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Primal Fear: Hard Evidence Edition
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Adam Palcher & Noor Razzak (18th April 2009). |
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The Film
 Ever since the birth of the court room drama television shows like "Law & Order" (1990-Present) it’s rare that these court room dramas get made into full lengths movies anymore, mainly due to the fact that the television series cover many intriguing cases in a hour with both the police and legal side being covered with equally compelling acting, stories, and direction on a weekly basis. Even though Gregory Hoblit’s silver screen debut "Primal Fear" was made in 1996, before shows like "Law & Order" really took off and spawned multiple copycats it’s great to watch this film again and see that it still holds up against these types of shows and proves that certain aspects of film will always be better than television. Hoblit’s past body of work is mostly in television and you can tell by the direction, but what lacks in direction is made up for by performances and brutality. The trial of the century is hatched when the Catholic Archbishop is brutally murdered in his bedroom, accused is the soft spoken and stuttering Aaron Stampler, played incredibly by Edward Norton in his first ever starring role and would become an Academy Award nominated performance. I remember seeing this film for the first time saying to myself “this guy is going be huge”, and of course he now is. Norton’s portrayal as the innocent, god-fearing southern boy is perfectly cast and shows Norton’s natural ability as a character actor, this film is well worth your time for his performance alone, along his side in the cast is a young, spunky Laura Linney, Frances McDormand, Terry O’Quinn, and Stampler’s hot shot lawyer, played by Richard Gere. Now huge amounts of people discredit Gere as an actor and cannot stand watching him on screen due to smugness and pompous attitude, but it couldn’t be more fitting as a lawyer who’s only out for fame, but by taking on this big case Gere’s character signs up for way more than he bargained for and goes through a life affirming change throughout the process of the case that is truthful, human and real. What makes this stand out from other court room dramas isn’t the case itself, it’s a story we’ve seen a thousand times, a whodunit murder case with the defendant claiming they are innocent. What is truly intriguing throughout the film is the layers of the case that unravel like an onion inside and outside of the court room. Now where the film has it’s advantages is where these layers get unfolded, delving into and showing the brutality of the murder, but also showing ulterior evidence against the victim himself with creepy and haunting video that touches on the Catholic church and molestation. The film isn’t anything special to look at but looks gritty and clean at the proper times, but more than anything keeps your interest with the twist and turns right up until the end and delivers on the performances and intensity that you signed up for when it comes to courtroom scenes. I feel this film has been pushed under the rug over the past 13 years and is definitely worth your time to re-visit, especially if you love a great crime-drama story with performances and twists you never see coming.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 this transfer comes in high-definition 1080p 24/fps and has been mastered with AVC MPEG-4 compression codec. For a film that's 13 year old the image comes across a little soft at times, this is evident in some wide shots and the occasional close-up as well. Otherwise the image looks good, the colors are well rendered but skin tones were on little on the orange side at times, blacks are deep and there was some very minor noise but nothing distracting. Grain is evident and adds texture, detail looks good and overall it's a fairly clean image.
Audio
The audio track here is presented in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 as well as standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround in English, French, and Spanish. The TrueHD feels much broader than the standard 5.1 track, however for the most part it's still focused on the front too much. While ambient sounds and the score make good use of the surrounds I was a little disappointed with the lack of impact, range and overall depth. The dialogue is clear and distortion free, but overall it just felt like an up-mixed standard 5.1 track. The subtitles are presented in English, English for the hearing impaired, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Extras
Paramount has released this new edition with an audio commentary, three featurettes, and the film's theatrical trailer. There's an option to listen to the audio commentary including director Gregory Hoblit, screenwriter Ann Biderman, producer Gary Lucchesi, executive producer Hawk Koch and casting director Deborah Aquila is available to listen to as you watch the film. The commentary is probably only for the real hardcore fans of the film, a lot of what they discuss can be reiterated in the featurettes, but it is always interesting listening to filmmakers look back and reflect on the experience itself and the stories that helped shape their creative minds and careers. "Primal Fear: The Verdict" is an informative featurette running 17 minutes 59 seconds and goes into the fun and excitement of the filmmaking process with Laura Linney, Edward Norton, director Gregory Hoblit, screenwriter Ann Biderman, producer Gary Lucchesi, executive producer Hawk Koch and casting director Deborah Aquila. Like I said this is a great replacement for the commentary delving into some fun details and surprising stories. Turns out the original cut of the movie was over 3 hours long, but was cut out to make the Aaron Stampler character more mysterious. Norton and Linney talk about how this was one of those films that was an experience and they are grateful to be a part of the process and learned a lot from the others actors and professionals around them. This being Norton first film and breakout performance was a huge surprise to all the filmmaker and Norton himself, he came up with Aaron’s stutter, which landed him the role. Lots of cool stuff in this featurette. "Primal Fear: Star Witness – Casting Edward Norton" is another featurette running 17 minutes 56 seconds with a deep look at the casting of Norton’s character Aaron Stampler. Seeing as he was the main meat and the most important and effective person for the story the process was excruciating. Casting directors all over the world seeing over 2000 possible Stampler’s were relieved to find Norton fitting this role so well. Much of Norton’s performance was not originally scripted and helped make the movie as intriguing as it became. Leonardo DiCaprio was one person who was initially considered for the role and we also have Norton’s original audition tape showing his change of personality scene that shifted his character so dramatically. "The Psychology of Guilt" featurette runs for 13 minutes 35 seconds, this feature goes into the psychology of the insanity plea and how rare it holds as solid testimony. With a slew of experts ranging from doctors, judges and forensic pros we get an in-depth look at the McNaughton Rule and how multiple personality disorder is a controversial and unrealistic subject in the legal work. A nice little feature that helps us understand the minds of the defendants a little bit better. Also under the special features tab we get the original theatrical trailer for the film itself running 2 minute and 25 seconds.
Overall
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