The Devil’s Own

• Cat.no: CDR 94773
• Cert: 15
• Running time: 107 minutes
• Year: 1997
• Pressing: 1998
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 20 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew.
• Widescreen: 2.35:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Price: £19.99
• Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer

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Director:

Alan J. Pakula

(All The President’s Men, Klute, The Pelican Brief, Presumed Innocent, Sophie’s Choice)

Producers:

Screenplay:

David Aaron Cohen, Vincent Patrick and Kevin Jarre

Music:

James Horner

Cast:

Tom O’Meara: Harrison Ford (Air Force One, Blade Runner, Clear And Present Danger, Hunt For Red October, The Indiana Jones Trilogy, Patriot Games, The Fugitive, Sabrina, Working Girl)
Rory Devaney: Brad Pitt (Seven)
Sheila O’Meara: Margaret Colin (The Butcher’s Wife, Independence Day, In The Shadow Of Evil, TV: “Legwork”)
Billy Burke: Treat Willams (Hair, In The Shadow Of Evil, Mulholland Falls, Things To Do In Denver…)
Edwin Diaz: Ruben Blades (Color Of Night, Criticial Condition, The Josephine Baker Story, The Two Jakes)
Megan Doherty: Natascha McElhone (Ronin, Mrs Dalloway, Surviving Picasso, What Rats Won’t Do)
Harry Sloan: Simon Jones (TV: “The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”)

The Devil’s Owngot a massive boost from the press on its release whenit was widely reported that the late Princess Diana took her two sons, Williamand Harry, to see it, despite the fact that only one of them was legally oldenough to see it.

The film tells the story of a dangerous terrorist, Frankie Maguire (BradPitt) who escapes capture by the government authorities in Ireland and makeshis way to America under the assumed name of Rory Devaney, where he isinnocently harboured by New York cop, Tom O’Meara (Harrison Ford), whothinks he is just helping a young Irishman get on his feet while he starts a newjob in a new town.

However, when Rory’s terrorist mission comes calling and Tom realises what’sgoing on, there’ll be irrecoverable losses on both sides before the situationis resolved.

What I found surprising, though, was that while the trailer makes it seem likea run-of-the-mill thriller, the film plays out in a much more interesting andintriguing way than I thought it would.

The picture quality is mostly excellent, although on occasion the bitratedrops below 4 Mb/s and the artifacts come out, quite obviously to me, for2-3 minutes at a time. This isn’t a reason to put you off buying this, butit is something that, with a bit more care, could have been avoided in themastering process.

The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1, is enhancedfor 16:9 widescreen televisions – thus allowing for higher resolution – and theaverage bitrate is a middling 4.33 Mb/s.

The widescreen ratio really serves this film well, with director Pakula, addingtension by utilising the frame better than a lot of his kind could, such assometimes having things happen on both sides – all of which would be completelydestroyed by a pan-and-scan transfer.

As per usual now, there are two sound flavours: Dolby Digital 5.1 for thosewith a penchant for giving their neighbours headaches and Dolby Surround foreveryone else. There’s no complaints with the sound at all, but apart from afew action scenes, there’s nothing that will crack the plaster in the walls.

The theatrical trailer is included here and is framed at approximately 16:9.

Languages/Subtitles :

There’s just the one language on this disc – English – plus subtitles inEnglish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi and Hebrew. The dialogueis brought across well in the English subtitles.

Menu :

The menu works well and looks good, emulating the cover artwork. As the toneof the film is about the IRA, the marker highlighting each option is a gun’starget-sight, but you have to click the left-hand side of the option to accessit. On playing the disc you see the Columbia TriStar logo before the main menuappears.

When you select the “Start Movie” option, you simply get the copyright logobefore the film begins.

Overall, I enjoyed this film a lot more than I thought I would do, even ifHarrison Ford looks as if he’s about to break into Jack Ryan-mode everytime he gets angry at someone or something, but if I had one query, it would bethat the film has a 15-certificate. I don’t think it has been cut, but theamount of bad language and violence would normally necessitate an 18, soperhaps the BBFC have gone for a 15 on the grounds that since it containsrealistic-type violence, with the IRA situation being involved, this brings itabove the level of the typical Hollywood blockbuster and may be of someeducational benefit to those aged 15-17.

On an aside, Treat Williams and Margaret Colin never get to sharea scene in this film, but both starred in In The Shadow Of Evil.

FILM : ****½PICTURE QUALITY: ****SOUND QUALITY: ****EXTRAS: *½——————————-OVERALL: ***½

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.