DVDfever.co.uk

Follow

Follow DVDfever.co.uk

WP Twitter Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com

Dom Robinson reviews

A Few Good Men

Distributed by

Columbia TriStar

Cat.no: CDR 94593
Cert: 15
Running time: 132 minutes
Year: 1992
Pressing: 1998
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 24 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Surround
Languages: English
Subtitles: English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Cantonese, Italian, Greek, Hebrew.
Widescreen: 2.35:1
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Price: £19.99
Extras : Scene index, Columbia TriStar trailer (clips of many films coming to DVD).

Director:

The American President, Ghosts From The Past, Stand By Me, The Sure Thing, This Is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally

Producers:

David Brown, Rob Reiner and Andrew Scheinman

Screenplay:

Aaron Sorkin (based on his play)

Music:

Marc Shaiman

Cast:

Lt. Daniel Kaffee: Tom Cruise

Cocktail, Days Of Thunder, Far & Away, The Firm, Interview With The Vampire, Jerry Maguire, Legend, Mission: Impossible, The Outsiders, Rainman, Risky Business, Top Gun

Col. Nathan R. Jessup: Jack Nicholson

Batman (1989), Blood And Wine, Chinatown, The Crossing Guard, Easy Rider, Hoffa, Little Shop Of Horrors (1960), Man Trouble, Mars Attacks!, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, The Two Jakes, The Witches Of Eastwick, Wolf

Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway: Demi Moore

The Butcher's Wife, Disclosure, Ghost, G.I. Jane, Indecent Proposal, The Juror, Nothing But Trouble, Now And Then, The Scarlet Letter, Striptease

Capt. Jack Ross: Kevin Bacon

Apollo 13, The Big Picture, Diner, Footloose, Friday The 13th, JFK, Murder In The First, The River Wild, She's Having A Baby, Sleepers, Tremors

Lt. Jonathan Kendrick: Kiefer Sutherland

Bright Lights Big City, The Lost Boys, A Time To Kill, The Three Musketeers, Young Guns, Young Guns 2: Blaze Of Glory

Lt. Sam Weinberg: Kevin Pollak

Casino, Grumpy Old Men, Grumpier Old Men, Ricochet, The Usual Suspects

Pfc. Louden Downey: James Marshall

All She Ever Wanted, The Unspoken Truth

Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson: J.T. Walsh

Backdraft, The Big Picture, Breakdown, Hoffa, Needful Things, Nixon, Red Rock West, The Russia House, Sniper, TV: "Dark Skies"

Dr. Stone: Christopher Guest

Little Shop Of Horrors (1986), The Long Riders, This Is Spinal Tap, TV: "The Simpsons"

Lance Cpl. Harold W. Dawson: Wolfgang Bodison

Capt. Whitaker: Xander Berkeley

Barb Wire, Candyman, The Killing Jar, Safe

Cpl. Jeffrey Barnes: Noah Wyle

The Last Days Of Paradise, TV: "E.R."

Cpl. Carl Hammaker: Cuba Gooding, Jnr.

Boyz In The Hood, Jerry Maguire, Outbreak, The Tuskagee Airmen

Man in Bar: Aaron Sorkin

A Few Good Men begins with two marines murdering a third who is believed to be ready to rat on the more experienced one, a marine who allegedly fired across the Cuban fenceline into enemy territory at his 'mirror', the enemy mirroring his position who may or may not have been ready to shoot back.

The type of 'punishment' dished out to Santiago was a 'Code Red' which went wrong resulting in the private's death. Those two marines are in trouble, but so is the officer who authorised the 'Code Red' and Lt. Daniel Kaffee has to find out who was responsible for this.

This is a strong drama with an engaging, coherent plot which unfolds at a steady pace. The opening credits are also a marvel to watch with a gun-twirling display that beggars belief on first viewing.

A great film has an equally-great cast with a three-strong lead from Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson, the latter of which has very few scenes, but steals all those that he appears in.

The supporting cast are certainly no small fry either compromising of Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Pollak, Twin Peaks' James Marshall and the late J.T. Walsh, one of the finest actors who never quite made the Hollywood A-list.

There's also support from This Is Spinal Tap's Christopher Guest, a fresh face to film from Wolfgang Bodison, Air Force One's presidential aide, Xander Berkeley, Noah Wyle aka Dr. John Carter in the award-winning TV series E.R., Cruise's Jerry Maguire co-star, Cuba Gooding, Jnr., plus a cameo from the film's author, Aaron Sorkin as 'Man in Bar'.

The picture quality is near-perfect with only a few small artifacts during the opening chapter while Santiago is murdered, plus in the establishing shot at the start of chapter 10, most of which would go unnoticed by most people. The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1, is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions - thus allowing for higher resolution - and the average bitrate is 3.93 Mb/s, which is quite low but still serves this release incredibly well.

The sound comes in one format: Dolby Surround. This being a drama, the sound is only really used for dialogue, Marc Shaiman's musical score and ambience.

Strangely, Chapter 21 has a couple of mins where the vocals are out of sync while Jack Nicholson is on trial, but it ends just before he gives an answer.

Extras :

Chapters/Columbia TriStar Trailer :

There are 24 chapters spread throughout the 132 mins of the film although it could use more.

It's confusing that the main menu has a "Play trailer" option as you'd expect it to be the trailer for this particular film, but it's not. It's a collection of clips from various Columbia TriStar films coming soon to DVD.

Languages/Subtitles :

There's just the one language on this disc - English - plus subtitles in English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Cantonese, Italian, Greek and Hebrew. The English subtitles condense the dialogue a fair amount, losing some of Cruise's sarcastic character.

Menu :

The interactive menu is excellent and just dragging the mouse pointer over an option highlights it.

The main menu also appears very quickly. However, on playing the film it is then that time is taken up with the Columbia TriStar logo and copyright info.

Overall, this is an excellent drama with a top-line cast, a gorgeous transfer and pleasing sound. It could have used some more extras, but what we have here is certainly worth the asking price.

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

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.

[Up to the top of this page]

Page Not Found - DVDfever.co.uk

DVDfever.co.uk

Follow

Follow DVDfever.co.uk

WP Twitter Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com