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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.85:1
  • Dual Layer ( )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • French: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  Subtitles
    English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, English - Hearing Impaired, Italian - Hearing Impaired
  Extras
  • Theatrical trailer
  • Audio commentary

Murder By Numbers

Warner Bros./Warner Home Video . R4 . COLOR . 116 mins . MA15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Many films to come out of Hollywood in recent years are utter fluff. They have a narrative plot, a simple formulaic plan and the same typecast acting, which lets the film float around the audience as they passively slouch there gawking at the screen. Murder By Numbers falls into a slightly different category. This film assumes intelligence from the audience’s part, and requires it to tell the story. There is no narrator, and there is no formulaic plan, just a complexly built thriller starring Sandra Bullock which, believe it or not, still clings onto some of her typecasting.

Just take a look at Sandra’s past hit list: While You Were Sleeping, The Net, Miss Congeniality and Two Weeks Notice. Now what do these films have in common, apart from Bullock’s presence? And yes, there is a common factor in there... Actors such as Julia Roberts, Jackie Chan, Robin Williams (who is breaking the cast now), Cameron Diaz and Bruce Willis are all strongly typecast. Roberts in the romantic comedies, Chan in the martial arts, Williams in the corny comedy, Diaz in the ditzy roles and Willis in the gung-ho all-man action films. Sure, general castings, but still. Sandra Bullock has one too, that of the single white female. In the short list of some of her films listed above, she plays single females. Sure, there is romance in nearly all of these films and her situation changes, but still, Murder By Numbers holds onto the single female typecasting. These strong-willed yet troubled and single characters just keep her coming back for more, and bluntly put, she sells at the box office which is what the distributors want. However, she plays a forensic police detective in this film, and does a bloody good job at pulling it off. Her wit and withheld secrets shine through, as always, and this shows her darker dramatic side, without letting go of her natural beauty. To start with, it is hard to believe her in her role, but it is exactly the same as Richard Gere in Chicago, after the first few minutes you totally forget about it as there is something so much more important happening on screen.

This film draws on so many elements in order to make it enthralling for the audience, in more than just a visual way. Firstly, as mentioned before, the audience needs to think for themselves about the plot unfolding on screen. Secondly, sound design and music is crucial to this sort of film which builds up tension and breaks it down in a second, using a fully-forced soundstage. Visually, the film looks great with superb framing and precise direction from Academy-Award nominated Barbet Schroeder (for Reversal of Fortune). Finally one of the best assets this film has is the acting, led by a powerful Bullock, but the real stars are Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt as the young men who thought they could get away with it.

"You’re so good at breaking other people down, but you never stop to look at yourself."

The body of a young woman is found in a ditch in the woods outside San Benito, a small town in California. Cassie Mayweather (Bullock) is the homicide-detecting and crime scene specialist assigned to the case, along with her new partner Sam Kennedy (Ben Chaplin). But something about this murder reminds Cassie of her past, along with the written request for her attendance at a parole hearing that arrived earlier the same day. Their investigations lead them to Richard Haywood, a senior at Jefferson High School, who reported his $600 boots missing three weeks earlier. Sam follows his clues in a strict way, microscopically detailing every scene, but due to Richard’s creepingly slick behaviour, Cassie follows her hunch, and her past, and comes up with her own theories, following all the clues, but in an uncharacteristically different way. She feels that Richard and Justin Pendleton (Pitt) came together and tried to commit the perfect crime. Right from the word go the audience know that the two guys did murder “Jane Doe”, and we follow Cassie down her forensic trail that leads straight to these boys. The clues lead that way, but the police department don’t read them like that, as they have found their killer too, leaving Cassie outnumbered. But Cassie can’t let go of her hunch, and she can see how their perfect crime was formed, and it is just a matter of time until she breaks them down, one by one. But for once, she will be looking at herself too...

  Video
Contract

Presented in an enhanced aspect of 1.85:1, the original theatrical ratio, all 3291.5 meters of this 35mm print look simply stunning, but is ultimately let down by a few minor problems.

The first of the bugbears of this transfer is the large presence of aliasing, which can be seen throughout the film creating various degrees of annoyance. Accompanying the aliasing within the opening minute is a really foul case of a blocking effect on the background clouds during the opening flyby. This is quite obvious, and is very distracting as it is so out-there. But now on to the good stuff.

Colours are richly detailed, with a correct saturation that gives off a life-like appearance, yet still boasting an excellent vibrance. Blacks are deep and solid, and offer nearly nothing in the case of low-level noise except for one minor case during the finale of the film. One slight flaw with the colours occurs in the 24th chapter in the scenes with Justin and Lisa (Bruckner) where a slight colour shift occurs. This is barely noticeable, but its recurrence demands mentioning.

Detail levels are high throughout, yet the image does remain soft at times and razor sharp at others. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as some of the sharper scenes appear synthetic and manufactured. Film artefacts are limited to one speck in the last half of the film, and grain is nearly non-existent. This transfer is officially forensically clean!

Subtitles for English and English for the Hearing Impaired have been included, among other languages, and are easy to read yet do tend to alter the dialogue significantly to simplify the text. For such a dialogue-heavy film, the wording is important the sadly the subtitles do lose the context at times.

  Audio
Contract

Three Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks have been included, with language options of English, French or Italian. The English soundtrack is the best listening option given the native language of the film, at least to this reviewer, and offers an incredible 5.1 experience.

Thomas Causey’s amazing use of the 5.1 soundstage comes alive with so much going for it. Dialogue is crisp and audible throughout, with only one or two words being mumbled. The soundstage is incredibly broad, offering a wide array of effects. Causey’s mixing can be appreciated on DVD with heavily-set discrete surround channels and a busy front half of the soundstage. In no other film of recent release has the soundtrack been used as such a character to drive the film along and create a suspenseful atmosphere. Firstly the score bombards you from the wide angle of the soundstage, and then builds up to anticipate a full-on attack, but rests solidly in the centre, boosting the use of three-dimensional space.

The subwoofer track has a penetrating presence that just bumbles its way through the film, subtly adding to the complexly built soundstage. Clint Mansell’s consistent score is chiming in for most of the film, taking full advantage of all six channels. The only thing that could have made this soundtrack better would have been an EX flag for that extra channel, as it has the opportunity to be used significantly. This is one hell of a soundtrack, and is sure to get your heart pounding more than once!

  Extras
Contract

Like all of the releases worldwide, Murder By Numbers misses out on extras in a big way, only offering a slight insight into the filmmaking process. An audio commentary by Barbet Schroeder (director) and Lee Percy (editor) has been included, offering some trivial information about the film, and also acts as a deconstruction of the film scene-by-scene, with the few quiet spaces here and there not stopping this commentary from being interesting. The second, and final, extra is a theatrical trailer which tells the story of the film superbly and has been moulded in such a traditional and anticipating style. Sadly, this is it for extra features.

  Overall  
Contract

This is a highly crafted and intelligent psychological thriller showing Sandra Bullock’s alternative side, but still managing to hold on to that lovely typecasting. The film may not be for everyone, and the pacing may bore some audiences, but stick with it, persevere and hold on for a true aural experience accompanying a smart and slick thriller for today’s modern audience.


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      And I quote...
    "...a highly crafted and intelligent psychological thriller showing Sandra Bullock’s alternative side, but still managing to hold on to that lovely typecasting..."
    - Martin Friedel
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Philips DVD 736K
    • TV:
          TEAC EU68-ST
    • Speakers:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Centre Speaker:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Surrounds:
          Teac PLS-60 Home Theatre System
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
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