A man named Ben Jordan (Rutger Hauer of The Hitcher) gets out of prison after serving time for the murder of his pregnant wife fifteen years ago. Prison has changed Ben, he's not the man he was before he went into the big house. When he gets back into the real world, he hooks up with a social worker named Laura Mathews (Natasha Richardson) who, after hearing his story, begins to believe that Jordan is an innocent man.

She begins to look into the facts surrounding his wife's murder, interviewing those who knew the couple at the time and everyone else involved with the case that she can track down. The more she learns about him and his background, the more she begins to take a liking to him and soon she finds she is falling in love with him. Her friends warn her against going with her feelings on this one, they insist that he is a murderer and that she should stay away from him but she doesn't listen to them and goes with her heart on this one.

Past Midnight gives Hauer one of those rolls that he's perfectly suited for. Jordan is an intense and brooding man, a dark character with a mysterious past. Not only does Hauer look the part, but he seems to excel in these types of roles as well. His character here is kind of a cross between the role he played in The Hitcher and the role he played in The Osterman Weekend. Maybe he's a bit type cast in these parts, but if he is it's only because he is good in them. Richardson is also quite good, giving her character a sense of naivete and trust required to make the story work.

Director Jan Eliasberg, mainly known for his television work on series like 21 Jump Street and L. A. Law keeps the film looking sufficiently gloomy. Filmed in the Pacific Northwest it's constantly overcast and raining in the outdoor scenes, which fits the mood he is trying to create quite appropriately. He brings a good sense of quick pacing to the film, structuring it in such a way that it builds quite deliberately and holds the viewers interest pretty much all the way through. A few scenes are a little talky but the majority of the dialogue is well written and believable which makes for a solid character driven thriller.

While the film isn't going to win any serious awards for originality, it follows the standard formula of the basic Fatal Attraction inspired romance gone wrong thriller to good effect. There's plenty of nice tension between Hauer and Richardson of both the sexual and 'impending doom' nature.

Video:

Columbia's anamorphic 1.85.1 widescreen transfer is good but not great. Colors are pretty nice, with very lifelike flesh tones and a high level of detail evident in the print. Black levels are stable and solid throughout. Print damage, while present, is only minimal in the worst instances, though a couple of scenes are a little grainier than others. There are some scenes that suffer from some fairly severe edge enhancement, mostly noticeable on cars and buildings during the lighter scenes. Aside from that though, the movie looks pretty good on this DVD.