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- Cert:
- Cat.no: MP626D
- Running time: 80 minutes
- Year: 2007
- Pressing: 2008
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 12 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £15.99
- Extras: Trailer, Making Of
Director:
- J.P. Schaefer
(Chapter 27)
Producers:
- Naomi Despres, Alexandra Michan and Robert Salerno
Screenplay:
- J.P. Schaefer (from the own book by Jack Jones))
Music:
- Anthony Marinelli
Cast :
- Mark David Chapman: Jared Leto
Jude: Lindsay Lohan
Jeri: Ursula Abbott
Paul: Judah Friedlander
John Lennon: Mark Lindsay Chapman
Yoko Ono: Mariko Takai
Frederic Seaman: Matthew Humphreys
Chapter 27‘stitle comes from the fact that there are 26 chapters to the acclaimed novel, Catcher in the Rye, which Mark Chapman(played here by Jared Leto) was carrying at the time when he assassinated Beatles legend John Lennon in cold bloodby firing five gunshots into him on the 8th December, 1980. At the age of 8, it was the first time I had one of those“You know where you were when you heard the news…” moments, like I’d always heard about in relation to JFK.
Throughout this film we hear the words of Leto, as Mark Chapman, talking about the 3 days he spent in New York City leadingup to that fateful day, we see that he stayed at the local YMCA before moving into the Sheraton hotel because the former wasn’texactly ‘a la carte’ in terms of accommodation, and we learn of his obsession with the aforementioned book and its leadcharacter, Holden Caulfield.
We also see him befriended by Lindsay Lohan as another Beatles fan, Jude, who turns up regularly outside Lennon’s apartmentin the Dakota building, with her friend Jeri (Ursula Abbott). She encourages him to get his then-latest album, DoubleFantasy, and we don’t actually get to learn of Lohan’s character’s name until, while spending a few minutes with Chapman,Jeri calls out, “Hey, Jude, um, we’re goin, right?”. Hmm… sounds like a potential song title…
For the role of the killer, Jared Leto reportedly put pints of Hagen Dazs ice cream in the microwave so he could drink them,and mixed them with olive oil and soy sauce “to get me bloated even more”, and put on 67 pounds in total for the role.Also, the actor playing John Lennon is called… Mark Chapman(!) Oh, the irony!
Chapter 27 makes for an easy watch, as it’s only 80 minutes long even though it could use some trimming even from thatshort time, and it’s good to see Lohan actually acting properly in a movie, rather than doing children’s nonsense like thatHerbie film or falling out of nightclubs without any knickers on. Trouble is, it’s just not particularly interesting. We knowhe killed John Lennon but we don’t know why, apart from the fact that he’s a complete nutter with an obsession for Catcherin the Rye, as he narrates his tale in retrospect.
The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and looks very good throughout, although is a little soft on occasion.However, there are no issues with artifacts. There’s no DD5.1 soundtrack, just a straight-forward Dolby Surround one,which is functional but not oustanding. However, the dialogue is clear.
There are scant extras: just a Theatrical trailer (2:00) in 1.85:1 anamorphic but looking a bit washed out, anda Making Of (11:00), presented in 4:3 with on-set filming footage and soundbites from Leto, Lohan and directorJ.P. Schaefer about why they wanted to make the film. Well, most of it’s in 4:3 although Leto and Schaefer’s interview clipsare in letterboxed 16:9 which seems a bit odd when Lohan’s in 4:3.
The film contains a mere 12 chapters, which isn’t too bad given the short running time, but I always work on a rule of thumb ofone every five minutes as a reasonable figure. Subtitles are available in English and the main menu is animated as well asbeing scored with a looped piece of music from the film.
Before the menu even appears, though, we see trailers for PS. I Love You and The Good Night, but, Momentum,we are long past the age of the rental video where this practice was commonplace. You now have somewhere these should go: theextras menu. Please don’t make them stick out like this.
PICTURE QUALITY
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.