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Dark Places
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Lions Gate Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Abraham Phillips (18th October 2015). |
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The Film
 "Dark Places" is a very interesting crime drama, thick with mystery and adrenaline inducing. As you watch the story unfold, it shoots back in time to 1985, and to the present day. "Dark Places" is based on the book by the same name, written by a truly wonderful storyteller Gillian Flynn. Gillian is most famous for her book and film adaptation of "Gone Girl" (2014) which was directed by David Fincher. In 1985 Libby (Charlize Theron) was the only survivor of her family’s massacre. Her teenage brother Benjamin was convicted of the crime. In the present day, she is now contacted by a young man named Lyle (Nicholas Hoult), who runs a Kill Club. People who are interested in True Crime. Once there she realizes she has been lied to and the group believes Benjamin is innocent. The movie is very weird, and it has some odd choices in the way it's filmed. You flash back to Libby's perspective of the crime through her eyes. A dream like nightmare. Libby as an adult is a very unlikable person at first. Tense, angry, frustrated, and plain rude. The rude and mean is almost too much, and it turns you off a little. The attitude is a little too strong, but thankfully that changes as the movie moves forward. The acting by all is brilliant. The extraordinary talented Charlize Theron and the equally wonderful Corey Stoll as the grown up Benjamin excel in their roles. Nicholas Hoult as Lyle, the leader of the Kill Group. All three are pure cinema. The chemistry and acting by all three are very memorable. The young cast of phenomenal actors and actresses also do a commendable job. The handsome Tye Sheridan plays the teenage Benjamin to a flawless, believable degree. Chloë Grace Moretz is stunning as always. Libby who is strapped for cash agrees to help the group on their little journey of trying to find the truth behind the crimes. Libby thinks they are crazy. She testified and believes her brother is guilty, but she needs money, and so she goes along with it. Soon she finds herself smack dab in a spiralling dark drama, both haunting and realistic. This is directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner. Brenner did a fantastic job in capturing a darkness on screen. A deep, thick, black darkness of emotions. A darkened vision of the 80's, murder, Satan worship, and an unrelenting journey of small town lies, and brutal truth. Brenner directed one of my favorite films, 2010's "Sarah's Key", if you haven’t seen that movie I highly recommend you do so.
Video
Presented in 2.40:1 Theatrical aspect ratio with a 1080p 24/fps transfer using AVC MPEG-4 compression. There is no flaw in the video. The transfer is crisp and sharp. Simply put the moments of darkness are dark and gloomy, even though in color the overall film does have a depressing tone to the way it’s filmed.
Audio
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround (48kHz/24-bit) is the only audio option. This is another flawless track. The viewer is treated to a crystal clear audio mix, the dialogue and the conversations taking place are well rendered. Also the music throughout adds a perfect immersion to the audio. Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired and Spanish.
Extras
Liongate has included a small collection of extras that include a couple of featurettes, bonus trailers and a digital copy version of the film. A featurette titled "Brining Dark Places" has a running time of 23 minutes and 8 seconds. This feature has interview clips with the director Gilles Paquet-Brenner, writer of the book Gillian Flynn, and interviews with the producers Peter Safran, A.J. Dix, Matt Jackson, and Cathy Schulman. Also in this feature are interviews with Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christina Hendricks, Corey Stoll, and Tye Sheridan. You also get a featurette titled "About the Author: Gillian Flynn". This has a running time of 9 minutes and 16 seconds. This has Gillian talking about how she thought the film adaption was a solid adaption to her book. Also there are little interview clips by the producers and stars praising Gillian’s talent. Bonus trailers are included for: - "Room" which runs for 1 minute 24 seconds. - "The Witch" which runs for 2 minutes 31 seconds. - "The Vatican Tapes" which runs for 2 minutes 9 seconds. - "Ex Machina" which runs for 2 minutes 34 seconds. - "A Most Violent Year" which runs for 2 minutes 27 seconds. Included in the case is a code for a digital copy version of the film.
Packaging
Standard plastic blu-ray case. Slip-cover, and wrap around art.
Overall
Great product that could have benefitted with more special features but still is a great Blu-ray to own. The film at times was a dark and suspenseful film with twists and turns. A spooky tense reality of just what lies can lead to. Solid direction. Wonderful acting.
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