The Pilot's Wife (2002) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Drama |
Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio Theatrical Trailer |
|
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2002 | ||
Running Time | 85:32 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Robert Markowitz |
Studio
Distributor |
Universal Pictures Home Video |
Starring |
Christine Lahti Campbell Scott Alison Pill Kirsty Mitchell John Heard Nigel Bennett Rick Burchill David Christoffel Christopher Shore Richard Donat Bruce McAllister Joseph Rutten Mike Clattenburg |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
RPI | $24.95 | Music | Lee Holdridge |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
|
||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | Unknown | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
The Pilot's Wife is the story about a woman's struggle to uncover the truth behind her husband’s death.
Jack Lyons (John Heard) is the pilot of Flight 274, which is en route to Boston when it explodes off the coast of Ireland. Jack is one of 104 passengers and crew killed.
The story starts when Jack's wife, Kathryn Lyons (Christine Lahti), is woken in the early hours of the morning by an Airline Union representative, Robert Hart (Campbell Scott), to be informed of the tragic accident. Campbell Scott’s character is both sympathetic and a little suspicious.
Whilst trying to deal with her own grief and, at the same time, offer support to her daughter Mattie (Alison Pill), Kathryn is forced to answer a barrage of probing questions from members of the Safety Board and the FBI. Knowing her husband better than anyone else, Kathryn defends him against all suggestions of suicide and foul play.
Refusing to believe that her husband was in some way responsible for the demise of the passengers and crew of Flight 274, Kathryn embarks on her own investigation to find out what really happened.
Despite being a relatively short movie (85:32), The Pilot’s Wife moves along at a slow pace and fails to generate any real sense of anticipation. Having said that, the movie offers enough to keep you entertained on a rainy day and is worth a look.
Warning: Don't view the Theatrical Trailer until after you have watched the movie. It reveals a little too much of the plot and would almost certainly remove any enjoyment you might receive from this movie.
Unfortunately the transfer has a soft appearance that lacks shadow detail. There is no low level noise.
The colour palette is rather drab, depicting dreary seaside landscapes and interiors.
A mild amount of posterization can be found if you look hard and there is a small degree of grain during the earlier scenes. I did not notice any aliasing, though telecine wobble is present during the closing credits. Film artefacts are few and far between, with some examples occurring at 11:38 and 76:19.
There are no subtitles on this DVD.
There is no layer change during the movie.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The dialogue is clear and easy to understand, though the volume does drop off considerably during some scenes. I listened to this soundtrack with my amplifier turned up five decibels louder than normal.
At times the audio sync was clearly out, for example the conversation between Kathryn and Mattie at 26:40.
The musical score by Lee Holdridge has a predominately Irish theme and is appropriate for the movie.
The Pilot's Wife is dialogue driven so, despite the fact that the English Dolby Digital 2.0 sound track is surround encoded, the front sound stage dominates. The musical score finds its way to the surround channels, but little else does.
The subwoofer doesn't have a lot to do.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;
The Region 4 version is the preferred option as its video transfer is 16x9 enhanced.
The video transfer is quite good despite its soft appearance, but the audio transfer is flat and lifeless.
Apart from the Theatrical Trailer there are no extras on this DVD.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-533K, using Component output |
Display | InFocus Screenplay 7200 with ScreenTechnics 100" (16x9) screen. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to Amplifier. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Denon AVC -A11SR |
Speakers | Jamo D6PEX wall mounted Speakers and Powered Sub (7.1) |