Going
in, I wasn’t expecting to like SPY GAME ($27) all that much, but
the movie turned out to be a very cool political thriller and a great
DVD to boot. The plot of SPY GAME, centers on a CIA operative named
Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), who is capture while trying to break someone out
of a Chinese prison. The Chinese don’t take too kindly to Bishop’s actions,
and plan on executing him within twenty-four hours. As coincidence would
have it, Nathan Muir (Robert Redford), who was Bishop’s mentor, learns
of his protégé’s plight on the very day of his retirement from agency.
As you might have guessed, Muir’s final day at the CIA is wrangling with
the agency’s directors, while scrambling to find a way to save the young
operative from execution, after learning that the agency’s upper echelon
has no intention of rescuing Bishop.
While
Bishop’s fate would seem to be the central focus of SPY GAME, much
of the film’s running time is filled with flashback sequences showing
how Muir guided Bishop’s career over a period of years and how a couple
of key missions lead to the current situation. Redford and Pitt are quite
good in their respective roles, especially Redford, as one of the agency’s
master manipulators. Director Tony Scott’s snappy pacing and handling
of the action sequences makes the film’s two hour and seven minute running
time seem a lot shorter and leaves the audience wanting more. The solid
supporting cast of SPY GAME includes Catherine McCormack, Stephen
Dillane, Larry Bryggman, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Matthew Marsh, Todd Boyce,
Michael Paul Chan, Garrick Hagon and Charlotte Rampling in a brief cameo.
Universal
Studios Home Video has made SPY GAME available in a 2.35:1 wide
screen presentation that has been enhanced for playback on 16:9 displays.
This is a gorgeous looking transfer that renders an incredibly sharp and
well-defined image. Colors are very vibrant and the flesh tones look very
good, even when the style of the cinematography becomes a little artful
and tries to skew the hues just a bit. Blacks are wonderfully solid and
the image produces excellent contrast and shadow detail. The film element
used for the transfer is virtually pristine, without noticeable blemishes
or obtrusive grain. This cleanly authored dual layer DVD doesn’t display
any signs of digital compression artifacts.
SPY
GAME includes both Dolby Digital
and DTS 5.1 channel soundtracks. No matter which flavor you pick, the
discrete soundtracks really rock! You get explosions, gunfire and helicopters
zooming around during the film’s intense action sequences. There are plenty
discrete sound effects panning around the entire soundstage, including
through the split surround channels. Dialogue reproduction is very clean
and very precise. The bass channel kicks some serious booty and will keep
the old subwoofer quite busy. The differences between the Dolby Digital
and DTS are not all that pronounced, with both formats being equally well
mixed. DTS has a bit more sonic clarity, which is attributable to its
higher bit rate, but you are not being shortchanged by the Dolby Digital
track. A French Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack is also encoded onto
the DVD, as are English and Spanish subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as some of the DVD’s supplementary materials.
SPY GAME includes two separate audio commentaries; the first is
with director Tony Scott, while the second features producers Marc Abraham
and Douglas Wick. Both commentaries offer a lot of details on the making
of a complex motion picture such as this, with Scott’s talk going into
the nitty-gritty of how shots were achieved.
Next
up is Clandestine Ops, which is a special viewing option
for the motion picture. In this mode, the view can interactively select
to view all sorts of supplementary material that pertains to a particular
moment in the film. Utilizing branching, the viewer can hit the enter
button on their remote controls, whenever a logo for the supplemental
material pops up on the screen. Also included on the DVD are nine deleted
or alternate versions of existing scenes, which can be viewed with or
without director’s commentary. While all the material is interesting,
ultimately it wound up on the cutting room floor to maintain the film’s
brisk pacing. Script to Storyboard Process is a two-minute
plus featurette with director Tony Scott that shows comparisons between
the director’s drawings and the actual film footage. Requirements
For CIA Acceptance is a straightforward text feature that explains
how CIA candidate are chosen. Also included on the DVD is a theatrical
trailer, plus production notes cast & crew biographies/filmographies,
a soundtrack CD promo and a theatrical trailer for the upcoming release
of the action-thriller THE BOURNE IDENTITY. With SPY GAME,
Universal introduces Total Axess DVD-ROM features, which provide hotlinks
to a secret location with additional behind-the-scenes footage, interview
and more information on the movie.
SPY
GAME is a highly enjoyable political
thriller featuring two generations of Hollywood’s top leading men. The
DVD looks and sounds incredible, plus it offers a very solid array of
supplemental features. If you are even modestly interested in the subject
matter, you can’t go wrong by picking up a copy of SPY GAME on
DVD.
Going
in, I wasn’t expecting to like SPY GAME ($27) all that much, but
the movie turned out to be a very cool political thriller and a great
DVD to boot. The plot of SPY GAME, centers on a CIA operative named
Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), who is capture while trying to break someone out
of a Chinese prison. The Chinese don’t take too kindly to Bishop’s actions,
and plan on executing him within twenty-four hours. As coincidence would
have it, Nathan Muir (Robert Redford), who was Bishop’s mentor, learns
of his protégé’s plight on the very day of his retirement from agency.
As you might have guessed, Muir’s final day at the CIA is wrangling with
the agency’s directors, while scrambling to find a way to save the young
operative from execution, after learning that the agency’s upper echelon
has no intention of rescuing Bishop.
While
Bishop’s fate would seem to be the central focus of SPY GAME, much
of the film’s running time is filled with flashback sequences showing
how Muir guided Bishop’s career over a period of years and how a couple
of key missions lead to the current situation. Redford and Pitt are quite
good in their respective roles, especially Redford, as one of the agency’s
master manipulators. Director Tony Scott’s snappy pacing and handling
of the action sequences makes the film’s two hour and seven minute running
time seem a lot shorter and leaves the audience wanting more. The solid
supporting cast of SPY GAME includes Catherine McCormack, Stephen
Dillane, Larry Bryggman, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Matthew Marsh, Todd Boyce,
Michael Paul Chan, Garrick Hagon and Charlotte Rampling in a brief cameo.
Universal
Studios Home Video has made SPY GAME available in a 2.35:1 wide
screen presentation that has been enhanced for playback on 16:9 displays.
This is a gorgeous looking transfer that renders an incredibly sharp and
well-defined image. Colors are very vibrant and the flesh tones look very
good, even when the style of the cinematography becomes a little artful
and tries to skew the hues just a bit. Blacks are wonderfully solid and
the image produces excellent contrast and shadow detail. The film element
used for the transfer is virtually pristine, without noticeable blemishes
or obtrusive grain. This cleanly authored dual layer DVD doesn’t display
any signs of digital compression artifacts.
SPY
GAME includes both Dolby Digital
and DTS 5.1 channel soundtracks. No matter which flavor you pick, the
discrete soundtracks really rock! You get explosions, gunfire and helicopters
zooming around during the film’s intense action sequences. There are plenty
discrete sound effects panning around the entire soundstage, including
through the split surround channels. Dialogue reproduction is very clean
and very precise. The bass channel kicks some serious booty and will keep
the old subwoofer quite busy. The differences between the Dolby Digital
and DTS are not all that pronounced, with both formats being equally well
mixed. DTS has a bit more sonic clarity, which is attributable to its
higher bit rate, but you are not being shortchanged by the Dolby Digital
track. A French Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack is also encoded onto
the DVD, as are English and Spanish subtitles.
Full
motion video, animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s interactive
menus. Through the menus, one has access to the standard scene selection
and set up features, as well as some of the DVD’s supplementary materials.
SPY GAME includes two separate audio commentaries; the first is
with director Tony Scott, while the second features producers Marc Abraham
and Douglas Wick. Both commentaries offer a lot of details on the making
of a complex motion picture such as this, with Scott’s talk going into
the nitty-gritty of how shots were achieved.
Next
up is Clandestine Ops, which is a special viewing option
for the motion picture. In this mode, the view can interactively select
to view all sorts of supplementary material that pertains to a particular
moment in the film. Utilizing branching, the viewer can hit the enter
button on their remote controls, whenever a logo for the supplemental
material pops up on the screen. Also included on the DVD are nine deleted
or alternate versions of existing scenes, which can be viewed with or
without director’s commentary. While all the material is interesting,
ultimately it wound up on the cutting room floor to maintain the film’s
brisk pacing. Script to Storyboard Process is a two-minute
plus featurette with director Tony Scott that shows comparisons between
the director’s drawings and the actual film footage. Requirements
For CIA Acceptance is a straightforward text feature that explains
how CIA candidate are chosen. Also included on the DVD is a theatrical
trailer, plus production notes cast & crew biographies/filmographies,
a soundtrack CD promo and a theatrical trailer for the upcoming release
of the action-thriller THE BOURNE IDENTITY. With SPY GAME,
Universal introduces Total Axess DVD-ROM features, which provide hotlinks
to a secret location with additional behind-the-scenes footage, interview
and more information on the movie.
SPY
GAME is a highly enjoyable political
thriller featuring two generations of Hollywood’s top leading men. The
DVD looks and sounds incredible, plus it offers a very solid array of
supplemental features. If you are even modestly interested in the subject
matter, you can’t go wrong by picking up a copy of SPY GAME on
DVD.
