HOME   News   Reviews   Adv Search   Features   My DVD   About   Apps   Stats     Search:
  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.85:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer (RSDL )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English: DTS 5.1 Surround
  Subtitles
    English - Hearing Impaired
  Extras
  • Deleted scenes - with/without commentary
  • Theatrical trailer
  • 2 Audio commentary - 1. Cast & Crew 2. Historical Figures
  • 2 Featurette - 1. Bringing History to the Silver Screen 2. Historical Figures Video Bios
  • Documentaries - Roots of the Cuban Missile Crisis
  • Multiple angle - Visual Effects Breakdown
  • Filmographies

Thirteen Days

New Line/Roadshow Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 140 mins . M15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Much like the recent events involving the terrorist attacks in America, the true story of Thirteen Days is firmly entrenched in the "Even Hollywood couldn't write something this strange" basket. Over the last decade more and more information began to circulate about how close the world came to an all out nuclear war between Russia and America. Whilst the public was aware of the conflict arising from Russia's placement of warheads in Cuba, in the days before the global reach of the internet and instant international news the American government kept it a closely guarded secret that they were on the brink of an armed nuclear confrontation which they predicted would lead to total devastation.

Using transcripts, tape recordings, historical documentation, interviews and photographs, director Roger Donaldson has attempted to assemble a factual and compelling retelling of the 13 days from Americas first realisation of movement into Cuba to eventual peaceful resolution. Establishing the film around the central characters of President John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood), Attorney General Robert Kennedy (Stephen Culp) and Presidential Special Assistant Kenny O'Donnell (Kevin Costner), we are thrown right into the conflict only minutes into the film. Waking up to find 32 nuclear missiles being set up on the island of Cuba a mere 90 miles from the American mainland, fears of a first strike policy by the Russians forces the military to propose a pre-emptive strike on the bases followed by a full blown invasion. Resisting this advice, and attracting the ire of the brass, JFK, with the support and guidance of his brother Robert and assistant O'Donnell, work to establish an achievable and survivable outcome (both politically and apocalyptically).

The outcome of this conflict is clear by the very fact that we can talk about it today. Yet, even knowing the outcome hasn't been a hindrance to this film. It is not an exaggeration to say I was enthralled for the entire 140 minutes. Mind though, if talky historical films are not your bag, then the long running time may well deplete your patience very quickly. Also, the very historical nature of the film will bring about polarised views by those who will see this film as gospel, and those who will condemn it as nothing more than sensationalist bunkum because of any inaccuracies it may contain. Once again it comes down to you the individual viewer. Make up your own mind and use a grain of salt to bring the historical worth of Thirteen Days back into perspective. At the very least, this should be seen as an informative and entertaining film and at best an engrossing and fascinating treat.

  Video
Contract

The Thirteen Days dvd presents the film in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is 16x9 enhanced. Picture quality throughout is generally very good, though not perfect. There’s grain visible throughout the film, and some edge enhancement. While not a real concern, the downside is the tendency for fine detail, such as the pinstripes on the many suits visible, to lose detail when the character moves. As I said, It’s not really a big issue though, as in most circumstances you’ll be too focused on the dialogue to be paying too close attention to the finer points of the transfer. At times, this even works in its favour, by lending a documentary feel to the film. Colours are good, varying from cold blues to rich warmer tones, while included black and white footage also varies, from high contrast to a more balanced black and white in scenes used to place the story in the past.

  Audio
Contract

Unlike some, VR are clearly interested in pleasing the public with quality products, because why else would they release Thirteen Days (amongst other titles) with a DTS 5.1 track to compliment the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix? What makes this even sweeter is the fact that the States didn’t get DTS on their Infinifilm edition of this dvd, which is a reversal of the typical situation. Hopefully they keep their high standards and shame others into following their lead.

Is this inclusion of DTS worth the effort though? Well, if you desperately want to be able to say you have a DTS encoded film, then what difference does it make? Don’t complain and just enjoy it. I have to say though, that other than being a little louder, the 754kbps DTS audio track didn’t really make much of a noticeable difference. After compensating for the volume difference, there wasn’t anything which told me that I was listening to an improvement over the already very good 448kbps DD 5.1 track. Dialogue was uniformly clear and natural in both (thank god, because there’s a hell of a lot of talking), and separation and use of the split surrounds was good when called into action. The sound was fairly aggressive and dynamic when needed in the more active scenes such as the low level flybys and a missile attack on a U2 spy plane, with plenty of bass to support and give it extra punch. So, DTS or not, this doesn’t really have anything to show off in the first place, and the Dolby track does a perfect good job of it anyway. Not that I’m complaining, of course. It’s still nice to see my receiver blow out its DTS cobwebs every now and then.

  Extras
Contract

Disc 1
Audio Commentary 1: Cast & Crew: The first commentary is quite interesting with a little scene specific info and some general anecdotal info. Touches on what kind of effect they were trying to achieve in the film, motivations and sources etc. However, the really interesting commentary for me is…

Audio Commentary 2: Historical Commentary: from John F. Kennedy, Sergei Kruschchev, Ernest R. May, Philip Zelikow, Kenny O’Donnell and Pierre Salinger: Using restored tape recordings of interviews and speeches, this one gives a more personal and insightful look in at the events as seen in their time. This can be extremely interesting and is an absolute gem of an inclusion on this dvd.

Disc 2
Featurette: Bringing History To The Silver Screen: 10 minutes. Brief behind the scenes look at the makings of. A little more interesting than most 6 minute jobs, but still far too short. Forgivable though in light of the quality of the other extras.

Documentary: Roots of the Cuban Missile Crisis: 48 minutes. This is a fantastic history lesson on the events which lead up to and culminated in the confrontation between America and Russia. It features lots of interviews with people such as news chiefs of the time and the son of Nikita Kruschchev. This makes a great follow up to the film as it fills in a few gaps.

Historical Figures Video Biography: Another great extra which has interview footage briefly discussing the people highlighted throughout the film. Broken up into 5 sections with a total of 17 bios, they run for between 1 and 2 and half minutes each.

Visual Effects: Computer Generated Photo-Realistic Flight: A multi-angle breakdown of the creation of the CG effects used in the low-level flight scenes in the film. Also contains an introduction by the Visual Effects Supervisor explaining the process.

Deleted Scenes: 12 minutes, with or without directors commentary. Some are actually alternate cuts of scenes. Most removed for pacing and clarity reasons.

Finally, a Theatrical Trailer and Cast and Crew Filmographies wind these extras up..

  Overall  
Contract

Thirteen Days is successful as both a compelling film and a fully featured dvd. For the film alone I would recommend this. The fact that you get a second disc of extras, two commentaries, a DTS mix, a very good transfer and a quality documentary certainly doesn’t make it any harder to decide. From what I can see it appears to utilise the feature set of the region 1 Infinifilm edition without the actual interactive interface, instead opting to throw in the DTS track, so how can you complain? As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best releases of the year.


  • LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=1022
  • Send to a friend.

    Cast your vote here: You must enable cookies to vote.
  •   
      And I quote...
    "As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the best releases of the year."
    - Vince Carrozza
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Sony DVP-525
    • Receiver:
          Sony STR-DB930
    • Speakers:
          Wharfedale s500
    • Centre Speaker:
          Polk Audio CS245
    • Surrounds:
          Wharfedale s500
    • Subwoofer:
          DB Dynamics TITAN
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
      Recent Reviews:
    by Vince Carrozza

    20 Million Miles to Earth
    "THRILLS! CHILLS! PLASTICINE!"

    Earth Vs The Flying Saucers
    "The people of Earth face their ultimate threat – not from the DEVIOUS COMMUNISTS! Not from the WILEY CHINESE! Not even from the sinister ROTARIANS!"

    City Under the Sea
    "What, indeed, was the point of this film, and why did they write a part for a bloody rooster?"

    Santana - Down Under Live at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion
    "Fans can look beyond the flaws though and just revel in the Gold FM hits without the annoying ads."

    Phantom of the Opera (1925)
    "It’s your typical ‘lovesick masked psycho meets girl, girl unmasks psycho, psycho goes on rampage” story."

      Related Links

     

    Search for Title/Actor/Director:
    Google Web dvd.net.au
       Copyright DVDnet. All rights reserved. Site Design by RED 5   
    rss