Denzel Washington is an awesome actor...
I enjoy "The Hurricane" and consider Denzel Washington one of the finest actors currently employed in Hollywood. I don´t particularly care if there is a bit of controversy surrounding the facts in this story. I bought into Jewison´s version completely the first two times I watched the film and still feel sympathetic towards Rubin Carter with the same eyes I did when I believed the film was completely accurate. It is a moving picture that shows the monotony of life in prison and the desire of an innocent man that wants to find freedom. It is a story about a young man who reads a book and learns to be a better man because of the story he read. He is also given the opportunity to change the injustices told in the story. These are things I enjoyed with "The Hurricane" and I´m sure I´ll revisit the film again at some point in the future.
Video:
Universal presents the seven year old "The Hurricane" with a rather nice 1.85:1 VC-1 mastered transfer. Aside from some minor edge enhancement problems, "The Hurricane" is a solid looking picture with bright and vivid coloring and strong detail. The film´s black and white sequences nicely contrast the more colorful moments to create a visually stunning movie that is done justice on HD-DVD. Colors are nicely saturated and bring a natural film look to "The Hurricane." Flesh tones are natural and accurate. Black levels are strong and blacks are equally strong during the film´s black and white flashbacks. Detail shows clothing textures, facial features and individual beads of sweat during the films fight scenes. The black and white sequences aren´t as detailed as the remainder of the film, but they still look very nice. The stock footage included in the film is grainy and is betrayed by the higher resolution, but the remainder of the film looks very good. Overall, I was pleased with this transfer and felt it was a nice step up from the old DVD release.
Sound:
"The Hurricane" lists Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 multi-channel surround and French Dolby Digital Plus 2.0 matrixed surround as its available choices. The 5.1 mix handles "The Hurricane" nicely and presents the sounds of "The Hurricane" cleanly and effectively. The film combines a jazz soundtrack with a few classic rock tunes, including the Bob Dylan "Hurricane." The musical score by Christopher Young is effective and can nicely be heard through each channel. The film contained a few scenes that benefited greatly from a good surround mix. The film´s sparse boxing scenes have very nice effects and movement between channels. The film´s prison scenes are also effective and show wonderful ambient effects in the steel and concrete prison. Rear surrounds and the .1 LFE channel are used nicely in both the ring and the jail. Dialogue is strong and clean. This isn´t a movie that is stunning in its soundtrack, but it is a capable film with a strong mix.
Extras:
The original Collector´s Edition DVD finds most of its supplements ported over for the HD-DVD release. The three supplements contained within the film help point out the truths and mistruths of Jewison´s picture. The Feature Commentary with Director Norman Jewison finds the director discussing his picture and sometimes becoming lost in what is fact and what is fiction. The director points out many of the mistruths he introduced into the picture, but also focuses on the true events that were contained within the frames of the film. The commentary was interesting, but I felt many of Jewison´s statements were questionable. The Spotlight on Location: The Making of The Hurricane (20:05) feature includes the real Lesra Martin and the real Rubin Carter. It also contains Norman Jewison, Denzel Washington and Deborah Kara Unger. This was short, but insightful and I enjoyed seeing the real people within its twenty minutes time. The Deleted Scenes with Special Introduction by the Director (20:17) has the introduction as an optional feature. The four scenes make for a nice inclusion on the disc, but are not overly great on their own merit. Finally, the Theatrical Trailer completes the supplements.
Closing Comments:
Denzel Washington is an awesome actor and his performance in "The Hurricane" makes for a film that can be pretty awesome itself. The overall picture loses some credence after learning that many of the facts in the film are quite fictitious. Regardless of its flaws, "The Hurricane" shows the problems with the legal system and showcases some real-life people who were pretty incredible in their own right. Had most of the events shown in the film been real, then "The Hurricane" would be one of the greatest "Based on a true story" films ever made. As it stands now, "The Hurricane" is one of the better ones, but flawed. Denzel makes it a better film, as does the performances of the supporting cast. Liev Schreiber and Clancy Brown are personal favorites that I enjoyed seeing. The HD-DVD transfer is a decent representation of the film, although it is still a simple port of the former Collector´s Edition DVD release.
Video:
Universal presents the seven year old "The Hurricane" with a rather nice 1.85:1 VC-1 mastered transfer. Aside from some minor edge enhancement problems, "The Hurricane" is a solid looking picture with bright and vivid coloring and strong detail. The film´s black and white sequences nicely contrast the more colorful moments to create a visually stunning movie that is done justice on HD-DVD. Colors are nicely saturated and bring a natural film look to "The Hurricane." Flesh tones are natural and accurate. Black levels are strong and blacks are equally strong during the film´s black and white flashbacks. Detail shows clothing textures, facial features and individual beads of sweat during the films fight scenes. The black and white sequences aren´t as detailed as the remainder of the film, but they still look very nice. The stock footage included in the film is grainy and is betrayed by the higher resolution, but the remainder of the film looks very good. Overall, I was pleased with this transfer and felt it was a nice step up from the old DVD release.
Sound:
"The Hurricane" lists Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 multi-channel surround and French Dolby Digital Plus 2.0 matrixed surround as its available choices. The 5.1 mix handles "The Hurricane" nicely and presents the sounds of "The Hurricane" cleanly and effectively. The film combines a jazz soundtrack with a few classic rock tunes, including the Bob Dylan "Hurricane." The musical score by Christopher Young is effective and can nicely be heard through each channel. The film contained a few scenes that benefited greatly from a good surround mix. The film´s sparse boxing scenes have very nice effects and movement between channels. The film´s prison scenes are also effective and show wonderful ambient effects in the steel and concrete prison. Rear surrounds and the .1 LFE channel are used nicely in both the ring and the jail. Dialogue is strong and clean. This isn´t a movie that is stunning in its soundtrack, but it is a capable film with a strong mix.
Extras:
The original Collector´s Edition DVD finds most of its supplements ported over for the HD-DVD release. The three supplements contained within the film help point out the truths and mistruths of Jewison´s picture. The Feature Commentary with Director Norman Jewison finds the director discussing his picture and sometimes becoming lost in what is fact and what is fiction. The director points out many of the mistruths he introduced into the picture, but also focuses on the true events that were contained within the frames of the film. The commentary was interesting, but I felt many of Jewison´s statements were questionable. The Spotlight on Location: The Making of The Hurricane (20:05) feature includes the real Lesra Martin and the real Rubin Carter. It also contains Norman Jewison, Denzel Washington and Deborah Kara Unger. This was short, but insightful and I enjoyed seeing the real people within its twenty minutes time. The Deleted Scenes with Special Introduction by the Director (20:17) has the introduction as an optional feature. The four scenes make for a nice inclusion on the disc, but are not overly great on their own merit. Finally, the Theatrical Trailer completes the supplements.
Closing Comments:
Denzel Washington is an awesome actor and his performance in "The Hurricane" makes for a film that can be pretty awesome itself. The overall picture loses some credence after learning that many of the facts in the film are quite fictitious. Regardless of its flaws, "The Hurricane" shows the problems with the legal system and showcases some real-life people who were pretty incredible in their own right. Had most of the events shown in the film been real, then "The Hurricane" would be one of the greatest "Based on a true story" films ever made. As it stands now, "The Hurricane" is one of the better ones, but flawed. Denzel makes it a better film, as does the performances of the supporting cast. Liev Schreiber and Clancy Brown are personal favorites that I enjoyed seeing. The HD-DVD transfer is a decent representation of the film, although it is still a simple port of the former Collector´s Edition DVD release.
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[release]20673[/release]