For Queen & Country (Thriller)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Film: B-

 

 

In the period from his breakthrough on the TV classic St. Elsewhere and becoming an enduring A-list star, Denzel Washington took on a series of feature films that were interesting, even when they were not hits.  The same year as his breakthrough (and Academy Award winning) performance in Ed Zwick’s Glory, he plays a British soldier coming back home to more than he expects in For Queen & Country (1989), Martin Stellman’s little-seen thriller from the long defunct Atlantic Entertainment Group.

 

Reuben James (Washington) left behind a neighborhood where everyone knew each other and everything was going well, when he slowly realizes he has returned to a cesspool of exploited children, drugs, and other sinister goings on, he slowly delves into what is really going on.  Though he is streetwise, it turns out things are even worse than he through or expects.  Can he catch up to the truth before those who would like him to stay uninvolved do something about him?

 

The letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image shot by cinematographer Richard Greatrex is good and translates better than expected to DVD considering this is a later NTSC analog master.  An anamorphically enhanced transfer would have helped depth, detail and Video Black, but this will do for a basic DVD.  The sound is Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, as the film was actually a monophonic theatrical release; very unusual for the late 1980s.  The score by the late Michael Kamen and Geoff MacCormack is passable.  The only extra is the original theatrical trailer.

 

Washington is convincing with a real-enough British accent and the cats of unknowns work.  Now that he is a big star, this DVD will give this film an audience it deserves for being an intelligent, real picture that we used to see more often.  For Queen & Country is a nice surprise.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo