Gorky Park (1983)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1983
Running Time	123:15
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (55:40)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Michael Apted
Studio Distributor	MGM	Starring	William Hurt Lee Marvin Brian Dennehy Ian Bannen Joanna Pacula Michael Elphick Richard Griffiths Rikki Fulton Alexander Knox Alexei Sayle Ian McDiarmid Niall O'Brien Henry Woolf
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	James Horner

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.59:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired German for the Hearing Impaired French Italian Spanish Dutch Greek	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    First off...Message to MGM. This movie is NOT a horror film. For some reason, on the small promotional label attached to the review disc it refers to it as a horror film. I am not sure what the actual retail packaging says (as I do not have it) but hopefully it does not mislead horror fans into buying this film. On the other hand, this film IS a good quality action thriller from 1983 directed by Michael Apted, based on a novel by Martin Cruz Smith with a screenplay by none other than Dennis Potter of The Singing Detective fame.

    Gorky Park is a large park in the centre of Moscow, a bit like Hyde Park in Sydney or Central Park in New York. On a snowy winter's night, a guard finds the bodies of three people in the park, buried under the snow. Identification is impossible as their faces have been cut off, their fingertips removed and their teeth smashed. Assigned to the investigation is Chief Investigator Renko (William Hurt) of the militia or police force. It becomes obvious to Renko very early in the investigation that there is much more to this case than meets the eye, especially when the KGB arrive at the scene shortly after he does. The KGB officer is none other than Pribluda (Rikki Fulton) with whom Renko has an ongoing clash. To avoid giving away any of the plot twists, I will simply list the other important characters who become involved in the case:

• Irina (Joanna Pacula, in a Golden Globe nominated performance), a young woman whose missing skates are found on the dead girl.
• William Kirwill (Brian Dennehy), a New York city policeman visiting Moscow.
• Jack Osborne (Lee Marvin), an American dealer in exotic furs, who has links with high ranking party officials in Moscow.
• Iamskoy (Ian Bannen), the Chief Prosecutor of Moscow and a supporter of Renko.

    Ian McDiarmid (Palpatine from Star Wars I & II) and Alexei 'Didn't you kill my Bruvver?' Sayle also appear in small roles.

    This is a well made thriller, which is now slightly dated due to the changes which have occurred in Russia since 1983. Despite this, it is certainly worth watching and is quite exciting and intriguing, with some good action scenes and some well written plot twists. The acting is generally of a high standard and the bleak locations (which are actually in Sweden and Finland) really add to the tension and atmosphere of the film. There is the occasional slow spot but generally the plot moves along at a good pace.

    Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.59:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced. I cannot comment on the original aspect ratio of this film as I cannot find any information on it.

    The picture was reasonably clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. The shadow detail was decent but not spectacular.

    The colour was well rendered however the colour palette of this film is quite dull featuring browns, blacks and greys.

    The only artefacts were occasional specks of black or white and one spot of aliasing on a car grille at 90:40.

    There are subtitles in 7 languages including English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear, easy to read and virtually exact to the spoken word.

    The layer change occurs at 55:40 and is well placed and difficult to spot.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is good but mono.

    This DVD contains five audio options, an English Dolby Digital 1.0 soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s and the same in German, French, Spanish & Italian. Strangely, the original film was released in stereo.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The score of this film by James Horner is very good and adds extra atmosphere to the thriller sequences.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu included language and chapter selection functions and stills from the film.

Theatrical Trailer (2:10)

    A pretty good trailer that does contain some minor spoilers.

    This movie is available in Region 1 in a very similar package, although reviews indicate that the picture quality may not be as good as the local version. The Region 2 release is the same disc exactly. I will give the Region 4 version the nod.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is good but only mono.

    The disc has only a theatrical trailer as an extra.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall