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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 2.35:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • German: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  Subtitles
    English, German, Hebrew, Czech, Greek, Polish, Hungarian, Dutch, Arabic, Icelandic, Croatian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Hindi
  Extras
  • 2 Theatrical trailer
  • Audio commentary - by director Phillip Noyce
  • Cast/crew biographies
  • Featurette
  • Isolated music score
  • Animated menus

The Bone Collector - Collectors Edition

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 113 mins . M . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Every so often, a film is released that redefines Hollywood mainstream cinema.

This is not one of those films. I'm referring instead to Silence Of The Lambs, which brought the serial killer genre out of the cult section of the video store and into multiplexes across the world. As Hollywood is primarily run by accountants these days, it was inevitable that dozens of crime thriller ripoffs would surface over the following decade to try to emulate SOTL's critical and commercial success, and the plots naturally became more and more ludicrous as scriptwriters tried to top the last ill-conceived thriller.

The natural result of these bandwagon-jumping ripoffs is guff like The Bone Collector. Denzel Washington is Lincoln Rhyme, a brilliant forensics detective crippled during investigative duty four years ago. Now a quadraplegic sufferingly from increasingly dangerous seizures, he has lost the will to fight (but not his physique, strangely enough! The film does its best to avoid showing his excellent muscle tone). His mood improves when rookie street cop Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie, looking stunning throughout) discovers evidence pointing to the work of a cunning serial killer. Now, predictably, the race is on to decipher the clues the killer has painstakingly placed at each murder scene and to stop him before he can complete his plan.

Technically, the film is very nicely put together. The problem is that the implausible script (do killers really leave deliberate clues so that they may be caught?), and even the easily pleased viewer will be smirking at some of the flawless deductions made by Rhyme.

Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but police investigators with godlike investigative skills ("There are only two places in this city with this kind of soil!") are another. Which academy do these cops go to?

  Video
Contract

Everybody knows that Columbia generally do excellent work on their transfers, and despite the contrived plot, this disc looks gorgeous.

The picture is crisp and detailed, and despite many dark scenes with only a flashlight providing illumination, the picture maintains excellent shadows and contrast. Minor film grain is apparent, testiment to the ability of Columbia's telecine staff to extract all the detail in the Super 35 film stock, flaws and all. Australian cinematographer Dean Semler's work is reproduced as perfectly as this medium is capable, with fine colour balance and no annoying film artefacts or MPEG crawling.

  Audio
Contract

Complementing the excellent picture is a stunning audio mix - one of the best I have yet heard on DVD. Many soundtracks use every speaker in a 5.1 system, but few truly immerse you in the onscreen environment as well as this film. Those interested in hearing or demonstrating what a well-configured home theatre setup can do to transport the viewer to another world would do well to give this disc a listen.

The score is unexceptional, but the quality of the production and the aggressive use of the surround channels is worth mentioning. Listening to the discrete 5.1 score should leave you in no doubt as to the technical excellence of the recording and mixing.

Let me say it again - the use of the rear channels to provide ambience and spacial clues is exemplary. I had to rewind the disc in several places to convince myself that a storm wasn't brewing, or that a plane hadn't flown by outside my window; it was all on the soundtrack every time. The mix perfectly created a plausible aural reality to match the onscreen action.

  Extras
Contract

Not a massive amount of extras here. In addition to the almost-ubiquitous biographies, we have:

  • Audio Commentary - Aussie director Phillip Noyce focuses on the technical aspects of the film (anything to avoid discussing the plot holes, I guess), and it's interesting to see where computer compositing was used to lower the cost of the film without drawing attention to itself.
  • Theatrical Trailer - Like many recent promotional campaigns, a lot of plot points are given away, so watch the film first!
  • Trailer - Devil in a Blue Dress - I don't approve of trailers for other films on a DVD. The space could have been used to push the video bitrate even higher.
  • Behind-The-Scenes Featurette - Nothing of particular note here; we've all seen these making-of ads before, and we all know they don't have much value.

  Overall  
Contract

The film itself is watchable enough the first time, due partially to the excellent technical quality of the disc, but credit also has to go to the cast, who really do their best to overcome the weak material (only Michael Rooker fails to rise above his appallingly badly-written character. That guy seriously needs a new agent).

Possibly worth a rental on a lazy weekend, but fans of the genre would do far better looking to the US DVD market, and the Criterion Collection's Silence Of The Lambs or Newline's glorious new 2-disc special edition of Seven. Sorry, Columbia. Top marks for effort.


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      And I quote...
    ""
    - Paul Dossett
      Review Equipment
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    • TV:
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    • Amplifier:
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    • Centre Speaker:
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    • Audio Cables:
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    • Video Cables:
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