I had never seen or even heard of this film
before now and to be honest I was expecting and was prepared for a snoozer. But I was very
wrong. The film could have been a little shorter I admit but the story seemed to
stretch out nicely to just over 2 hours.
Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) is a small town Texan Sheriff who has moved back to town to
live with constant reminders of his dead father. When a gold prospector finds an old
skeleton in the desert near town it becomes apparent that this is probably the body of
Sheriff Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson) who served along side Sam Deeds father Buddy
Deeds (Mathew McConaughey). The film is based on some clever and generally complex
flashbacks to the day of Buddy Deeds time in town and his efforts to make life pleasant
for the Mexican and Black communities in the town.
His partner Charlie Wade seems to have had a different outlook on the subject though.
The basis of the film is on the investigation of Charlie Wade’s death and of
course your atypical love story to boot!
The movie is actually quite complex and takes some concentration to keep up with the
flashbacks and the current story but it all fits together very well.
So How Does This Transfer Hold Up?
VIDEO
This 2.35:1 16x9 enhanced transfer is fantastic and almost faultless. I
was quite amazed, after a few tacky John Wayne movies this really stood out.
The film was consistently razor sharp and gave some incredible detail. It was let down
though by some quite annoying shimmering. The affected scenes were to be expected though
very fine venetian blinds lit from behind could be almost impossible to avoid problems.
There is some evidence of edge enhancement but nothing too distracting for the
untrained eye.
There are some minor film artefacts late in the film, but no MPEG artefacts were seen.
The colour Palette is perfect and the rich warm colours do every justice to the
transfer.
AUDIO
The Dolby 2.0 audio track was a little average compared to the film
transfer. The dialogue was mostly clear but on several occasions lapsed into mumble which
need a rewind and volume boost to get the words out.
The surround channels got some bursts of use but nothing to get excited about,
generally all the audio action was based in the front sound stage.
The musical score from Mason Daring was quite well composed with some good rock and
roll and a little ambience music, again nothing to really grab your attention though.
EXTRAS
Theatrical Trailer
Overall I was more than impressed with the film but a little let down by the audio
track. It’s definitely a movie to hire and if you like it I recommend a purchase!
