 |
| Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle,
Bradford Dillman, Paul Drake |
|
 |
Anamorphic
widescreen |
|
Dolby Digital
5.1 |
 |
DTS |
|
|
Trailer(s) |
|
Featurette(s) |
|
Documentary |
|
Audio commentary
|
|
Deleted scenes
|
|
Concept art
/ storyboards |
|
Multi-angle
feature |
|
|
|
|
'Dirty'
Harry Callahan: Listen, punk. To me you're nothin' but dogshit,
you understand? And a lot of things can happen to dogshit. It can be
scraped up with a shovel off the ground. It can dry up and blow away
in the wind. Or it can be stepped on and squashed. So take my advice
and be careful where the dog shits ya!
A
vicious serial-killer is on the loose in San Francisco and the police
trace a link to a small town further down the coast.
 Twelve
years had passed since 'Dirty' Harry first exploded off of cinema screens,
but the closest he comes to changing his by now overly familiar ways
in this fourth film is by trying out a new type of handgun. The narrative
takes a slightly different turn this time, making Harry's chief target
a woman settling the score by killing the men who raped her and her
sister (who has been catatonic ever since). This presents a new type
of problem to Harry's idiosyncratic methodology of meting out swift
justice without much regard for the letter of the law, but the screenplay
once again has a risk-free solution at hand to make sure none of the
original film's controversy seeps into this otherwise by-the-numbers
action thriller. An aging Eastwood still has his moments, but the act
has grown familiar and there's too much air and repetition in the screenplay
to make for a tightly wound thriller. And the disco score and risible
1980s costume design hasn't dated particularly well, making this an
entry in the series that is entertaining, but little more than that. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
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
only extras are the theatrical trailer (presented in crisp anamorphic
widescreen) and a very limited page with cast and crew biographies.Static
menu screens are accompanied by a disco beat from the soundtrack along
with some sound effects.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: February
4, 2002
Click
here for IMDB info on Sudden
Impact.
Click here
to return to the front page.
|
|
| |
