Thunderheart

In this little gem of a flick, Val Kilmer is FBI agent Ray Levoi, who is called in to investigate a murder on an Indian reservation in South Dakota. The only reason why Ray has been given the task though is because he is part Sioux Indian, and the FBI think it'll make the investigation easier from a public relations angle. His partner at the site, Frank Coutelle, has worked alone in the area of the reservation and doesn't really appreciate Val coming in and asking question. He's a seasoned pro, a loner and as far as he's concerned, the murder is an open and shut case. All they have to do is catch the killer, whose identity is known, but has managed to escape arrest.

But Ray is taken in by the local on the reservation as one of their own when elders recognize his ancestry, and he begins to feel the pull of his neglected past which he has tried to suppress for so long. Working with local Indian police, at first hesitantly, he discovers that there is much more to the murder than it seems. As he gradually becomes more in tune and trusting to the Indian beliefs, the real story of the murder unravels, casting doubt on the FBI presence at the reservation.

The 1.85:1 16x9 enhanced picture shows off the cinematography and stunning landscapes with great detail and leads us into a very nice transfer. They clearly made the most of the open plains and valleys, and if nothing else, shot some fantastic soaring scenes that wouldn't be out of place in a travel documentary hosted by Sandra Sully. You'll love the colours of the transfer, with bright natural tones and earthy colours that jump off the screen, punctuated by vibrant greens and blue skies. Darker scenes exhibit reasonable detail, but seem to have been shot with limited depth in the first place. The print itself helps keep your attention on the film with barely a speck to catch your eyes. The look and quality of Thunderheart has caught me a little by surprise, seeing as the film was made in 1992 and you'd hardly expect it too look so good, but it does, and will easily satisfy most optimistic people out there.

Even though the audio is only Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded, the quality simply shines through and doesn’t feel at all limited by not having a 5.1 mix. Dialogue is always perfectly clear, even the softly spoken Indian elders whether they speak in their native tongue or English, the score and mystical Indian-ish sounds such as drums and other little environmental effects always sound effectively encompassing of the whole room with good steering and separation.

Just a trailer and cast/crew bios. Hmmm, this section looks too short, so how about a quick joke I just heard? This horse walks into a bar and the bartender looks at him and says "Why the long face?" …hehehe…it’s funny ‘cause it’s true…

But seriously folks, this is a great and highly under-rated effort in both overall movie quality and performance from Val Kilmer. In fact, I was suitably impressed with the believability of all the roles in the film and became totally engrossed in the story, which was inspired by various related true life events. Val Kilmer puts in a performance which shows what he was capable of before he became a bad imitation of himself. He starts off seemingly inflexible in his dismissal of his Sioux heritage, and by films end, has fully embraced to mystical/earthly beliefs of his people. This transformation may seem simplistic and clichéd, but in terms of the progression of the storyline it worked well for me and managed to transcend the banality of the "good-cop-bad-cop" movie routine it threatened to fall into early on.

I guess kudos should also go to director Michael Apted, who is probably most famous for his 7-Up series of documentaries. Has quite a knack of getting you to feel for the characters in his stories, and obviously felt something for the plight of the Indians himself, having made a documentary on a similar theme around the same time. Even though occasionally Thunderheart may seem a little simplistic in its portrayal of the Indians cause, and the necessity to present the white guys as the bad men out to rape the earth, it works by the successful fusion of acting, cinematography, score and story.