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| Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Mitch Ryan,
David Soul |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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'Dirty'
Harry Callahan: A man's got to know his limitations.
Dirty
Harry is on the trail of vigilante cops who are not above going beyond
the law to kill the city's undesirables.
 The
critical backlash that followed the original Dirty Harry's release
and enormous commercial success ended up prompting Eastwood and his
production company to create a sequel to a film that would have remained
more powerful had it stood on its own. The Enforcer doesn't take
by far as many chances as its predecessor, and completely lacks the
original's sense of outrage and moral ambiguity. It's a clear attempt
to set the record straight by delimiting the main character's behavior
to meting out vigilante justice only to those who are proven criminals,
and not those with divergent lifestyles or politics.
This is of course difficult territory, and one can sense the strain
it took to introduce some measure of political correctness into the
franchise while still catering to the thrill-seeking crowd buying tickets
simply to see Harry Callahan shoot up a whole bunch of bad guys. But
without the dangerous edginess of the first film, The Enforcer
rarely manages to rise above the level of a purely routine cop thriller,
both vastly predictable and rather poorly written. |
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Identical
releases are available for Region 1 and Region 2, both separately and
as part of 'The Dirty Harry Series', a box set with all five movies.
The
anamorphic widescreen image is framed at an aspect ratio of approx.
2.35:1. The source print for the transfer is in surprisingly pristine
condition, but contrast appears to be exaggerated, and there's very
little shadow detail to be found at all, leading to rather unnatural-looking
black spaces wherever there is any darkness in the shot.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix makes good use of directional effects
for gunshots and other action sequence elements, but score and dialogues
are lacking in fidelity, and give the soundtrack a dated, inconsistent
feel.
The
movie's original promotional featurette, which runs about 8 minutes
and includes some behind-the-scenes production footage, and the theatrical
trailer are the only extras on board this release.The
static menu pages are simply and pleasantly designed, and are accompanied
by music cues from the score.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: February
4, 2002
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