Grosse Pointe Blank
This review is sponsored by
Details At A Glance
|
General
|
Extras
|
| Category |
Comedy/Action |
Theatrical Trailer(s) |
None |
| Rating |
 |
Other Trailer(s) |
None |
| Year Released |
1997 |
Commentary Tracks |
None |
| Running Time |
103:01 minutes |
Other Extras |
None |
| RSDL/Flipper |
No/No |
Cast & Crew
|
| Start Up |
Movie |
| Region |
2,4 |
Director |
George Armitage |
Studio
Distributor |
Warner Home Video |
Starring |
John Cusack
Minnie Driver
Alan Arkin
Dan Aykroyd
Joan Cusack
Alan Arkin |
| Case |
Amaray |
| RRP |
$34.95 |
Music |
Joe Strummer |
|
Video
|
Audio
|
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame |
None |
MPEG |
None |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio |
1.78:1 |
Dolby Digital |
5.1 |
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
Soundtrack Languages |
English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384Kb/s)
French (Dolby Digital 2.0  ,
192Kb/s)
Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 ,
192Kb/s) |
| Theatrical Aspect Ratio |
1.85:1 |
Miscellaneous
|
| Macrovision |
? |
Smoking |
Yes |
| Subtitles |
English
Dutch
Portuguese
English for the Hearing Impaired |
Annoying Product Placement |
Amusing placement of Doom II. Otherwise, no. |
| Action In or After Credits |
No |
Plot Synopsis
I'd never go to a ten-year high school reunion simply
because I didn't stick around long enough to either finish or to have anyone
from there actually remember me in spite of my psychotic behaviour. Martin
Q. Blank (John Cusack), on the other hand, made himself very memorable
by standing up his prom night date Debi Newberry (Minnie Driver)
and disappearing for ten years. He has filled in the time by hiring out
his services as a mercenary, a profession that has him requiring the services
of a psychiatrist by the name of Oatman (Alan Arkin), who advises
him to take time off and spend a few days without killing anyone. Sadly
(and quite naturally), he has a slight problem with that, as he is being
harassed by Grocer (Dan Aykroyd) to join a union of professional
killers. Naturally, Martin is a solitary creature in a professional context,
and is happy to perform his services with only the aid of Marcella (Joan
Cusack), his secretary. One assignment which Grocer was negotiating
is stolen out from under him by Blank, presumably because Blank's non-union
services would be cheaper, and this leads to Grocer sending assassins after
Blank. This results in one of the funniest, albeit most unbelievable, sequences
involving innocent bystanders in a gunfight at a slightly later point in
the film. Meanwhile, Blank follows his rather reluctant psychiatrist's
advice and returns to his home town of Grosse Pointe, which is coincidentally
the location of the aforementioned assignment, which Blank intends to be
his last.
Grosse Pointe Blank works for me as
a black comedy because of the attention to detail that was paid in the
process of character development. I certainly can relate to Martin as a
man caught in a profession which he would sorely like to escape in spite
of how it pursues him. The cameos by such actors as Hank Azaria
and Benny Urqiduez (a martial arts action star, he plays Felix La
PuBelle, the man Martin stabs in the neck with a pen) do a good job of
filling out the population of the film. Incidentally, the fight between
Felix and Martin is ranked second out of the twenty best fight scenes listed
by Ralph magazine (in an issue that came out long before audiences
experienced the three-way saber duel in The Phantom Menace,
but it's still a respectable list). The comedy element of this film is
very subtle, and the unkind would say very weak, but overall the film works
well as twisted entertainment. It's not the sort of film you can watch
every day, but it's a good one to invite the friends or workmates over
to view with you for a few laughs.
Transfer Quality
Video
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1,
complete with 16x9 enhancement, which leads me to ask the following rather
troubling question: If the hokey little substudios who cannot afford to
be distributed by anyone better than Warner Home Video can do this trick,
why can't Universal do it on important titles like The
Thing and Hard Target?
Anyway, I am getting very sick of this presentation of 1.85:1 films at
this 1.78:1 ratio, especially when the packaging states the transfer to
be at the ratio of 1.85:1, which would be easier on the compression, anyway.
The transfer was very sharp, and very clear in spite of how dark it was
in a lot of places. Shadow detail was generally good, although there are
moments when it is lacking. The scene in which one of Martin's old teachers
comments on his tie is supposed to be a joke based on the fact that the
tie, like the rest of his attire, is pitch-black. Because I haven't seen
the original theatrical presentation of this film, I cannot say for certain
if this is a deliberate artistic choice. If my memory services me correctly,
the tie in question was a dark shade of red that could easily have blended
with the rest of the character's suit in low lighting. There was no low-level
noise at any time during the film.
The colour saturation was mostly spot-on, with vivid
greens and browns completing the picture of Grosse Pointe's moderately
urban, relaxed environment, and relaxing atmosphere quite nicely. Sadly,
a few brief shots exhibited some colour bleeding, but these passed by so
quickly as to be of no effect on the overall rating of the transfer, in
my mind at least. MPEG artefacts were completely absent from the film,
which is certainly a credit to the authors when you consider the amount
of stress having over a hundred minutes of action film on one layer would
place on the compression. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of some aliasing
on some car chrome and grilles, but nothing you wouldn't normally expect
from a Warner Brothers sub-studio release. Film artefacts consisted of
some white flecks on the negative, but these were very very minor and very
occasional, thus unobtrusive.
The English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles contain
only the occasional reference to who is actually speaking at any one time,
which makes them pretty damned useless in some sequences.
Audio
Three audio tracks are provided on this DVD: the original
English dialogue in Dolby Digital 5.1, an uncredited French dub in Dolby
Digital 2.0 Surround, and an Italian dub in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround.
Because my skills with the other two languages are either poor or non-existent,
I listened to the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Annoyingly,
this release continues a fine and annoying tradition from the DVDs that
Warner Home Video are distributing on the behalf of the smaller studios:
the audio track cannot be changed on the fly, and this must be done via
the main menu. This makes it somewhat annoying to verify the presence of
audio dubs, and pushing the Audio button a few times is much easier than
navigating that damned menu. Dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand,
but there were some times when it was a little soft and thus slightly hard
to make out over the ambient sounds from time to time. There were no apparent
audio sync problems at any point when the dialogue didn't suffer from this
problem (which is inherent in the film itself, from what I understood).
The score music is credited to Joe Strummer,
but very little of the audible music is actually his work. Most of the
music is provided by musicians from the 1980s, most of whom were probably
doing so under contractual obligation. All of the music was very well-suited
to the on-screen action, creating an appropriate feel of black irony. Strummer's
score music failed the basic test of connection to the onscreen action,
but the contemporary music passed it with flying colours. The use of Motörhead's
Ace
Of Spades during the convenience-store battle would have been a
nicer touch if the song had been kept at a constant level and used continuously,
as it is a great song which Triple M would do well to listen to and get
an idea of what actual driving music sounds like.
The surround presence was almost non-existent except
during action sequences, where gunshots and whizzing bullets were placed
nicely within a wide field. The subwoofer was used lightly to support the
action sequences and music. Fundamentally, this is one of those Dolby Digital
5.1 remixes that revert to mono when the action sequences end.
Extras
Mute studio brains end in silence, extras tainted with
absence. Empty sections of supplements, buried deep in Warner's clout.
(Isn't poetically saying "no extras" a lot of fun?)
Menu
A rather ugly-looking menu containing modified stills
from the film and the cover art. At least the scene selection menu is comprehensive
and easy to navigate.
R4 vs R1
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;
Absence of 16x9 Enhancement. Need I say more?
Summary
Grosse Pointe Blank is a good movie presented
on a good disc, complete with one of the best fight scenes ever captured
on film.
The video quality is quite good.
The audio quality is sporadic, but good enough overall.
Extras? From one of the smaller studios that Warners
distribute?
| Video |
  |
| Audio |
|
| Extras |
|
| Plot |
|
| Overall |
|
© Dean McIntosh (my bio
sucks... read it anyway)
March 29, 2000
|
Review Equipment
|
| |
|
| DVD |
Toshiba SD-2109, using S-video output |
| Display |
Samsung CS-823AMF (80 cm), 16:9 mode/4:3 mode, using
composite and S-video inputs |
| Audio Decoder |
Built In (Amplifier) |
| Amplification |
Sony STR-DE835 |
| Speakers |
Panasonic S-J1500D Front Speakers, Sharp CP-303A Back
Speakers, Philips FB206WC Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Subwoofer |
