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Category:    Home > Reviews > Mystery > Thriller > British TV Mini-Series > State Of Play (2003/BBC Video/British TV Mini-Series)

State Of Play (2003/BBC Video/British TV Mini-Series)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Episodes: C

 

 

The 2003 British TV mini-series State Of Play was a hit in England and has its fans, finally coming out on DVD in the U.S. and even with a remake on the way.  However, I was surprised how weak and disappointing the whole production was, how muddled it gets an d how much I just cannot buy David Morrissey (Basic Instinct 2) in anything I seem to see him in.  Ironically, it is co-star James McAvoy who is on the rise as the ext big movie star.

 

Morrissey plays a politician who gets into much trouble when a young lady he was having an affair with ‘suddenly falls to her death’ and for him, at the worst possible time.  Faster than you can say Elliott Spitzer, it becomes a huge news story and everything starts to unravel all over the place in what at first seems unrelated, then turns out to be deadlier and deadlier.

 

Unfortunately, we have seen this kind of thing done better and I found this awkward overall.  The cats is good, the directing not bad, but the editing and writing are just off and without ruining anything, it is  a subject I cannot address.  Now you can see for yourself.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is darkened a bit to be urban, but detail and depth suffer a bit too in this HD shoot with its share of motion blur.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is good, if not great.  Extras include two audio commentary tracks for the first and sixth installment, but that is all.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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