The Devil’s Double (2011/Lionsgate Blu-ray)/5 Days Of War (2011/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)/Sarah’s Key (2011/Weinstein/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)/Tanner Hall (2011/Anchor Bay Blu-ray + DVD)

 

Picture: B-/B-/B/B- & C+     Sound: B/B-/B-/B- & C+     Extras: C/C-/C/C-     Films: C/C-/C+/C

 

 

A new set of dramas all come up short one way or another, just in time for awards season.

 

 

Lee Tamahori’s The Devil’s Double (2011) tells us the true story of how Saddam Hussein’s son Uday (when they were all still in power) found a man (Dominic Cooper plays both roles) to be made up to be like him so he had a double to protect himself and even to sacrifice if he had to escape.  Now dead in real life, the film is silly, weak, over-the-top and the digital effects kill it as there are far too many scenes with Cooper playing both persons and the film is never totally convincing, even early on.  We have seen this before and Tamahori continues his post-James Bond slump (he helmed Die Another Day, one of the worst the series will ever produce) and I was never totally convinced Cooper found how to play both men distinctly enough.

 

Extras include three making of featurettes and feature length audio commentary by Tamahori.

 

 

Even more problematic is Rennie Harlin’s 5 Days Of War (2011) attempting to tell the story of how Russia invaded Georgia during the heated 2008 U.S. Presidential election, though the action is across what was once the USSR.  Rupert Friend, Dean Cain, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Richard Coyle, Andy Garcia (as the Georgian President) and Val Kilmer are among the cast, but the script is a mess as is the directing and Harlin shoots it as an 1980s style-action film instead of a political drama.  Disaster results.  I don’t know what he was thinking, but he is out of his depth here and it is another dud from Harlin’s losing streak.  Extras include Deleted Scenes and feature length audio commentary by Harlin.

 

 

Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s Sarah’s Key (2011) is the best on the list by default as a woman (Kristin Scott Thomas) unravels a mystery about how her husband gained the house they own in France and it turns out to have a very ugly connection with Nazis looting and killing Jews during WWII.  The title is about a young lady who locks her younger bother in a secret panel in their house so the Nazis will not get him.  This is done seriously and is ambitious enough, but the problem is that we have seen this tale a few too many times and it becomes predictable.  It never trivializes its subject, but never reaches the heights intended.  You should see for yourself.  A Making Of featurette (which should only be viewed after seeing the film) is the only extra.

 

 

Finally we have Tanner Hall (2011), co-directed by Francesca Gregorini and Tatiana Von Furstenberg about one semester at the all-girls boarding school of the title located in New England.  Fernanda (Rooney Mara) is the protagonist we follow to the school where we then meet the rest of the gals for better and worse, then we get to their misadventures (which are incidentally funny at best), but this is more of a static drama than really about anything or making any great point.  The acting is good, though casting Amy Sedaris and Chris Kattan as a sexually oppressed couple who teach at the school does not work and that leaves the other young actresses (also including Georgia King, Brie Larson and Amy Ferguson) carrying the film.  The subplot of Fern’s affair with a married man played by Tom Everett Scott is not bad, but this is one too many of these types of films.

 

Though Jordan Scott’s Cracks (2009, reviewed elsewhere on this site) has more serious things going on, it is a more effective film overall and even with its own issues, adds up better overall for this kind of story set-up.  This will be a curio for some as Mara’s star rises, so expect to hear more about it.  The only extra (it is on both the Blu-ray and DVD versions) is a feature length audio commentary by the co-directors to be heard after watching the film.

 

 

The 1080p digital High Definition image transfers on all the Blu-rays save Key (2.35 X 1) are a little softer than I would have liked and disappoint a bit, especially when in the case Double (2.35 X 1) and Days (2.35 X 1) where styling down the image backfires.  At least Tanner (1.78 X 1) has style choices that match the narrative which is even apparent on the weaker, anamorphically enhanced DVD version sold separately.

 

The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes are offered on Key and Double Blu-rays, while Days and Tanner Blu-rays offer Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes.  Double is the sonic winner with a solid soundfield and thoroughly well-recorded mix, though it even has its limits, but I was more impressed than I expected just the same.  The others have their sound more in the front channels which is what you would expect from them being dramas, yet Days should have a better sound mix considering all the action involved.  The Tanner DVD has a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix which is the weakest of the five as expected.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo