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Broken Arrow
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Film:
Strangely, not many people I know like this movie. In fact, many seem to hate it. I've always had quite the different opinion of this film; I've always found it to be a stylish, fun ride with a great amount of attitude and some excellent performances.
John Travolta stars in my favorite performance of his as Vic Deakins, a millitary veteran who's seen his share of battle and who's not too happy about being passed over for a promotion one too many times. So, he steals the neuclear warheads he's out on a test flight with and his demands are simple: 250 million dollars or one American city will cease to exist. This is simply Travolta at his most electric and fun; every line has a great smirk of attitude attached and it's more than fun to watch him in the role as he seems to be having quite the fun time playing the "bad guy" as well. Christan Slater(in what I think is his best performance) as Riley Hale, a resourceful millitary officer who just happens to be Deakins's former partner, who was with him on the test flight when Deakins ejected him over the desert. Hale is joined by Terry Carmichael, a feisty park ranger. There are also some good or great supporting performances by Frank Whaley, Delroy Lindo and Bob Gunton.
"Broken Arrow" isn't a flawless film, but it's a tightly paced ride; famed director John Woo never lets the pace slip throughout the entire film; he's backed up by not only great performances but yet another great score by one of Hollywood's very best composers, Hans Zimmer. The score is wonderfully tense and adds to the action. And the action scenes are well composed and excellently staged; a fantastic car chase across the sands to a fight aboard a speeding train. And, of course, there's also a neuclear explosion, which provides one of the more incredible effects scenes of recent memory as the ground flys forward in a wave across the desert.
"Broken Arrow" may not be the best of the action genre, but it's more than entertaining. The film gets a little too unrealistically talky at times, but it does also provide Travolta instances for a few great scenes, such as the now-famous "aint it cool?" exchange towards the end of the picture. John Woo has done a more than excellent job with this film, and although the script doesn't exactly help things at a point or two when it gets a bit silly, there are more than a few incredibly wild and visual action sequences in this film that entertain greatly.
The DVD:
Picture Quality: Very good; an improvement for Fox. Still, the word for the day is anamorphic. This disc should have been anamorphically enhanced; this is particularly a good example of why discs should be been anamorphic. As is, this is an impressive presentation; I'd imagine, though, that if this disc was anamorphically enhanced, it would be flawless. Anyways, to the disc at hand: this is a very good 2.35:1 transfer spread across a dual layer disc. Images are wonderfully razor sharp and clear, especially the daylight scenes in the desert, which all look phenomenally detailed and crisp. Colors are vibrant(especially the blue of the sky) and contrast is excellent. The reds and oranges of the fire in the explosions look breathtaking. Even in most of the low-light scenes, the colors and detail look great. There are a few problems here and there in terms of very slight compression artifacts in some of the low light scenes in the mine and the occasional bit of shimmering here and there throughout the disc, but with the general excellence that the rest of the disc presents, the level of problems with compression on this disc is very small, still, anamorphic enhancement would have definitely benefited this disc. Black level in the image is generally good. Flesh tones are realistic and well-rendered in a disc with image quality that is definitely above average.
Audio Quality: Absolutely explosive. Explosions with incredible detail and high-impact bass envelop the listener with incredible precision. Gunfire crackles about with outstanding clarity and realism, frequently with such realism that I had to duck. The soundtrack is filled with incredible sounds as the stealth bomber flys through the frame during the test run of the plane, an incredible car chase and a plane explosion. This is powerhouse audio with some serious force. Little ambient details are picked up well too, and although dialogue isn't quite full sounding, it's definitely clear, even in the midst of the explosive action. Hans Zimmer's phenomenal score sounds especially good. Audio selection is unfortunately disabled from the remote control, so sound must be selected from the menu.
Menus: Very cool animated menus with an animated stealth bomber flying into the screen after a selection. Scene selection is not animated, though, but the main menus are still very cool.
Extras: Just the trailer.
Strangely, not many people I know like this movie. In fact, many seem to hate it. I've always had quite the different opinion of this film; I've always found it to be a stylish, fun ride with a great amount of attitude and some excellent performances.
John Travolta stars in my favorite performance of his as Vic Deakins, a millitary veteran who's seen his share of battle and who's not too happy about being passed over for a promotion one too many times. So, he steals the neuclear warheads he's out on a test flight with and his demands are simple: 250 million dollars or one American city will cease to exist. This is simply Travolta at his most electric and fun; every line has a great smirk of attitude attached and it's more than fun to watch him in the role as he seems to be having quite the fun time playing the "bad guy" as well. Christan Slater(in what I think is his best performance) as Riley Hale, a resourceful millitary officer who just happens to be Deakins's former partner, who was with him on the test flight when Deakins ejected him over the desert. Hale is joined by Terry Carmichael, a feisty park ranger. There are also some good or great supporting performances by Frank Whaley, Delroy Lindo and Bob Gunton.
"Broken Arrow" isn't a flawless film, but it's a tightly paced ride; famed director John Woo never lets the pace slip throughout the entire film; he's backed up by not only great performances but yet another great score by one of Hollywood's very best composers, Hans Zimmer. The score is wonderfully tense and adds to the action. And the action scenes are well composed and excellently staged; a fantastic car chase across the sands to a fight aboard a speeding train. And, of course, there's also a neuclear explosion, which provides one of the more incredible effects scenes of recent memory as the ground flys forward in a wave across the desert.
"Broken Arrow" may not be the best of the action genre, but it's more than entertaining. The film gets a little too unrealistically talky at times, but it does also provide Travolta instances for a few great scenes, such as the now-famous "aint it cool?" exchange towards the end of the picture. John Woo has done a more than excellent job with this film, and although the script doesn't exactly help things at a point or two when it gets a bit silly, there are more than a few incredibly wild and visual action sequences in this film that entertain greatly.
The DVD:
Picture Quality: Very good; an improvement for Fox. Still, the word for the day is anamorphic. This disc should have been anamorphically enhanced; this is particularly a good example of why discs should be been anamorphic. As is, this is an impressive presentation; I'd imagine, though, that if this disc was anamorphically enhanced, it would be flawless. Anyways, to the disc at hand: this is a very good 2.35:1 transfer spread across a dual layer disc. Images are wonderfully razor sharp and clear, especially the daylight scenes in the desert, which all look phenomenally detailed and crisp. Colors are vibrant(especially the blue of the sky) and contrast is excellent. The reds and oranges of the fire in the explosions look breathtaking. Even in most of the low-light scenes, the colors and detail look great. There are a few problems here and there in terms of very slight compression artifacts in some of the low light scenes in the mine and the occasional bit of shimmering here and there throughout the disc, but with the general excellence that the rest of the disc presents, the level of problems with compression on this disc is very small, still, anamorphic enhancement would have definitely benefited this disc. Black level in the image is generally good. Flesh tones are realistic and well-rendered in a disc with image quality that is definitely above average.
Audio Quality: Absolutely explosive. Explosions with incredible detail and high-impact bass envelop the listener with incredible precision. Gunfire crackles about with outstanding clarity and realism, frequently with such realism that I had to duck. The soundtrack is filled with incredible sounds as the stealth bomber flys through the frame during the test run of the plane, an incredible car chase and a plane explosion. This is powerhouse audio with some serious force. Little ambient details are picked up well too, and although dialogue isn't quite full sounding, it's definitely clear, even in the midst of the explosive action. Hans Zimmer's phenomenal score sounds especially good. Audio selection is unfortunately disabled from the remote control, so sound must be selected from the menu.
Menus: Very cool animated menus with an animated stealth bomber flying into the screen after a selection. Scene selection is not animated, though, but the main menus are still very cool.
Extras: Just the trailer.
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