If you can get past the unevenness, the gratuitousness, and the slick surface of Black Book, Verhoeven's film is entertaining enough.
Even so, Dutch actress Carice van Houten turns in a performance that, in a crossover film, should earn her more jobs acting in American films. She's surrounded by a cast that gives strong support, though it's hard to grasp on to anything of substance when the plot moves so quickly and we keep having Indiana Jones flashbacks. In one of the cheesiest scenes (and one that harkens back to Indy and "Pearl Harbor," we see Rachel/Ellis and her sailing beau against the backdrop of attacking planes. There's just something about the jauntiness juxtaposed against battle that seems "off."
Part of the problem is that Verhoeven has an odd way of undercutting his own narrative thrust because of an apparent love of titillation and excess. A bucket of feces dumped on a naked woman while others look on and laugh seems too "Carrie" a moment for a film that has, at its core, the nobility of human survival and the struggle to fight oppression. It's a distraction, not a complement to the film's main story. Whether it's gross-out moments like that or head-snapping little scenes that seem inserted just to snap the audiences heads--as when we watch Rachel/Ellis dye her pubic hair--it all seems too gratuitous and too deliberate.
Did I enjoy the film? Yes. But it felt so uneven that, even now, I have a hard time putting it into words. "Black Book" just felt as if it could have had more power had Verhoeven decided to focus on one tone and one effect, rather than attempting a film that combined action-thriller, social relevance, shock-value elements, and a character journey that feels near-epic. It's too much--though I'll be the first to admit that it pulls you along in the tradition of those old serials.
Video:
"Black Book" looks great in Blu-ray, with the 1080p Hi-Def picture presented in 2.35:1 widescreen. Colors are brilliant, black levels and level of detail superb.
Audio:
The audio is a Dutch Dolby Digital 5.1 or a Dutch PCM uncompressed track, with subtitles in English, English SDH, French, Hindi, and Spanish. The pure sound has a good resonance, with equally good spread across the front speakers and good ambient sound coming from the rear-effect speakers.
Extras:
Not much in the way of extras, just a commentary with the director and a making-of feature that's shot entirely in Dutch, with the talking heads (director included) given subtitles in English. Yet Verhoeven does the entire commentary in fluid English, and it turns out he's a fascinating man to listen to.
Bottom Line:
If you can get past the unevenness, the gratuitousness, and the slick surface of "Black Book," Verhoeven's film is entertaining enough. And performances by van Houten and Koch are worth watching.
Part of the problem is that Verhoeven has an odd way of undercutting his own narrative thrust because of an apparent love of titillation and excess. A bucket of feces dumped on a naked woman while others look on and laugh seems too "Carrie" a moment for a film that has, at its core, the nobility of human survival and the struggle to fight oppression. It's a distraction, not a complement to the film's main story. Whether it's gross-out moments like that or head-snapping little scenes that seem inserted just to snap the audiences heads--as when we watch Rachel/Ellis dye her pubic hair--it all seems too gratuitous and too deliberate.
Did I enjoy the film? Yes. But it felt so uneven that, even now, I have a hard time putting it into words. "Black Book" just felt as if it could have had more power had Verhoeven decided to focus on one tone and one effect, rather than attempting a film that combined action-thriller, social relevance, shock-value elements, and a character journey that feels near-epic. It's too much--though I'll be the first to admit that it pulls you along in the tradition of those old serials.
Video:
"Black Book" looks great in Blu-ray, with the 1080p Hi-Def picture presented in 2.35:1 widescreen. Colors are brilliant, black levels and level of detail superb.
Audio:
The audio is a Dutch Dolby Digital 5.1 or a Dutch PCM uncompressed track, with subtitles in English, English SDH, French, Hindi, and Spanish. The pure sound has a good resonance, with equally good spread across the front speakers and good ambient sound coming from the rear-effect speakers.
Extras:
Not much in the way of extras, just a commentary with the director and a making-of feature that's shot entirely in Dutch, with the talking heads (director included) given subtitles in English. Yet Verhoeven does the entire commentary in fluid English, and it turns out he's a fascinating man to listen to.
Bottom Line:
If you can get past the unevenness, the gratuitousness, and the slick surface of "Black Book," Verhoeven's film is entertaining enough. And performances by van Houten and Koch are worth watching.
Average user rating (1-5):
Not yet rated.
Not yet rated.
[release]21785[/release]