Falling Down


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Details At A Glance

General
Extras
Category Drama Theatrical Trailer(s) None
Rating Other Trailer(s) None
Year Released 1992 Commentary Tracks None
Running Time 107:55 minutes Other Extras None 
RSDL/Flipper No/No
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region 2,4 Director Joel Schumacher 
Studio
Distributor

Warner Home Video
Starring Michael Douglas
Robert Duvall
Barbara Hershey
Rachel Ticotin
Frederic Forrest
Tuesday Weld 
RRP $34.95 Music James Newton Howard 

 
Video
Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None MPEG None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Dolby Digital 5.1
16x9 Enhancement
Soundtrack Languages English (Dolby Digital 2.0  , 192Kb/s)
French (Dolby Digital 2.0, 192Kb/s)
Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0, 192Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
Miscellaneous
Macrovision ? Smoking Yes
Subtitles English
French
Italian
Dutch
Arabic
Spanish
Portuguese
German
Romanian
Bulgarian
English For The Hearing Impaired
Italian For The Hearing Impaired
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

Plot Synopsis

    I can really relate to this story, and I think most other people would be able to, or recollect a time when they could. In today's stupidly busy world, it is little wonder that there are people who just cannot cope. Most of us try our best, and some snap. In Australia, we have had road rage for some time now, public shootings, gangs and hoodlums prowling the streets, but all in far less quantity than they have in America - we are trying our best to catch up, but we still have a way to go.

    Falling Down tells of a man who just cannot take any more of what society is force-feeding him. We start with him stuck in a traffic jam of intense proportions in sweltering heat with flies buzzing around, kids staring at him out of the back of other cars (always annoying at the best of times), people screaming down mobile phones, broken air-conditioning in his car, and he just loses it. We learn later that he was fired from his job months before, and he also has a failed marriage and is unable to visit his little daughter. Foster, played by Michael Douglas, is this man, and we follow him through the grimy streets of America as he puts our society and "freedom" to the test. If you have ever felt that small things cost too much, or been annoyed that you couldn't get the breakfast menu at McDonalds 3 minutes after that menu closed, or one of countless other little things that we just accept, you might enjoy watching Foster go nuts. In an attempt to really drum into us what this man is feeling, director Joel Schumacher sometimes gets dirty, and there is a lot of violence, both physical and verbal throughout this movie, but it is certainly effective.

    Robert Duvall is a cop about to face retirement, and he pieces together seemingly unrelated reports of crime and deduces that they are being carried out by one man, and he goes after him. This is the sub-plot, and it counterpoints the main plot well. His wife is a nagging woman, constantly going off the deep end at him, and it is only at the end of the movie that he asserts himself, which is the same kind of liberation Foster is feeling, albeit on a different level.

    This is a fine performance by Michael Douglas, who is one of my favourite actors, coupled with a story that touches the common denominator, meaning that most will enjoy this movie. Watch it if you want to blow off some steam.

Transfer Quality

Video

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is 16x9 enhanced. The film process was also anamorphic, so it is a disappointment for me to have to report that this transfer is simply not up to scratch, when it should have excelled. Whilst it is not a bad transfer, it fails in some important key areas which lets it down.

    The image is uniformly sharp, probably too much so as I will explain later. There is a fair amount of detail in the image, and indeed long shots reveal unusually high levels of detail in, for example, people at a distance. The transfer was pleasing in this respect. Shadow detail was fair, but since the movie takes place in the open and during broad daylight, this is not something which would be a concern anyway. There was no low-level noise, and there was no film grain visible.

    I was never really happy with the colours for most of the movie, and had to hold myself back from adjusting my set (so to speak). The palette looks washed out, and is too warm, which adversely affected flesh tones. It has a similar look to that of the early versions of Die Hard 3  for those who want a comparison. Maybe it was intentional, as it does tend to make you slightly annoyed in itself if you are fussy about these things!

    MPEG artefacting was minimal, but present. It is a common tale to tell with single-sided Warner discs. Pushed too hard for one layer, this nearly two-hour movie is starved for bits and would benefit by being RSDL formatted. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of profuse aliasing in every place possible, and was totally out of control for much of the movie. Car bonnets, blinds, clothing, steps, even Michael Douglas' glasses suffered dreadfully. We just don't need to see this kind of thing on what should be the ultimate video experience. As a side note, I would like to see this and other aliasing-affected movies in progressive format, and I am confident aliasing as we know it will now result in future rave reviews of high resolution "film-like" images (I am thinking The Mummy here, along with others). What do we do? Complain now and cheer later? Well, anyway, for the vast majority of us with interlaced displays, aliasing is not a good thing and this transfer suffers for it. There were no film artefacts.
 

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain
Film-to-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are three soundtracks on this disc, being English, French and Italian, all in Dolby Digital 2.0, with the English version being surround encoded. I listened to the default English track, and was not too impressed.

    Dialogue suffered from distortion frequently, especially towards the end of the movie. There were no lip-sync issues.

    The soundtrack by James Newton Howard was unremarkable, and left no impression on me. The sound was also a little harsh, and certainly sounded compressed, just what you would expect from a soundtrack running at a paltry 192 Kilobits per second.

    The surrounds were hardly used at all, and most of the action takes place up front.

    One nice aspect of this transfer was the excellent use of low frequencies. The subwoofer had a great time for the entire movie. This gave the soundtrack a lot of weight, and was its saving grace!
 

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    Hoo-ha! The end of the snapper case! I have never been a fan - they are fragile, flimsy and just don't fit properly in your collection. Well, that problem should be a thing of the past with Warner's introduction of the clear Amaray packaging for their titles. Chalk one up for common sense. Unfortunately, that is where the good news ends in terms of "features". This movie should be replete with extras. I would love to see some documentary on the behind-the-scenes work, the choice of casting, theatrical trailer, commentary etc. There is, however, absolutely nothing on this disc. Warner Bros just seem to churn 'em out with little care in regards to the content (and, increasingly, with little care in regards to the quality). I suppose with the new cases we should be thankful for small mercies.

Menu

Scene Selections (33)

R4 vs R1

    The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on;     Since this movie is a genuine anamorphic 2.35:1 film, I cannot imagine watching it Pan & Scan. Anyway, there is nothing compelling about the R1 version, so stick with ours and at least get a proper case!

Summary

    An intriguing if violent look at the extreme actions of a man who is just plain fed up. A fine performance by Michael Douglas .

    The video transfer is sub-par for a relatively recent film.

    The audio transfer is also not what should be expected, with frequent dialogue distortion, though the sub was happy.

    No extras at all.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras  
Plot
Overall
© Paul Cordingley (my bio)
27th April, 2000.
Review Equipment
   
DVD Panasonic A360 (S-Video output)
Display Pioneer Rear - Projection SD-T43W1 125cm Widescreen 16x9
Audio Decoder d t s 5.1 & Dolby Digital 5.1 (DVD Player internal decoder)
Amplification Sony STRDE-525 5x100 watts Dolby Pro-Logic / 5.1 Ready Receiver; 4 x Optimus 10-band Graphic EQ
Speakers Centre: Sony SS-CN35 100 watt; Main & Surrounds: Pioneer CS-R390-K 150-watt floorstanders; Subwoofer: Optimus 100-watt passive