Cop Land

• Cat.no: PLFEB 37421
• Cert: 18
• Running time: 101 minutes
• Sides: 2 (CLV)
• Year: 1997
• Pressing: 1998
• Chapters: 14 (9/5)
• Sound: Dolby Surround
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• Price: £24.99
• Extras : None
  

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  Director:

  James Mangold

Cast:

Sylvester Stallone
Harvey Keitel
Ray Liotta
Robert De Niro
Peter Berg
Janeane Garafalo
Robert Patrick
Michael Rapaport
Annabella Sciorra
Cathy Moriarty

Criticallyheralded as Stallone’s best acting job in years, this secondfeature by director Mangold (Heavy) is a crime thriller bordering onserious drama as Garrison, New Jersey’s partially deaf local sheriffFreddy Heflin (Stallone) stumbles onto a web of corruption on his owndoorstep. That doorstep is the eponymous Cop Land, the local populaceconsisting almost entirely of cops who work in the crime-ridden New Yorkdistricts situated on the other side of the river.

What sparks events is a car-to-car shooting involving cop Rapaport,who in the immediate aftermath disappears off a bridge into the murky and icydepths below. Uncle Keitel, one of the highest respected Cop Landresidents, may not be quite the honest cop he should be and visitingInternal Affairs man Robert De Niro is onto him and seeking proof.You would think Stallone would have plenty of allies here, but his only localally is Liotta, a cop bereaved of a colleague some two years previously.

Like Heavy, this is a slow piece (though Heavy is much slower)but it really gets under the skin of its characters and impresses more thanthe earlier film. It also boasts an extraordinary end sequence in which a gunfired near Stallone’s good ear nearly deafens him, forcing him to go after thebad guys in a deliriously eerie shootout with a sound mix quite unlike anyyou’ve ever heard before, not least for its unsettling high pitchedwhine.

The disc’s chaptering is perfunctory, but then this is the sort of movieyou’ll sit down and watch straight through, not one you’ll want to lookat little bits of over and over, so it’s not that big a deal.

It sounds fine and the side break’s unobtrusive, but where this scores is inthe incredible transfer – one of those that remind you why you originallywanted an LD player. Buena Vista’s transfers for Pioneer have generallybeen strong, but this one knocks spots off all contenders and greatlyincreases the enjoyment to be had from the disc. Indeed, we to someextent retract the suggestion that this is not a demo movie, since it ISa demo transfer if you want a disc to impress people just how good atruly magnificent transfer can look on LD. (Why aren’t they all thisgood?) But of course, no one should buy the disc for that reason alone -the fact that it’s a decent little thriller should be the first reason,but the superb mastering here makes it an essential PAL purchase.

Film: 3/5
Picture: 5/5
Sound: 5/5