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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 2.35:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English: Dolby Digital Surround
  • French: Dolby Digital Surround
  Subtitles
    English, French, Dutch, Arabic
  Extras
  • Theatrical trailer

The Devil's Own

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 107 mins . M15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

There's always a movie that brings 2 of the worlds most popular actors onto the screen at the same time. The most recent before the Devil's Own was when Robert De Niro and Al Pacino appeared in Heat.

In the Devil's Own, teen idol Brad Pitt and screen legend Harrison Ford come together in this drama of a young boy forced, by the hand of a masked gunman, into a life of guns, death and the IRA.

Frankie Maguire (Brad Pitt) had witnessed the murder of his father when he was but a boy and because of this, his life would forever be changed. 20 years later, Frankie is now one of the most wanted men to be serving for the IRA. He ventures to the US where the purchase of ground to air missiles can be made easier. He needs a place to stay in the US and is offered a room at the home af Tom O'Meara (Harrison Ford).

What ensures is a drama about a young man torn between fighting for the IRA and also protecting the people who have un-knowingly helped his cause.

  Video
Contract

Probably the first Columbia-Tristar disc that has suffered a not too perfect transfer. The only gripe of this transfer is the lack of shadow detail. The picture is clean and sharp, as with all CT discs, colors are pretty much spot on but the lack of shadow detail means the slight adjusting of your contrast/brightness on your screen to compensate for it.

Otherwise, the disc is fine. I remember reading Mike D's review about the 2 locations where the picture skips slightly but they were not evident on my copy and it couldn't be the player as we have the same one.

  Audio
Contract

Audio is not a selling point for this movie. Not that it is bad, its just not a movie that craves abundant effects.

Its a medium paced movie and apart from the standard bass and surround channel involvement during the action, explosion, gunfire scenes there are only a handful of other scenes that get some real attention to detail.

The one scene that stood out the most for me in this department is when we switch to Frankie sitting in a sub-way train and we are blasted with sound of the train screaming through the tunnels. It certainly got a "Nice placement of scene and sound" smile out of me.

I must point out something funny about the audio. Just for a laugh, I switched to the french track. It amazes me sometimes at how perfect the alternate language track fits with the video. I mean, the lips are obviously out of sync but the duration of the speach is almost perfect. I mean, when Brad is speaking to someone and his lips stop moving, so does the french language. Apart from the spoken words, all other sound is almost identical to the english 5.1 track.

  Extras
Contract

Another featureless disc from CTHV. We can forgive them I guess as some of their future feature films will contain an abundance of extras which should make some region 1 owners cringe.

All you'll find on this disc is the theatrical trailer and your usual scene selections.

  Overall  
Contract

Ok, I'm not a big fan of Devil's Own. I felt it could have been a better movie as it seemed it just lacked a certain aspect within the plot. Don't get me wrong, its a good enough story but it needed something extra.

On the disc side, both the audio and video will keep you happy.


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      And I quote...
    ""
    - Steve Koukoulas
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Pioneer DV-505 Gold
    • TV:
          Hitachi CMT2979 68cm
    • Amplifier:
          Yamaha DSP-A1
    • Speakers:
          Peterson Labs 100Watts
    • Centre Speaker:
          Sherwood SC-60E
    • Surrounds:
          Sherwood LS-502
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
      Recent Reviews:
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