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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"A Few Good Men" is director
Rob Reiner's high octane murder mystery set
against the backdrop of betrayal and protocol
inside a military base. It pits clean-cut military
defense attorney, Lt. Daniel Kaffie (Tom Cruise)
against an unscrupulous military strategist, Col.
Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson).
After a cadet is hazed to death, the soldiers
responsible are brought to a military tribunal for
justice. But did the soldiers in question act
alone, or was there a more sinister motive behind
their action? Demi Moore costars as defense
co-council Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway. She's
unimpressed by Kaffie's devil-may-care attitude
toward the case, but also realizes that Kaffie's
skills as a legal strategist are just what's
required for an acquittal. The film essentially
boils down to two parts Perry Mason, and one part
melodrama with tensions taut and running higher as
the case reaches its climactic showdown. Even if
"you can't handle the truth" you'll become
completely engrossed in the finely wrought
performances and magnificent pacing of the whole
affair.
Columbia's original barebones DVD release of "A
Few Good Men" was a near pristine effort with
bold, rich colors, exceptional contrast and shadow
delineation, smooth deep and solid black levels
and an amazing lack of edge enhancement and
pixelization. This new collector's series DVD is a
carbon copy of that transfer.
There are a few forgivable exceptions. The
original DVD contained nearly 60 chapter stops, an
ample selection by any standard. On this DVD we
get fewer than 30 chapters, presumably so that the
extra added features could be squeezed onto the
same side of the disc. Extras included several
featurettes, theatrical trailers, audio
commentaries and an isolated music track. All in
all this is a nicely packaged DVD with nothing
really to complain about.
If any complaint can be lodged it is that Columbia
ought to have provided consumers with a special
edition from the start and forgo any plans to
revisit this title as a remastered Superbit. The
studio's theory behind multiple copies is pure
profit. |
