifacts or edge enhancements (better check with Bubba, there; he is a little more attuned to those issues than I am).
The sound is absolutely reference quality. The majority of the movie is composed of gentle, atmospheric sounds (eg the sound of the rain, the wind driven snow, etc), and the disc really does a great job of pulling you into the film. When the action scenes do come along, the sound is unbelievably dynamic, and the bass will rattle your teeth. Particularly one early scene where Mike unlimbers his Tommy Gun has some of the most realistic gunfire sounds I've ever heard. And a solitary gunshot towards then, even though you know it must come, is shocking: I'll admit I jumped!
One last note: I loved the soundtrack. About halfway thru, I began to get a sense of deja vue, feeling that some element of the main theme was familiar. Then I realized that it contained a theme very similar to that of "Meet Joe Black". Sure enough, Newman composed both. A very enjoyable score, maybe not quite up the with MJB, but excellent nonetheless.
Overall, I loved this one. Even if you don't really care for Hanks, I'd say if you only get two movies this month (Duh! You gotta get LotR:TT!
), this is one to get. Highly recommended.
