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3 Days of The Condor
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (2nd June 2009). |
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The Film
 By 1975 the oil crisis was still in effect, oil prices were on the rise (they would hit a record high by 1976), added to this crisis the U.S. media was still in paranoia-mode, it was a turbulent time in America, post-Watergate scandal that brought down a President, the general public became more savvy about CIA and secret operations. "3 Days of the Condor" takes both these events and weaves them into a tight paranoia thriller that still works today, although a bit dated. During the 1970's Hollywood milked the paranoia angle of covert ops and secret mission, phone bugging etc. With films like "The Parallax View" (1974), "The Conversation" (1974) proving to be hits it wasn't long for "3 Days of the Condor" to make it to screens, based on the novel "Six Days of the Condor" by Jamesd Grady. "3 Days of the Condor" tells the story of Joseph Turner AKA The Condor (Robert Redford), a CIA operative who works in an office in New York under the guise of a historical literacy office. Him and his crew read publications from around the world looking for secret and hidden messages. On one particularly rainy day while Joseph is out getting lunch for everyone, a group of mysterious men kill everyone at the office. The only one left from his section, code name The Condor is on the run and doesn't know who to trust. within his own organization. I love a good espionage thriller, and "3 Days of the Condor" while hampered by cheesy production design by today's standards still holds up fairly well. There are some weak points but overall it's a fairly decent thriller that manages to keep you glued to your seat for the near 2 hour run time. Enhancing the film's tone and style is the apt direction from Sydney Pollack who manages to keep the story going with scene after scene of set-up and knock-down moments, a naturalistic and believable performance from the film's lead Robert Redford and also the excellent supporting cast that includes Max von Sydow and Cliff Robertson (albeit with a ridiculous hairstyle). Redford's character is immediately likable and as a viewer I found myself willing to follow him throughout his ordeal, despite the fact he's not a field agent but manages to surpass his challenges, take out those that are out to kill him and uncover the people behind it. Within a few hours (or in the timeframe of the film a couple of days) he goes from being mild-mannered CIA researcher to full fledged field agent all out of necessity to survive. While this is a little far fetched (and the filmmakers threw in a line that helps us swallow this pill which informs us of his military background) it wasn't all that surprising by Hollywood standards but it can be forgiven as Redford makes it all believable with his pitch-perfect performance. One of the most disappointing aspects of the film is Redord's relationship with Faye Dunaway, she plays Kathy, a woman he initially kidnaps only to have her help in the end and eventually she falls for him in a rather quickie fashion. There seemed no real need for her character other than to provide a pretty face for the film and a character that Redford can bed. She was the primary weak point of this script both her character and her involvement in the story could have easily been removed without too much hassle. The film's themes of paranoia are interestingly relevant in this post-9/11 world in which we live, the oil crisis and Middle East references as well make for intense conversation points after the film's credits have rolled, which is always welcomed. Overall I enjoyed this film for what it was, although some flaws hold it back from being a true classic I'd still recommend it to others and certainly watch it again at some point.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 in high-definition 1080p 24/fps and has been mastered with AVC MPEG-4 compression. The overall image is OK at best and although the film's age does show the picture is remains sharp for the majority of the run time. There are some soft spots here and there and some detail does lack especially in night scenes and some location footage. The colors look natural especially sin tones, grain is present and adds to the weigh of the film, blacks don't fare too well being a bit noisy and also lacking in detail and there's some dirt that can be seen at times. The HD image looks a little better than an upscaled DVD at times, while close-ups look terrific in terms of detail and textures some shots don't fare so well.
Audio
Two audio tracks are present on this disc in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/16-bit as well as a French Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track. I was a little disappointed that Paramount chose to omit the film's original mono audio track, while the TrueHD audio is good, it's still not as impressive as it could be. This audio is an up-mixed track created from the original mono elements. The problem with this process is that there isn't enough audio information to cover the full 5.1 sound space, thus the film's audio is mostly front heavy. There's a lot of dialogue and some action here, while the dialogue holds up I felt the bullet hits sounded hollow. The film's score is about the only thing utilizing the rear speakers. Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
The only extra on this disc is the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 3 minutes 4 seconds.
Overall
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