Quite often, films based on true stories
don’t come across the screen in the exact manor in which they occurred in real life.
After the initial release of "the hurricane" quite a ruckus was caused, as to
create the filmic narrative several plot points and characters where
changed/added/removed. And while some changes are bound to upset some people, at the end
of the day the basis of the story remains the same. Rubin "hurricane" Carter and
John Artis were convicted of a crime neither committed, and it wasn’t for over twenty
years before they were able to clear their names!The Very versatile Densel Washington,
took on the role of the Hurricane and did so in an Oscar Commanding performance!
Running for well over 2 hours, the Hurricane jumps back and forth from Rubin’s
past years to the present where a young idealistic boy Lesra (Vicellous Reon Shannon)
finds his biography "The 16th Round". Lesra soon befriends Rubin and it’s
not long before he and his Tutors set out to free the Hurricane.
So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?
VIDEO
From Start to finish were treated to an Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer that is of
Reference Quality and is unquestionably Roadshow’s best looking DVD ever!!
Detail is as high as you can get with a 3D like quality scene after scene. When you can
clearly see the pores of someone’s face you know there’s no better. Grain is non
existent, and colour saturation is perfectly balanced with very natural fleshtones. Even
the colour de-saturated , and black and white sequences are first rate.
The level of black is perfect and is even better than Roadshow’s other stellar DVD Shawshank Redemption.
It’s simply gorgeous and I won’t even bother going into specifics about the
sequence with chromo noise on someone’s hat.:)
AUDIO
Complimenting this gorgeous picture is a very impressive sound mix. Available in
(default) Dolby Digital 5.1 or DD21.0 Surround, dialogue is always clear and intelligible
with some signs of it being ADR produced, but is generally very good indeed. Christopher
Young has supplied a beautifully subtle music score that blends in nicely with the on
screen action to capture the mood and era being portrayed.
Surround usage, while not aggressive throughout is well utilised for the fight
sequences and musical ambience.
EXTRAS
A great collection of extras have been included on this DVD.
Starting with a nice motion based main menu, with a solid 5.1 mix (they’ve picked
a great part of the harmonics for it!), all menus are sepia in appearance and look very
spiffy.
20 minutes of Deleted scenes. Each one chaptered with an
introduction/explanation from Director Norman Jewison (who looks uncannily like an older
Gene Hackman, with a bit of Stephen Speilberg..seriuosly!) 16x9 with DD2.0
Spotlight on Location a 20 minutes featurette on the making of.. 16x9 with
DD2.0000hhhh
Audio Commentary : Director Norman Jewison offers a great deal of information on
the making of this movie.
NOTE if you select the commentary track from the actual Menu, the movie starts with an
onscreen title card sequence and picture of Jewison. It lasts about 20 seconds and the
movie itself starts after this.
