Out of Sight

• Cat.no: UDR 90015
• Cert: 15
• Running time: 118 minutes
• Year: 1998
• Pressing: 1999
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 52 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
• Languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Czech
• Subtitles: 10 languages available
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: No
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £19.99
• Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer, Biographies, Filmographies, Production Notes, Booklet, Director’s Commentary, “Inside Out of Sight” documentary, Music highlights,

Director:

Steven Soderbergh

(Gray’s Anatomy, Kafka, King of the Hill, Schizopolis, sex lies and videotape, The Underneath, YES 9012 Live)

Producers:

Screenplay:

Scott Frank

Music:

David Holmes

Cast:

Jack Foley: George Clooney (From Dusk Till Dawn, One Fine Day, The Peacemaker, The Thin Red Line, TV: E.R.)
Karen Sisco: Jennifer Lopez (Anaconda, Blood & Wine, Jack, Money Train, Thieves, U-Turn)
Buddy Bragg: Ving Rhames (Dangerous Ground, Dave, Deadly Whispers, Don King: Only In America, Homicide, Jacob’s Ladder, The Long Walk Home, Kiss of Death, Mission: Impossible 1 & 2, The People Under the Stairs, Pulp Fiction, Rosewood, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Striptease, TV: E.R.)
Maurice Miller: Don Cheadle (Boogie Nights, Bulworth, Colors, Devil in a Blue Dress, Hamburger Hill, Meteor Man, Rosewood, Things To Do In Denver When You’ve Dead, Volcano)
Marshall Sisco: Dennis Farina (Another Stakeout, Eddie, Get Shorty, Little Big League, Mac, Manhunter, Midnight Run, Mod Squad, Romeo is Bleeding, Striking Distance, That Old Feeling)
Richard Ripley: Albert Brooks (Defending Your Life, I’ll Do Anything, Lost In America, Mother, Private Benjamin, Taxi Driver)

Out Of Sight is another of a long line of Elmore Leonard novels and stories to reach the silver screen or the small screen, following the success of Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, 3:10 To Yuma, Cat Chaser, Touch and Maximum Bob.

Jack Foley (George Clooney) starts the film as a very clever bank robber, but not too clever, as he gets caught. On breaking out, he and Buddy Bragg (Ving Rhames) get caught by Federal Marshal Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez), or do they? The captor becomes the captive as she is bundled in the boot of a car with Foley ensuring she doesn’t get out as he gets in with her, with Bragg doing the driving. A turn of events shortly afterwards leads to Karen being driven off by someone else, while Bragg and Foley are left on the highway and back in jail.

As the film progresses, Karen becomes drawn more and more towards Foley to the point where she’s dreaming about him, but it’s a love that can never be given the fact that they’re on opposite sides of the law, leading to a final confrontation that could prove fatal for one of them.

The film boasts a good cast. In addition to Lopez and Clooney, there’s Boogie Nights‘ Don Cheadle and a near-unrecognisable Albert Brooks as fellow cons and Dennis Farina as Karen’s father. Finally, there’s a cameo appearance from Michael Keaton reprising his role from Jackie Brown as Detective Ray Nicolet.

The picture quality is very good in terms of the print used. It’s very clean and fairly artifact-free – certainly no problems when watching from the usual viewing distance. However, while the Americans benefitted from an anamorphic transfer – and I am led to believe that one exists for the PAL market – we have only been given a non-anamorphic one here. The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 and the average bitrate is a very good 6.70Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 9Mb/s.

The sound is flawless though, in Dolby Digital 5.1 for the English dialogue, with a memorable score from David Holmes and a few music tracks including The Isley Brothers (Fight the Power, It’s Your Thing) and Dean Martin (Ain’t That a Kick in the Head). Those speaking other languages only get a surround soundtrack.

Extras :

Chapters and Trailer : 52 chapters cover the 118 mins, which is exactly the same number the Americans had and the original theatrical trailer is included, although it’s not easy to find amongst the clumsy menu system.

Languages and Subtitles : Dolby Digital 5.1 for the English soundtrack, but only surround for the Germans, French, Italians, Spanish and the Czech republic. Subtitles are available in ten languages: English, Dutch, German, Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, French, Polish and Czech.

Filmographies, Biographies and Production Notes: Extensive biographies with accompanying filmographies are available for the six actors listed at the top of the review plus director Steven Soderbergh.

Other extras:

“Inside Out of Sight”: a 24-minute ‘making of’ documentary with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with principal cast and members, plus writer Elmore Leonard.
Audio commentary track: A feature-length commentary track from director Soderbergh and screenwriter Frank Scott.
Deleted scenes: 21 minutes of scenes that didn’t make it into the final cut.
Music selections: Links to 14 sections of the film taking you to a different music piece from the composer or song from Dean Martin, The Isley Brothers or a few others.
Web links: The address of the Universal Studios website homepage.

Menu : The menu looks colourful, with a shot of George Clooney on the main one and Jennifer Lopez on another, but they’re static and silent, whereas the Region 1 release took sections of the film and made animated and scored menus. Given the amount of extras on this disc, there’s no reason why this couldn’t have been added in.

Overall, this film has promise but it never quite fulfils its expectations. Of the two leads, Lopez looks good but Clooney spends the entire film playing himself yet again and he’ll have to improve on this if his post-E.R. film career is to take off.

As for the DVD itself, compared to most Region 2 DVDs it has more to offer, but the Region 1 release just tips the balance by containing an anamorphic transfer and animated menu. If you have no leanings towards a widescreen TV, then there’s no reason not to buy this version, were the film of your choice, but if you will be going the way of the widescreen, you may want to give this release a second thought.

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

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.