BLU-RAY
REVIEW: PRIMAL FEAR
03/09/09
I first saw Primal Fear in
the year 1996 and went in knowing nothing about it. It
didn’t take long for me to get wrapped up in the movie and
newcomer Edward Norton’s performance. Near the movie’s end,
I felt I was hit with a steel bat across the face at it’s
the first movie I can remember seeing with such an effective
twisted ending. The marvelous ending and the performance by
Edward Norton makes this movie an instant classic. Luckily,
Paramount is releasing a special edition of the movie on Blu-ray
called the Hard Evidence Edition. I’ve seen this movie on
DVD a bunch of times and was delighted to re-visit it years
later on Blu-ray.
In Primal Fear, Martin Vail (Richard Gere) is a famous
defense lawyer who sets out to defend Aaron
(Edward Norton) who has just been accused of killing an
Archbishop. Aaron tells Vail that he doesn’t remember
anything except blacking out. Vail, becomes convinced that
Aaron is innocent. However, it is soon discovered that Aaron
suffers from multiple personality disorder and that he
killed the Archbishop after blacking out and becoming the
angry, aggressive Roy. Vail now sets up the court to declare
his client insane and the director sets the audience up for
a twist.
Watching this movie back in 1996 was a real joy and
discovering Norton’s performance felt like something
special. The movie on its own is good and effective, but
Edward Norton’s performance takes it to the next level.
Which is why it is without question that Norton got his
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination. Cuba
Gooding ended up winner that year for his performance in
Jerry Maguire.
The picture looks good on Blu-ray High-definition, but
suffers from looking a bit soft and flat. However it does
look a lot better than the DVD version. The disc also
contains a bunch of extra features including The Final
Verdict-where producer Luccheis speaks about keeping the
ending of the book, Casting Edward Norton-a delightful
interview with Norton and his experience during the casting,
and The Psychology of Guilt-a feature discussing the
insanity defend and multiple personality disorder.
Review By Brad Peterson
brad@smartcine.com
VIDEO:
Widescreen (1.85:1 aspect ratio) 1080P
AUDIO:
English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby
Digital
Subtitles: Englis, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Audio Commentary with Director
Gregory Hoblit, Writer Ann Biderman, Producer Gary Lucchesi,
Executive Producer Hawk Koch, And Casting Director Deborah
Aquila
Primal Fear: The Final Verdict- Producer Gary
Lucchesi speaks about how they kept the original ending of
the William Diehl Book. (18)
Star Witness: Casting Edward Norton - Director
Gregory Hoblit discuses how he needed the right actor for
Aaron or the movie would fail. This feature has a very good
interview with Edward Norton regarding the whole casting
experience. (18)
The Psychology of Guilt - The insanity defend and
multiple personality disorder are discussed. (13:35)
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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