DVD Review: The Edge

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The Edge
20th Century Fox
2.35:1/Dolby Digital 5.1/2.0(+French 2.0)
120 Minutes
Subtitles:English, Spanish
Rated:R
Region:1
Dual Layer:Yes

The Film:
A grandly entertaining motion picture from director Lee Tamahori and writer David Mamet, but the most enjoyable part are the performances from the two lead actors; Alec Baldwin in a strong, intense performance as a fashion photographer lost in the wilds with Anthony Hopkins in a subtle, Oscar-worthy performance, who plays a soft-spoken yet very smart billionaire. The two find themselves(along with the assistant of Baldwin's photographer) trapped in the wilds after their plane crashes due to a run-in with a flock of migrating birds. What follows is an intense, tension-filled story as the group struggles to find their way out of the forest. The screenplay by David Mamet is excellent, focusing on the conversations and the growing tension between the two men as Charles(Hopkins) becomes suspicious of the possible relationship between Bob and his wife. The tension builds smartly as the two men begin to spar verbally, becoming more and more angry with each other with every passing moment. And when they're not fighting with each other, they're running from a giant bear that looks to make them a snack. It's the second half of the movie that really begins to be an "edge-of-your-seat" thriller as the two men grow weary of each other and the bear gets ever closer. Very well acted, wonderfully smart and tense, "The Edge" is a favorite film and well worth a look on DVD.

THE DVD:
VIDEO QUALITY: Excellent. Not quite as good as it would be had this disc been anamorphic enhanced, but I was certainly pleased with the definition and strength of a lot of the images on this DVD. For a non-anamorphic disc, I liked the level of sharpness and clarity that were presented; attention to detail is quite enjoyable on much of the disc as well; during some of the scenes I was able to see even all of the details along the ground, all of the fallen leaves and twigs- all of the forest details are sharp and easily seen. Even some of the evening and night shots in the forest attain a nice level of detail and clarity. The film has outstanding scenery and that's certainly presented beautifully here; all of the colors of nature are accurately and enjoyably presented; the greens of the leaves and brown of the trees, the blue of the water and sky; all are goregous to look at here. Color saturation is accurate and on some scenes, at times the picture almost looks three-dimensional, attaining a very "film-like" quality that I found highly pleasing. There isn't anything problematic in terms of artifacts; there are no scratches or flaws on the print that was used, either. The sort of drab colors that are set through some of this film are really presented well, making for many striking and memorable images of the wilds. It's just another example of 20th Century Fox's up and down quality levels on their DVD product; one disc is fantastic, next disc is fair, next disc is good. Once they start making discs that are consistently as good as this one, they'll be definitely on their way to making great DVDs(it would be great if they did anamorphic as well!) Layer change is at 59:26.

SOUND: I love nature movies(or even scenes in the wilds) because they always have such cool sounds; all of these little noises that make up the sounds of the wild, from the rustle of the wind in the trees to the running water of the rivers. The sound mix for "The Edge" captures all these little details that make the forest such a vast, cool place and more. Especially nicely done are the sounds of the bear; placed around the sound field so that at first, we're not quite sure where the bear is, but we know he's out there, somewhere. Dialogue is quite enjoyable as well, always natural and clear.

MENUS: Basic, not terribly creative menus based on the poster art. Fox sometimes makes great animated menus("True Lies", "Volcano"), but apparently they decided not to here.

EXTRAS: Just the trailer, and the trailer didn't give an idea of how great the actual movie is.

GRADES:
The Film: 97/A = (485/500 possible points)
Video: 91/A = (364/400 possible points)
Audio: 91/A = (364/400 possible points)
Extras: 70/C-= (210/300 possible points)
Menus: 73/C = (146/200 possible points)
Value: 86/B = (258/300 possible points)
Presentation:81.25/B = (81.25/100 possible points)

TOTAL POINTS:1908.25/2200
Overall:86.73%/B
Final Thought: An outstanding movie and a very nice disc from Fox; very good quality in terms of video/sound. Highly recommended.