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Score, The
Paramount // R // December 11, 2001
List Price: $29.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Occasionally, a movie comes out in the Summer that doesn't focus on special effects and instead, turns the spotlight on several excellent actors. "The Score" is one of those movies - it has one of the most impressive casts in recent memory - Robert Deniro, Edward Norton, Angela Bassett and Marlon Brando - yet, it's dissapointing to watch these actors put to use in the service of such a mediocre screenplay. Watching the film, I believe that one member of the cast signed on, then the rest fell into place when they saw who they were working with, but no one bothered to see if the film was actually telling a story that hasn't been told time and time again.
Deniro stars as Nick Wells, an expert thief who, like many in his business in this genre of film, are looking for "one last job" before retiring. After a fairly sizable payoff, he drops in to his fence Max (Marlon Brando) who informs him of one last gig - the gig to end all gigs, in other words. He's to be paired up with a man on the inside named Jack (Edward Norton) and the two are to break into the highly guarded Customs building in Montreal, forcing Nick to break one of his own rules - never perform a robbery in your own hometown. After he's been assured that Jack has taken on the disguise of a mentally challenged guard and has access to the entire place, he decides to go through with it. After it's all over he can retire to some far off place his girlfriend (Bassett, whose part feels trimmed down).
And so it goes. The film's opening 90 minutes is all set-up with the two planning how to best get into the place as well as trying to purchase the security codes to shut down the cameras. This is where a director other than Frank Oz ("Bowfinger", the "Muppet" movies) could have maybe been more successful. Oz lets pacing fall flat during many of these sequences, which resist any sort of flash (and often any sort of energy, for that matter). Although I respect the director for wanting to make a more mild-mannered thriller without all the car chases or gunplay, at least give us some sort of sense of doom or gloom or atmosphere. This is what Bryan Singer did so wonderfully with "The Usual Suspects", a terrific crime thriller from 1995 that still remains one of my favorite films. This movie, with its luxurious production design (thanks to Jackson DiGovia, who can currently be heard discussing his work on "Die Hard" in that movie's new special edition DVD) and low-key acting from Deniro often seems to be going in slow-motion. There's little true sense of danger and little character development - I didn't feel involved in anything up until the heist itself. Several unnecessary sequences from the opening half could easily have been dropped for the movie to at least pick up the pace.
The other problem here, and it's one that really makes the opening 90-95 minutes suffer, is that the majority of the audience who's seen the trailer knows what's going to happen towards the end when they sit in their theater seat. Even audience members who haven't seen the trailer will predict the movie's "twist" from a mile away. Once Oz actually starts the heist itself, all of the planning that's been done for the past 95 minutes or so of the movie makes the audience even more assured of what'll happen during the final sequences. Although there are a few snags along the way, Oz mines the tension at a suprisingly infrequent rate. And, by the end of 125 minutes, I doubt if there wasn't anything that I couldn't see coming minutes before. Although the dialogue (by 4 credited writers, including "The Limey"'s Lem Dobbs) isn't too bad, the plot itself simply throws a group of heist movie cliches in a blender. Such an amazing cast certainly deserves more than such a by-the-numbers plot.
All that's left are a few moments of energy from a very good Norton performance and a few amusing appearances from Brando. Deniro walks through it all, while Bassett is completely underused. It's certainly not terrible, but with the talent involved, "The Score" is a remarkably uninspired miss.
The DVD
VIDEO: Paramount presents "The Score" in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. Rob Hahn's widescreen compositions often wonderfully put the entire frame to strong use and are captured nicely by Paramount's strong, but not entirely flawless transfer. The film boasts a nicely defined image; sharpness and detail are generally quite good, save for a few scenes here and there that look slightly less crisp. "The Score" is occasionally a rather dark film, but the DVD captures it in similar fashion to how the film appeared in the theater.
Unfortunately, although I didn't see any print flaws (although I wouldn't expect to, given the fact that the film was recently in theaters), there were some minor instances of edge enhancement that were apparent on occasion during the picture. The picture often looked crisp, clean and attractive; it's a handsome production and a nicely filmed picture.
Colors generally looked natural and warm, especially some of the beautiful interior sets. Colors didn't show any problems, such as smearing or other flaws. Overall, this is a great, but not quite fantastic presentation from Paramount.
SOUND: The Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation is generally a subdued affair for the first 90 minutes of the picture, focusing mainly on dialogue and brilliant composer Howard Shore's jazzy score. The last 30 minutes, which do provide some action, start to finally wake up the soundtrack and bring in some respectable surround use. While this is not an agressive track, sound quality is at least quite strong, as the music comes through with richness and warmth, while dialogue sounds natural and clean. A nice track.
MENUS:: Beautifully animated main menu with film-themed images and bacckground music.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Frank Oz and cinematographer Rob Hahn. To be honest, I wasn't exactly looking forward to it after hearing Oz's less-than-interesting track from "Bowfinger". Still, I was suprised here that he was able to offer a considerably more interesting track here, able to strongly discuss the production and technical details, as well as story/character analysis. He also frequently shines the light on some of the film's crew, such as production designer Jackson Degovia, whose work here is particularly superb. This is a somewhat technical track, but it's very informative and not "dry" or too technical for the average viewer. Definitely a recommended listen.
Alternate Footage: Three sequences are included; not so much deleted footage as additional takes of certain sequences where the actors are just riffing off one another. There's a particularly entertaining sequence where Deniro and Brando are trying to work through the early discussion on their own terms.
"Making Of": A 12 1/2 minute piece, this is generally a discussion of the film's story and the fact that the filmmakers were able to get three classic actors together for one picture. Yet, there are some decent behind-the-scenes clips that provide some interest. May be good for one viewing.
Also: The trailer.
Final Thoughts: Director Oz's attempt to make a mature crime thriller ends up with a film that's too familar, too cliched and too slow to add up to not a great deal of payoff. The three terrific leads have their moments, but the film simply doesn't have the energy it needs. Paramount's DVD offers strong audio/video and some solid supplements. Recommended as a rental.
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