In The Line Of Fire (1993/Sony Blu-ray)
Picture: B
Sound: B Extras: B- Film: B-
Clint
Eastwood switched gears a bit by playing a Secret Service agent haunted by not
being able to stop the assassination of JFK as he is taunted by a new killer
(John Malkovich) in Wolfgang Petersen’s thriller In The Line Of Fire (1993) which was one of the first DVD Sony ever
pressed. That disc was notoriously one
of the worst early DVDs ever made, but was remastered later. Now on Blu-ray, old Home Theater fans who
thought the old 12” LaserDisc looked better than that first DVD will be more
than curious about how this plays back.
Essentially
the same cat-and-mouse game from the 1977 thriller Rollercoaster, Eastwood has to stop Malkovich before the next
terrorist attack. This works as well at
points, but the film has not dated well, the JFK angel seems contrived and
Petersen has run into trouble as a director since when it was expected films
like this pointed towards a non-stop blockbuster career with commercial films
of substance at the least. With a
supporting cast that includes Rene Russo, Dylan McDermott, Gary Cole, John
Mahoney and now-politician Fred Thompson, it is always interesting and was made
for then-active Castle Rock Entertainment in a rare Eastwood production outside
of his own Malpaso shingle.
A big
release at the time, Sony put the money in it and a hit rightly resulted. Still a good thriller, Jeff Maguire’s
screenplay is smart enough to enjoy this over and over, but it is uneven as it
was then and has aged in odd ways.
However, it is also a fun back catalog title and fans will want to have
this Blu-ray, which arrives as the Dirty
Harry films hit Blu-ray, which we have already reviewed elsewhere on this
site.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 image is softer than expected considering what a nice real anamorphic
scope Panavision shoot by Director of Photography John Bailey, A.S.C.,
delivered and the past history of the title.
It still looks better than previous versions, but the great color range
is a tad off and depth is affected. The
Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is a mixdown of the Sony Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS)
8-track soundmaster that does not always benefit the mix or its soundfield
overall. In this respect, it somewhat
disappoints like similar SDDS films on DVD like First Knight (which was barely better) and The Devil’s Own (unreviewed, but seen) where the original
presentation is undercut when on Blu-ray, it should shine at its best. They all must be Superbit and/or older HD
masters. Extras include deleted scenes,
Ultimate Sacrifice documentary, Petersen feature length audio commentary and
three making-of featurettes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
