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When it was released in 1987, "Fatal Attraction" became something of a pop culture phenomenon. Its premise lead to a lot of ink spilled by the press and many water-cooler discussions at the workplace. Yet, I must say...I don´t get it.
In "Fatal Attraction," Michael Douglas plays Dan Gallagher, a married man who has an affair with a woman (Glenn Close) one weekend while his wife and little daughter are gone. Dan´s a good man, and this is probably his first affair. What he doesn´t expect is that Alex Forrest will cling to him obsessively. She calls him at his office constantly, and then she calls him at home constantly. She threatens Dan´s little girl, and she terrorizes the family by boiling the Gallagher´s pet rabbit. And, she´s pregnant with Dan´s child.
Adultery and violence can lead to discussions that feel uncomfortable, and the movie tries very hard to make much out of its "controversial" subject matter. Despite the fact that Adrian Lyne is at the helm of the project (he also directed "Indecent Proposal" and "Lolita"), "Fatal Attraction" feels very pedestrian, even boring. The movie has a very flat tone, and the pacing drags until the final 15 or so minutes. Also, rather than discussing adultery with any intelligence or moral authority, the movie degenerates into the usual blood-drenched climax. Everybody has a weapon shoved in someone else´s face, and everybody tries to kill someone else.
Video:
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen video image looks very muted. Thus, colors are drabber than I think are necessary. The transfer is also on the soft side. While film grain has been kept to a minimum, you can still see it throughout most of the movie. On the plus side, the film negative has been cleaned up so that there aren´t many, if any, scratches or instances of dirt. Compression artifacts are non-existent for the most part.
Audio:
For the most part, the Dolby Digital 5.1 English track is fairly subdued. After all, "Fatal Attraction" isn´t an action extravaganza. Most of the sound field collapses around the center channel speaker. Directionality effects flow across the front speakers once in a while, but the rear speakers don´t get to do much at all. Heavy bass kicks in very suddenly during some scenes with heavy-handed music cues, so you might want to turn down the volume knob to avoid being shocked by sudden increases in volume.
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[release]9851[/release]