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Casualties of War
Columbia/Tri-Star // R // December 11, 2001
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Based upon a true story that was published in a newspaper and later turned into a novel, "Casualties of War" stars Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn as two soldiers in the Vietnam war. Penn plays sergeant Meserve, who is coming to the end of his stay in the war and simply wants to head back into the world. Fox plays Eriksson, a young infantryman who has just been in the war a short time when he's saved by Meserve.
Angered by the events that have taken place, Meserve leads his soldiers into a village and kidnapps a young Vietnamese woman. Eriksson doesn't believe he was actually serious, but he then finds himself and the other men trailing behind the girl, who is being lead into the jungle. The events that happen disturb and haunt the young man and he eventually reports the incident to his superiors, who attempt, along with the soldiers involved, to keep him from speaking out.
Penn's performance is the most impressive element of the picture. Strong, able to be a leader, he's still an intimidating figure who has lost his sense of right and wrong. Fox's performance is better than expected for a dramatic effort - he's a fairly naive character, but he stands up for what he believes in. Depalma also gets some great supporting work from John C. Reilly, Ving Rhames and John Leguizamo. Thuy Thu Le is also powerful as the girl kidnapped.
Unfortunately, we never really learn that much about the supporting cast; the focus is often squarely on Fox or Penn's characters. The flashback device at the begining and end of the film doesn't work quite as well as it could. Still, the film remains a powerful, haunting and confidently directed piece, as Depalma's usual cinematographer Stephen Burum provides terrific widescreen compositions. I don't think I'd consider this one of the best war films, but it's one of the better ones, at least, as well as a strong effort from Depalma and cast.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Casualties of War" is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen by Columbia/Tristar. Quite simply, the film looked marvelous. It's not going to compare to some newer pictures like "The Thin Red Line" in terms of image quality, but for a twelve-year old picture to boast this kind of sharpness, detail and depth to the image is quite pleasing. Brian Depalma's usual cinematographer Stephen Burum provides fantastic widescreen compositions here, and to make things even better, the picture is exceptionally clean.
It's not perfect - I did spot a few little white specks here and there, but the majority of the film looked extremely clean and crisp. Nothing beyond those little specks were spotted - no pixelation and only a few slight bits of edge enhancment were seen. Colors looked exceptionally well-rendered, appearing well-saturated and crisp. Black level was solid and flesh tones accurate, as well. This is terrific work from Columbia/Tristar. Subtitles are offered in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Chinese and Korean.
SOUND: The film has been presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The remixed audio is actually quite good; there's not quite as much surround use as I would have liked to have heard, but I felt the new mix was enveloping enough. Surrounds kicked in a decent amount of sound effects as well as light reinforcement of Ennio Morricone's score. There's a decent amount of power to the sound effects during the battle sequences, but there's not the kind of strength that most newer films provide. Dialogue is generally clear and only occasionally sounds a bit on the thin side. Although this new sound presentation isn't quite as agressive as I'd have liked, it's a better presentation than I'd expected going in.
MENUS: The menus are particularly basic, simply using film-themed images as backgrounds, with no animation or music.
EXTRAS:
Erikkson's War: This is a newly produced 19-minute interview with actor Michael J. Fox. The early moments contain a simple overview of what Fox thought of working on the picture, but once this piece gets going, it gets considerably more interesting. Fox is able to recall quite a few stories about what it was like working on the set and what it was like working with the actors - or not - as Fox and Penn really chose not to speak that much outside of their scenes with one another. Fox is particularly insightful about his experiences working on the picture and being directed by Depalma - this is a really nice piece that will provide good information and interest for fans of the film.
Making of "Casualties of War": This is a newly produced 31-minute featurette that contains new interviews with director Brian Depalma and other members of the crew. The documentary generally takes us through the arc of the production, from Depalma's first reading of the article through pre-production through production itself. The doc offers some further analysis of the story and some good insight about some stories from the set.
Deleted Scenes: 5 deleted sequences are included, which are in fairly rough form. Some of these are interesting viewing.
Trailers: Trailers for "Casualties of War", "Birdy" and "The Bridge on the River Kwai".
Also: Filmographies
Final Thoughts: "Casualties of War" is an very good Depalma picture, with terrific performances from Penn and Fox. Columbia/Tristar has also done a fine job with the DVD - the supplements are a bit lacking, but the audio/video is better than expected and the low $19.99 (less at most stores) retail price is also nice.
Based upon a true story that was published in a newspaper and later turned into a novel, "Casualties of War" stars Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn as two soldiers in the Vietnam war. Penn plays sergeant Meserve, who is coming to the end of his stay in the war and simply wants to head back into the world. Fox plays Eriksson, a young infantryman who has just been in the war a short time when he's saved by Meserve.
Angered by the events that have taken place, Meserve leads his soldiers into a village and kidnapps a young Vietnamese woman. Eriksson doesn't believe he was actually serious, but he then finds himself and the other men trailing behind the girl, who is being lead into the jungle. The events that happen disturb and haunt the young man and he eventually reports the incident to his superiors, who attempt, along with the soldiers involved, to keep him from speaking out.
Penn's performance is the most impressive element of the picture. Strong, able to be a leader, he's still an intimidating figure who has lost his sense of right and wrong. Fox's performance is better than expected for a dramatic effort - he's a fairly naive character, but he stands up for what he believes in. Depalma also gets some great supporting work from John C. Reilly, Ving Rhames and John Leguizamo. Thuy Thu Le is also powerful as the girl kidnapped.
Unfortunately, we never really learn that much about the supporting cast; the focus is often squarely on Fox or Penn's characters. The flashback device at the begining and end of the film doesn't work quite as well as it could. Still, the film remains a powerful, haunting and confidently directed piece, as Depalma's usual cinematographer Stephen Burum provides terrific widescreen compositions. I don't think I'd consider this one of the best war films, but it's one of the better ones, at least, as well as a strong effort from Depalma and cast.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Casualties of War" is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen by Columbia/Tristar. Quite simply, the film looked marvelous. It's not going to compare to some newer pictures like "The Thin Red Line" in terms of image quality, but for a twelve-year old picture to boast this kind of sharpness, detail and depth to the image is quite pleasing. Brian Depalma's usual cinematographer Stephen Burum provides fantastic widescreen compositions here, and to make things even better, the picture is exceptionally clean.
It's not perfect - I did spot a few little white specks here and there, but the majority of the film looked extremely clean and crisp. Nothing beyond those little specks were spotted - no pixelation and only a few slight bits of edge enhancment were seen. Colors looked exceptionally well-rendered, appearing well-saturated and crisp. Black level was solid and flesh tones accurate, as well. This is terrific work from Columbia/Tristar. Subtitles are offered in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Chinese and Korean.
SOUND: The film has been presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The remixed audio is actually quite good; there's not quite as much surround use as I would have liked to have heard, but I felt the new mix was enveloping enough. Surrounds kicked in a decent amount of sound effects as well as light reinforcement of Ennio Morricone's score. There's a decent amount of power to the sound effects during the battle sequences, but there's not the kind of strength that most newer films provide. Dialogue is generally clear and only occasionally sounds a bit on the thin side. Although this new sound presentation isn't quite as agressive as I'd have liked, it's a better presentation than I'd expected going in.
MENUS: The menus are particularly basic, simply using film-themed images as backgrounds, with no animation or music.
EXTRAS:
Erikkson's War: This is a newly produced 19-minute interview with actor Michael J. Fox. The early moments contain a simple overview of what Fox thought of working on the picture, but once this piece gets going, it gets considerably more interesting. Fox is able to recall quite a few stories about what it was like working on the set and what it was like working with the actors - or not - as Fox and Penn really chose not to speak that much outside of their scenes with one another. Fox is particularly insightful about his experiences working on the picture and being directed by Depalma - this is a really nice piece that will provide good information and interest for fans of the film.
Making of "Casualties of War": This is a newly produced 31-minute featurette that contains new interviews with director Brian Depalma and other members of the crew. The documentary generally takes us through the arc of the production, from Depalma's first reading of the article through pre-production through production itself. The doc offers some further analysis of the story and some good insight about some stories from the set.
Deleted Scenes: 5 deleted sequences are included, which are in fairly rough form. Some of these are interesting viewing.
Trailers: Trailers for "Casualties of War", "Birdy" and "The Bridge on the River Kwai".
Also: Filmographies
Final Thoughts: "Casualties of War" is an very good Depalma picture, with terrific performances from Penn and Fox. Columbia/Tristar has also done a fine job with the DVD - the supplements are a bit lacking, but the audio/video is better than expected and the low $19.99 (less at most stores) retail price is also nice.
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