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Time To Kill (A)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - Australia - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (22nd June 2009). |
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The Film
 When was the last time you saw a truly good movie from either Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey or Samuel L. Jackson... and for that matter director Joel Schumacher? Seems like a long time huh? While "A Time to Kill" might not be a great film, it's still a pretty good one. Bullock had earned a massive following after her star-making turn in "Speed" (1994) two years before and was anxious to prove she wasn't a fluke... McConaughey was relatively new and unknown, and although Jackson has been around for a while this was one of the many projects he picked up after he broke out as the cool Jules Winnfield in "Pulp Fiction" (1994). The film manages to capitalize on relatively young star power as opposed to casting high-profile A-listers of the time... It seems obvious after reading into the film's production history to cast such a 'green' leading cast as author John Grisham took an active role as producer and wanted some level of control as it was his first and favorite books in his canon. Despite this the film features a plethora of seasoned pros in supporting roles like the always dependable Kevin Spacey, Oliver Platt, Charles S. Dutton, Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris Cooper, Kurtwood Smith, Anthony Heald, Patrick McGoohan and a very young Ashley Judd. For those that haven't seen this film before I'm sure there will be plenty of "Hey! I know them..." moments. "A Time to Kill" tells the story of Southern farmer Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson), whose is arrested and tried for the murder of two young men and injuring a Deputy at the courthouse. The two men were accused of kidnapping and raping his 10 year old daughter. The act of vigilantism stirs up a slew of race-related tension in the small town as friend and lawyer Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) takes the case to defend Carl Lee, it's not long when Brigance and his family are under fire when the KKK resurfaces as Carl Lee's trial sees itself through in the divide town. Fans of the book will be pleased that for the most part it stays faithful to its source, the film, while a commercial box office success deals with a rather controversial subjects of racism and vigilantism. The film makes a case for vigilantism and uses the race card rather liberally to make its point. Whatever you believe in regards to Carl Lee, the stone cold fact is that he is guilty of murder. However there are other 'factors' at play that argue in his defense. The gruesome nature of the crime perpetrated against his daughter (and the additional inclusion of the KKK's actions) helps to add fuel to the sympathy fire and in many ways emotionally manipulates the audience into favoring Carl Lee and rooting for his freedom. So is he in the right for committing murder? Or can he be given a pass given the racists nature of the situation? If anything the film insights conversation among its viewers. The film features some fine performances, everyone here does an amicable job in their roles and manages to come across as natural. Jackson does an impressive turn as the grieving father Carl Lee, adding weight to the role and garnering sympathy from viewers. The bright star here, however, is McConaughey. It's a shame he wasn't able to maintain a respectable level of quality to his performances in future films and has been reduced to being a shirtless buffoon. Additionally Bullock isn't as annoying here as she has become in her slew of romantic comedies that have polluted the multiplexes in the 13 years since this film. It's hard to believe that "A Time to Kill" was released 13 year ago, but as a dramatic film it holds up incredibly well. The story may force lines to be drawn among viewers and will certainly be the cause of plenty of post-viewing conversations (always a good thing) and the performances are all uniformly decent, it's one of the better Grisham adaptations and is worth checking out.
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio of 2.40:1 this high-definition transfer is in 1080p 24/fps and mastered in VC-1 compression. My previous encounter with this film was on the very old flipper DVD (with half a movie on either side of the disc)... that image suffered from many problems including lack of detail, flat images, compression problems and noise. This HD image updates the film's transfer substantially. I was pleased with the overall sharpness of the image especially the details which reveal a lot more than previous editions. Close-ups are excellent and show the sweaty complexions of its stars well, skin tones are natural and colors are well rendered, and some shots still look a bit flat (but not only a handful). There are occasional specks and bits of dirt that pop up but otherwise the print looks solid. Blacks are deep and there's hardly much noise amid them.
Audio
There are a total of eight audio tracks on this disc in English Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1 surround mixed at 48kHz/16-bit as well as tracks in English French, German and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, as well as Italian, Portuguese and Spanish (Latin) Dolby Digital 2.0 surround. The film's updated TrueHD audio might be a good step up from the standard 5.1 track but it's still lacking in many areas. Dialogue is clear and while music and the occasional crowd scene uses the surrounds well the majority of the audio is front heavy. There's some good ambiance here and there, directional effects are put to good use but the track feels lacking in sufficient depth. Optional subtitles are included in Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish.
Extras
The only extras on this disc is the film's original theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 26 seconds.
Overall
Sadly throughout the film's release history on home video from VHS, laserdisc, DVD and how Blu-ray Warner Brothers hasn't updated the supplements leaving us with virtually nothing. Even the slightest effort like a featurette would have been welcomed, and one day I'd like to hear the filmmakers talk about their film in an audio commentary but I doubt we'll ever get that opportunity.
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