| Whitney
Houston and Kevin Costner star in this acclaimed blockbuster, which all the girlies love.
Whitney Houston stars as Rachel Marron the superstar singer who is desperate need of a
bodyguard. Rachel has been recieveing death threats for quite some time which she
doesn’t know about. Her manager Bill Devaney decides it’s time to get a decent
bodyguard. Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner) comes recommended as the best and while he is
hesitant to take on the job after some persuasion decides he will. Rachel is less than
cooperative but when she finds out that she has received many of these threats in the past
becomes a little more accomodating towards her new bodyguard. The other members of the
household however are less than friendly especially the promotions manager Sye and the old
bodyguard, Tony, who believes he can do just as good a job as Frank if not better.
Eventually Tony and Frank come to an agreement after a heated battle in the kitchen. Rachel decides that since she can’t go anywhere without her new
bodyguard the best way to enjoy a date is to actually date him. After their night together
Frank is distant as he doesn’t normally get involved with his clients. Rachel and
Frank disagree on this and all is not well. Until Rachel’s life is once again
threatened and saved by Frank.
Rachel and her family retreat to a lakeside cabin where
Franks father lives to escape the unknown killer. Here Frank discovers there is actually a
professional out to kill Rachel as well as a deranged psychopath sending death threats. A
terrible tradgedy occurs and the rest of the film is based around this and Rachel’s
love for Frank.
So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?
Warner have given us a transfer which is poor to say the least. The entire 1.85:1
framed 16:9 Enhanced transfer is terribly grainy. This may be a feature of the film but it
doesn’t do the film any justice whatsoever. There is some small problems with
ailiasing but nothing major. There are problems with detail in the shadows but this looks
to be a result of the graininess of the transfer. The colours are nicely saturated but not
really vibrant at all. There also appeared to be constant variations in the focus of the
film which was quite annoying.
The Audio however was quite impressive. There is a dolby
digital 5.1 track not 2.0 as stated on the packaging. There was little
use of the surrounds in as far as effects or ambience goes but they were used quite well
in some of the actually soundtrack instances. There was also a noticeable fluctuation in
the audio volume, another film which you have to keep turning up and down to hear the
dialogue. The dialogue was however sharp and clear and in all quite good. Most impressive
was the soundtrack by Alan Silvestri which in it’s original days was extremely
popular, and even now is fantastic on this transfer. (But you have to love Whitney’s
singing :)
I looked hard in fact I searched but to no avail. Another
Warner release with absolutely no extras. The mind boggles as to why. There has to be an
aweful lot of background information to go with this film given that it was such a hit
when first released. No Trailers no Biographies, basically nothing. Oh except a very
average Menu.
In all I did really enjoy this film. It certainly has to
rate as top chick flick, right up there with Dirty Dancing and Grease :) Although the
video transfer was disappointing I was still having a great time watching. If you liked it
the first time round you will still enjoy it this time.
| PICTURE QUALITY |
2/5 grainy |
| SOUND QUALITY |
3.5/5 loved the soundtrack |
| FEATURES |
0/5 ZIP! |
Review Equipment
TV: GE 68cm (16:9 selectable)
DVD: Samsung DVD907 (via S-Video)
Receiver/Proc: Sansui A505/Sony Amp & Yamaha DSP-E390
Speakers:-
Fronts: Wharfdale Diamond R6 (on a pair of custom made stands you'd KILL for)
Centre: Venturi
Rears: Sony bookshelf
- Reviewed 24rd November 1999
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