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Deterrence
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
It's just a "one-room" week, it seems. First, I've reviewed "The Big Kahuna", most of which takes place in a hospitality suite. Then, "Held Up", the majority of which takes place in a convienience store; finally, "Deterrence", which takes place mainly in a snowbound restaurant. Above that, "Deterrence" is directed by Rod Lurie, who has crossed over from being a film critic in LA to being a director.
Shot in a very short matter of time, the film stars Kevin Pollack as President Walt Emerson, who got into office after the actual president passed on. While in Colorado, he gets stuck in the middle of a fairly nasty snowstorm, and stops in a local diner to get the house speciality. Before I go on, is there anything that Kevin Pollack("The Usual Suspects", etc) can't do? The actor really doesn't look like a "president", but when he steps into the diner, he has the presidental manner down to perfection.
Continuing with the plot, the president and his crew are in the diner when they hear on the news that Saddam Hussein's son has overran Kuwait and he must make an extreme decision while stuck in the diner - the few customers who are stuck there as well get to view the President making enormous choices. And the stakes get even higher as the film goes forward, with the situation getting increasingly tense as the president threatens to drop the atomic bomb.
Yes, Lurie's script does have the film doing a few actions that are a little hard to believe, but the film also generates such a suprising amount of tension that most of these problems pass right by without too much complaint. Yet, for the few things he does wrong, the majority of the film's issues that are raised are dealt with smartly and much of the dialogue feels real and is enjoyable.
The performances are also excellent, and Pollack is at his very best, carrying the film. Also along are Timothy Hutton as his advisor and a few other actors filling in the rest of the president's staff and the diner patrons. The film is suprisingly intense and for a film that takes place in one room, I was actually on the edge of my seat through the majority of it, unbelievable as some of the events may be.
Former film critic Rod Lurie has a strong directing/writing debut here. He's working with a small budget here, and I'd like to see what he's going to do with a bigger production with this Fall's "The Contender", another political film.
The DVD
VIDEO: Paramount is getting better and better with their presentations in terms of image quality, and although "Deterrence" has a few small flaws in terms of image quality, the majority of it is very good. Certainly this isn't the most "visual" movie, with its small budget and one-room setting, but the picture generally looks good.
The only flaw I really noticed was some extremely minor traces of pixelation once or twice and a handful of very small marks on the print used. Neither of these flaws proved to be much of a distraction, if any. Sharpness is fine, and there were only a few minor spots where the picture sliped very slightly soft. Detail is solid and although the film isn't majorly colorful, colors look solid and nicely saturated, with no problems.
This is a very good transfer with only a few minor bumps. The film is so intense though, that I believe many will be too caught up in the events of the movie to notice these minor problems.
SOUND: "Deterrence" is simply a dialogue-driven movie with a few brief touches of music. The audio is presented in Dolby Surround, although the surrounds really aren't used. With the film's mainly one-room structure, there really aren't any opportunities missed with the presentation given, and the audio quality is generally pleasing, with dialogue sounding clear. Again, music use is pretty brief and not overdone; dramatic scenes are allowed to play out on their own and I liked that.
MENUS::As with most Paramount menus, both main and submenus are fairly basic.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Rod Lurie, and he starts the discussion quite well, talking about the positive aspects of a director's commentary. Above that, he seems very honest about his thoughts on the film, admitting things that he believes that he would do differently if he would do the film all over again.
Much of the commentary is very interesting, although it does sometimes have a few slow points where Lurie falls back to chatting about the on-screen action or pauses with silence, but these points are few and far between. Much of the commentary is dedicated to the story and characters, and the choices that were made to present this tale.
Also: The film's trailer.
Final Thoughts: The film didn't do very well in theaters; it got a very small release and brought in just under $150,000. "Deterrence" does have some minor flaws, but the majority of it is seriously worth a look, providing impressive intensity and solid performances.
It's just a "one-room" week, it seems. First, I've reviewed "The Big Kahuna", most of which takes place in a hospitality suite. Then, "Held Up", the majority of which takes place in a convienience store; finally, "Deterrence", which takes place mainly in a snowbound restaurant. Above that, "Deterrence" is directed by Rod Lurie, who has crossed over from being a film critic in LA to being a director.
Shot in a very short matter of time, the film stars Kevin Pollack as President Walt Emerson, who got into office after the actual president passed on. While in Colorado, he gets stuck in the middle of a fairly nasty snowstorm, and stops in a local diner to get the house speciality. Before I go on, is there anything that Kevin Pollack("The Usual Suspects", etc) can't do? The actor really doesn't look like a "president", but when he steps into the diner, he has the presidental manner down to perfection.
Continuing with the plot, the president and his crew are in the diner when they hear on the news that Saddam Hussein's son has overran Kuwait and he must make an extreme decision while stuck in the diner - the few customers who are stuck there as well get to view the President making enormous choices. And the stakes get even higher as the film goes forward, with the situation getting increasingly tense as the president threatens to drop the atomic bomb.
Yes, Lurie's script does have the film doing a few actions that are a little hard to believe, but the film also generates such a suprising amount of tension that most of these problems pass right by without too much complaint. Yet, for the few things he does wrong, the majority of the film's issues that are raised are dealt with smartly and much of the dialogue feels real and is enjoyable.
The performances are also excellent, and Pollack is at his very best, carrying the film. Also along are Timothy Hutton as his advisor and a few other actors filling in the rest of the president's staff and the diner patrons. The film is suprisingly intense and for a film that takes place in one room, I was actually on the edge of my seat through the majority of it, unbelievable as some of the events may be.
Former film critic Rod Lurie has a strong directing/writing debut here. He's working with a small budget here, and I'd like to see what he's going to do with a bigger production with this Fall's "The Contender", another political film.
The DVD
VIDEO: Paramount is getting better and better with their presentations in terms of image quality, and although "Deterrence" has a few small flaws in terms of image quality, the majority of it is very good. Certainly this isn't the most "visual" movie, with its small budget and one-room setting, but the picture generally looks good.
The only flaw I really noticed was some extremely minor traces of pixelation once or twice and a handful of very small marks on the print used. Neither of these flaws proved to be much of a distraction, if any. Sharpness is fine, and there were only a few minor spots where the picture sliped very slightly soft. Detail is solid and although the film isn't majorly colorful, colors look solid and nicely saturated, with no problems.
This is a very good transfer with only a few minor bumps. The film is so intense though, that I believe many will be too caught up in the events of the movie to notice these minor problems.
SOUND: "Deterrence" is simply a dialogue-driven movie with a few brief touches of music. The audio is presented in Dolby Surround, although the surrounds really aren't used. With the film's mainly one-room structure, there really aren't any opportunities missed with the presentation given, and the audio quality is generally pleasing, with dialogue sounding clear. Again, music use is pretty brief and not overdone; dramatic scenes are allowed to play out on their own and I liked that.
MENUS::As with most Paramount menus, both main and submenus are fairly basic.
EXTRAS:
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Rod Lurie, and he starts the discussion quite well, talking about the positive aspects of a director's commentary. Above that, he seems very honest about his thoughts on the film, admitting things that he believes that he would do differently if he would do the film all over again.
Much of the commentary is very interesting, although it does sometimes have a few slow points where Lurie falls back to chatting about the on-screen action or pauses with silence, but these points are few and far between. Much of the commentary is dedicated to the story and characters, and the choices that were made to present this tale.
Also: The film's trailer.
Final Thoughts: The film didn't do very well in theaters; it got a very small release and brought in just under $150,000. "Deterrence" does have some minor flaws, but the majority of it is seriously worth a look, providing impressive intensity and solid performances.
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