Truth or Consequences, N.M. (1997)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Dolby Digital Trailer Theatrical Trailer Trailer-The 6th Day, Snatch, The Bone Collector
Rating
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	102:28
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (56:28)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Kiefer Sutherland
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Vincent Gallo Mykelti Williamson Kiefer Sutherland Kevin Pollak Kim Dickens Grace Phillips James McDaniel Rick Rossovich John C. McGinley Max Perlich Rod Steiger Martin Sheen Scott Christopher
Case	?
RPI	$14.95	Music	Jude Cole

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French German Italian Spanish Dutch Arabic Bulgarian Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Portuguese Swedish Turkish	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Kiefer Sutherland directs and co-stars in this gun-toting road film that borrows heavily from the style that was coined by Tarantino in the 90s. The title refers to the name of the town in which the film's final showdown takes place. I recall enjoying this film on VHS when it was released years ago, however I didn't find it that enrapturing this time around.

    After only eight months out of jail, Raymond (Vincent Gallo) is keen to start a new life with his girlfriend Addy (Kim Dickens) and sees a simple hold-up as the easiest way of earning his fortune. With two ex-crims in tow, Ray completes the hold-up successfully but the lives of his former boss and an undercover cop are taken in the process. Their sights are set on a new life in Mexico, so the group collects a pair of hostages and tries to offload a suitcase of drugs but only manages to succeed in pissing off a lot of gangsters. Now with the feds and a bunch of angry gangsters on their tail, the race is on to profit from their suitcase and escape over the border to the beachside dream that awaits them.

    While the film satisfies on some levels, it is full of gaping holes in others. Character motivations are difficult to understand at times, such as the constant conflict regarding the urgency to offload the drugs verses the need to get across the border. Similarly, their decision to remain together as a group while on the run is ludicrous, especially considering one of them is a trigger-happy lunatic that cannot be trusted. Some less than impressive performances don't help the cause, and some very disjointed and erratic editing (take the romantic scene at 81:20 for starters) combine to make this an altogether confusing effort. Sutherland appears to be aiming for a stylish crime film, but at the same time is trying to de-glamorise the lifestyle through the plight of the main characters, with which I found little affinity. I can appreciate the direction he was headed with this, but sadly it just doesn't work for me.

    Truth or Consequences N.M. has some genuinely tense scenes and fans of Tarantino-esque dialogue are likely to find a few entertaining moments, however I'd advise that you don't expect too much from this one.

Video

    This transfer is presented in an aspect of 1.78:1, complete with 16x9 enhancement. Details are sketchy, however I suspect this film was theatrically exhibited at 1.85:1.

    The level of overall sharpness and detail in the image is average. Shadow detail is acceptable, with relatively solid blacks. There was no low level noise evident in the transfer.

    Bold colouring is minimal, with much of the film occupied by a dry, sepia effect. Skin tones appear realistic and there is absolutely no colour inconsistency to speak of.

    MPEG artefacts are absent. Small film artefacts, on the other hand, are rife. Dirt, dust and small hairs are constantly visible from scene to scene and seem to be particularly concentrated around reel transitions. An acceptable amount of film grain can be seen, never becoming overly distracting.

    Many subtitle languages are available, one of which is English. The font is clear and easy to read and seems to follow the dialogue well.

    This disc is dual layered, with the transition placed during the feature at 56:28. The layer change was completely transparent on my system, however it appears to be conveniently located in a quiet moment between scenes.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are five soundtracks available, the default of which is English Dolby Digital 5.1. French, Spanish, German and Italian language options are also included.

    The English dialogue is a little low in the mix, but is easy to follow most of the time. The ADR is clear and realistic and audio sync is faultless.

    Aside from some cars zooming by in the rears at 45:15, the soundtrack is relatively frontal with little surround activity to mention. Some scenes called for surround activity but didn't receive any, such as the engulfing flames in the film's finale. All in all, the English soundtrack has a good frontal soundstage with plenty of panning and depth.

    The film's score is credited to Jude Cole, and suits the atmosphere and locations well. The soundtrack also features contributions from Van Morrison, Tracy Bonham and Bad Company. Sutherland uses familiar songs during the film's most violent scenes, reminiscent of the way that Tarantino applied Stuck In The Middle in Reservoir Dogs.

    The subwoofer isn't called upon to any great degree, which is surprising given the number of explosions and bursts of gunfire.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Trailers (4)

    The film's theatrical trailer is included (16x9 enhanced), as well as trailers for The 6th Day, Snatch and The Bone Collector.

    The video transfer is average.

    The audio transfer is good.

    The extras amount to a couple of trailers.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall