The Hurricane (HD-DVD)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: D Film: D
A good
Denzel Washington performance trapped in a bad film is Norman Jewison’s The Hurricane (1999) about how the
boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter was wrongly imprisoned for a crime he did not
commit. When a young man discovers his
plight after reading a book, he is determined to set him free. The problem is that the Armyan Bernstein/Dan
Gordon screenplay is constantly oversimplifies everything to the points of
illicit appeals to pity as Carter’s life is reduced to a sanitized would-be
Rocky story where he has to find a way to fight his way out of injustice.
Even with
background on Carter dropped like alleged domestic abuse (which is not the same
as going to jail for a murder he did not commit) and the necessity to make the
raw, gritty history into formula to make the film’s script work simply
backfires on every level, imploding the film overall. Jewison originally owned Malcolm X before turning it over to Spike Lee and this was his
reunion project with Washington. Too bad
it feels like a bad TV movie and a rare miss on this level for the usually
competent Jewison, whose In The Heat Of
the Night and …And Justice For All
are inarguable. Even Washington cannot
stop the “hurricane” of tired writing.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 VC-1 digital High Definition image was shot by Roger Deakins, A.S.C.,
B.S.C., and looks good, but not great here.
Color, definition and detail are still good for a back catalog release,
but there is something a bit off about the transfer. The Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 is odd in that it
has some good sound moments and then shows some sonic limits, except for the
moments involving louder moments and Christopher Young’s score. The combination is above a DVD, but nothing
to write home about. Extras include deleted
scenes with special introductions by Jewison, Spotlight On Location installment on the film and full feature length
audio commentary with Jewison.
- Nicholas Sheffo
