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George
Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Albert Brooks, Don Cheadle,
Steve Zahn, Dennis Farina, Catherine Keener |
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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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Maurice
'Snoopy' Miller:
I've, uh, vertically integrated myself. You know, diversified and shit,
and now I'm into the occasional grand larceny, home invasion... shit
like that.
A
career bank robber breaks out of jail and shares a moment of mutual
attraction with an FBI agent he has kidnapped.
 Out
Of Sight
was a commercial disappointment upon its theatrical release and frankly
it's a bit of a puzzle why that happened. The combination of humor and
intelligence is irresistible and it's the best Elmore Leonard adaptation
so far (previous efforts to adapt his unique prose include Get Shorty
and Jackie Brown). Soderbergh is a fantastic actors' director
and it's a thrill to see actors like George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez
coming into their own here. They're helped by a great cast with Don
Cheadle and Steve Zahn stealing many a scene from under their noses.
Watch out for a great cameo by Michael Keaton who reprises his character
from Jackie Brown here: something of a first in movie history.
The script is filled with plot twists and turns while the story keeps
moving forward at a brisk pace, unencumbered by the inventive and elegant
use of flashbacks and flashforwards. The wit of the dialogues rivals
that of a Tarantino movie and flashbacks are used to bring motivation
and background to the characters. A great device since it gives the
viewer a chance to be connected to the characters right from the start
and it manages to give more meaning to the smaller scenes. With all
the great visual details Soderbergh manages to cram into the frames
and the truly brilliant score by David Holmes the movie comes dangerously
close to a masterpiece. |
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Region
1 and Region 2 have identical extra features but only the Region 1 release
has an anamorphic transfer. There's also a DTS version available in
Region 1 but that one misses out on all the extras due to the higher
bitrate of the DTS track.This review deals with the non-DTS release.
The
anamorphic transfer looks phenomenal: the anamorphic widescreen ratio
of 1.85:1 shows the great framing of the movie to full effect. Colors
are very deep and shadow detail is excellent.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is masterful with great use of surround effects
during the boxing and prison yard scenes. The soundtrack has deep bass
and a mix that uses the full soundstage. Watch for the moment when the
first Detroit scene arrives and turn up the volume with the Isley Brothers
track! The dialogue sounds natural coming from the center speaker and
even moves across the front a couple of times.
This DVD has a small extra on the technical details of the DVD transfer:
the audio was mastered using a process called Swelltone (a little trailer
featuring Beethoven can be viewed). It's similar to the THX mark of
quality and audiophiles should definitely check this out (Soderbergh
was personally involved with the transfer).
This
is a nicely full-blown special edition from Universal. The running audio
commentary by Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Frank is very informative.
They talk at length about why certain scenes were moved, shortened,
changed, cut etc. Prime reason for all this had to do with pacing and
the tightening of the storyline. They don't agree on everything, which
makes for some nice moments, and Soderbergh talks frankly about all
the actors. He also touches on the deleted scenes in this commentary
which is fortunate because the scenes themselves are presented as one
continuous presentation of 22 minutes (full-frame, ten scenes in total)
without introduction or explanation. They contain great stuff however
and are a nice bonus (most were cut for pacing reasons). The trunk scene
is shown here in its original form as is a more graphic depiction of
the gruesome murder by Snoopy and his associates.
The documentary features the cast, Soderbergh, Scott Frank and Elmore
Leonard and has some nice behind-the-scenes stuff. It's very good for
a 25-minute documentary although most of this ground is covered by Soderbergh
in the commentary. The selected musical highlights feature 12 pieces
and if you select one of them it'll take you to the point in the movie
where the music is used. This feature I found a bit pointless, a music-only
track would‚ve been nicer. Production notes, a theatrical trailer
and a couple of easter eggs hidden in the language menu and in Soderbergh's
bio round out the extras (hit the right arrow when you're at the bottom
of the pages).The
animated menus are introduced by bits from the movies and feature music
from the soundtrack. Navigation is a bit weird, look at the bottom of
the page for the arrows to see where you're going.
Gerard
Castelein
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on Out
of Sight.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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