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Onion Field, The
MGM // R // September 17, 2002
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Authors who write books about real-life events obviously care about the subject; it's a lot of work to write a book, requiring both effort and dedication. Since the entire book is in the author's own voice, a book can often capture the reader's attention simply by virtue of sharing the author's own fascination with the subject. When the opportunity arises to translate a book to film, though, a crucial question has to be asked: how will we get (and keep) the attention of our viewers? With The Onion Field, based on the book of the same name by Joseph Wambaugh, I get the impression that this question was never properly addressed.
The Onion Field chronicles the harrowing experience of a plain-clothes cop, Karl Hettinger (John Savage), who is kidnapped along with his partner Ian (Ted Danson) by a pair of criminals (James Woods and Franklyn Seales). When Ian is gunned down, Karl escapes, only to face the necessity of confronting his memories over and over again in court as the trial of the two killers drags on. The question at the forefront of my mind as I watched the film was "why should I care about what's going on?" Unfortunately, I never found a satisfactory answer. So what makes The Onion Field so lifeless?
Let's take a look at the characters. We have on one hand the cops, and on the other an assortment of street types: ex-cons, thugs, general petty criminals. We're introduced to each set of characters on their home turf: the cops in their patrol car and while they're having a casual conversation at lunch, the criminals while they're hanging out on the street and then planning a hit. By the time something resembling plot development happens (about thirty minutes into the film, although subjectively it felt more like an hour), we've gotten to know something about all of them. Now the litmus test of characterization: knowing something about them, do we care? Alas, no. The "good" characters remain bland and two-dimensional, and the "bad" characters remain equally dull and two-dimensional while also being unpleasant.
In my book, it's not the actors who bear the lion's share of the blame for the fact that The Onion Field falls flat. The main problem lies in the dreadful script. Written by Joseph Wambaugh himself, it may indeed be faithful to his book, but it just doesn't work as a screenplay. It's highly theatrical, even "stagey," with actors seeming more to be declaiming monologues than having naturalistic conversations. That's not in itself a critical flaw, however; it could merely have been a stylistic choice if the dialogue or the actors' delivery had been any good. However, the dialogue rings utterly false, and the actors can't seem to bring any life to it. They say their lines at the predetermined times, but their dialogue is clearly just words repeated from a page.
Along with the poor script comes unimaginative cinematography. The camera work tends to be very static, with both actors and point of view stationary for the duration of most scenes, as if the director forgot that it's possible to move the camera eye around or follow the characters as they both speak and act.
Is there anything to like about The Onion Field? I'm not sure; the more I reflect on it, the less I care for it. The Onion Field has no hook to draw the viewer into the film to begin with, and certainly has nothing to keep the viewer there. The film eventually centers on the character of Karl; he remains colorless, giving the viewer no reason to particularly care how he reacts to the aftermath of the tragedy, or whether he ever manages to cope with it or not. The film purports to offer a true story, but for a film to be artistically successful, it must offer something beyond a literal rendition of the facts of a situation, however accurate they might be. In this, The Onion Field fails.
Video
The transfer falls short in the video department. The noise level is quite high, there's a heavy degree of edge enhancement, and contrast is less than adequate in dark scenes, which tend to be overly black. The colors of the image overall have a faded, slightly brownish appearance: enough to give this transfer of the 1979 film a dated look. On the bright side, The Onion Field is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and has been anamorphically enhanced.
Audio
The Onion Field's Dolby 2.0 track is generally flat, but probably adequate for the demands of the film. The main point of the soundtrack is the dialogue, whose slightly muffled quality prevents the audio portion of the film from considering the possibility of rising above average.
Extras
The special features on the disc are fairly substantial, with an audio commentary track from director Harold Becker, a thirty-minute featurette titled "The Ring of Truth" on the making of the film, and a trailer. The featurette is a retrospective look at the film rather than a promotional piece, and should be of interest to any viewers who either have read the book or who particularly liked the movie.
Final thoughts
Fans of Wambaugh's book may find something of interest in The Onion Field, but from my perspective as a viewer, I would suggest passing it by. There are better ways to spend two hours of your time.
The Onion Field chronicles the harrowing experience of a plain-clothes cop, Karl Hettinger (John Savage), who is kidnapped along with his partner Ian (Ted Danson) by a pair of criminals (James Woods and Franklyn Seales). When Ian is gunned down, Karl escapes, only to face the necessity of confronting his memories over and over again in court as the trial of the two killers drags on. The question at the forefront of my mind as I watched the film was "why should I care about what's going on?" Unfortunately, I never found a satisfactory answer. So what makes The Onion Field so lifeless?
Let's take a look at the characters. We have on one hand the cops, and on the other an assortment of street types: ex-cons, thugs, general petty criminals. We're introduced to each set of characters on their home turf: the cops in their patrol car and while they're having a casual conversation at lunch, the criminals while they're hanging out on the street and then planning a hit. By the time something resembling plot development happens (about thirty minutes into the film, although subjectively it felt more like an hour), we've gotten to know something about all of them. Now the litmus test of characterization: knowing something about them, do we care? Alas, no. The "good" characters remain bland and two-dimensional, and the "bad" characters remain equally dull and two-dimensional while also being unpleasant.
In my book, it's not the actors who bear the lion's share of the blame for the fact that The Onion Field falls flat. The main problem lies in the dreadful script. Written by Joseph Wambaugh himself, it may indeed be faithful to his book, but it just doesn't work as a screenplay. It's highly theatrical, even "stagey," with actors seeming more to be declaiming monologues than having naturalistic conversations. That's not in itself a critical flaw, however; it could merely have been a stylistic choice if the dialogue or the actors' delivery had been any good. However, the dialogue rings utterly false, and the actors can't seem to bring any life to it. They say their lines at the predetermined times, but their dialogue is clearly just words repeated from a page.
Along with the poor script comes unimaginative cinematography. The camera work tends to be very static, with both actors and point of view stationary for the duration of most scenes, as if the director forgot that it's possible to move the camera eye around or follow the characters as they both speak and act.
Is there anything to like about The Onion Field? I'm not sure; the more I reflect on it, the less I care for it. The Onion Field has no hook to draw the viewer into the film to begin with, and certainly has nothing to keep the viewer there. The film eventually centers on the character of Karl; he remains colorless, giving the viewer no reason to particularly care how he reacts to the aftermath of the tragedy, or whether he ever manages to cope with it or not. The film purports to offer a true story, but for a film to be artistically successful, it must offer something beyond a literal rendition of the facts of a situation, however accurate they might be. In this, The Onion Field fails.
Video
The transfer falls short in the video department. The noise level is quite high, there's a heavy degree of edge enhancement, and contrast is less than adequate in dark scenes, which tend to be overly black. The colors of the image overall have a faded, slightly brownish appearance: enough to give this transfer of the 1979 film a dated look. On the bright side, The Onion Field is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and has been anamorphically enhanced.
Audio
The Onion Field's Dolby 2.0 track is generally flat, but probably adequate for the demands of the film. The main point of the soundtrack is the dialogue, whose slightly muffled quality prevents the audio portion of the film from considering the possibility of rising above average.
Extras
The special features on the disc are fairly substantial, with an audio commentary track from director Harold Becker, a thirty-minute featurette titled "The Ring of Truth" on the making of the film, and a trailer. The featurette is a retrospective look at the film rather than a promotional piece, and should be of interest to any viewers who either have read the book or who particularly liked the movie.
Final thoughts
Fans of Wambaugh's book may find something of interest in The Onion Field, but from my perspective as a viewer, I would suggest passing it by. There are better ways to spend two hours of your time.
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