Blackjack-Trilogy II (Ghosts/At the Gates/Dead Memory) (2007)

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General		Extras
Category	Crime	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2007
Running Time	259:00 (Case: 266)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Kate Woods
Studio Distributor	Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Colin Friels Marta Dusseldorp David Field Sophie Lee Marcus Graham Rhys Muldoon Russell Dykstra Gigi Edgley Paul Goddard Glenn Hazeldine Todd Lasance
Case	Amaray Variant
RPI	$29.95	Music	David Hirschfelder

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Old police cases are filed away in a place buried deep within the bowels of Police Headquarters. This is where Detective Jack Kempson (Colin Friels) does his work - sifting through unsolved cases, never giving up on the search for truth. This is the premise of the first non-comedy Shaun Micallef/Gary McCaffrie collaboration Blackjack, a series of telemovies screened locally on Channel 10 and on the BBC in the UK. I'm a huge fan of Shaun Micallef, from his early days on Full Frontal through to his award winning series The Micallef Program/Programme/Pogram up to his current fame as host of off-the-wall game show Talkin` `Bout Your Generation - so I was thrilled to bits when I was tasked with reviewing this serious work from the two writers of my favourite sketch comedy ever. Disappointingly, Blackjack is pretty standard Australian cop-drama fare, lacking the brilliant subversiveness of other McCaffie/Micallef collaborations.

     It's derivative - there's really nothing to separate Blackjack from any other Australian cop-drama, and it comes complete with most of the problems that other similar Aussie shows have: it's poorly paced and badly plotted, with subpar acting by everyone but the leads, it has no weight or topicality, and it’s ultimately completely pointless. None of the three unconnected episodes that make this "second trilogy" have any kind of interesting subtext or ideas to throw around - the core premise is never delivered upon, with protagonist Jack Kempson never given a real purpose (despite being well acted by Colin Friels) so subsequently his investigations have nothing to hold our interest. In both Ghosts and At The Gates, Jack's occasional nonsensical insistence on justice (which involves hounding everyone involved in the cases) leads to everyone involved being worse-off - a potentially interesting end result which is not commented upon and then completely forgotten as the episodes end on an unsatisfactory and flaccid note. Consider that the mystery at the heart of Dead Memory brings an unfair solution that is unguessable by the audience and thus a cop out - it demonstrates that the show doesn't even have the balls to follow through with any of it promises, and is completely unable to deal with hefty themes like the loss of children (the murder of a baby contemplated with the same seriousness as that of a broken dinner plate).

    Unsurprisingly, the best moments of this set come from an amusing cameo by Micallef himself in Ghosts, and by the gorgeous and talented Sophie Lee as an unlikely but amusing romantic interest for the unlikeable Jack, leading to the conclusion that both of the creators are much better off writing comedy than this. A missed opportunity then and one that has been completely, thankfully, forgotten about.

Video

    The video is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     For a telemovie originally screened in SD on Ten, Blackjack looks great. There is a fair amount of grain, especially in dark scenes, and minor film artefacts throughout, but the overall look is very clean, with little low level noise and good detail and strong colours throughout.

     There are English subtitles that were accurate in the portion previewed.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio is presented in English Dolby Digital 2.0 (Stereo).

     This is a very audible, no frills audio soundtrack; the dialogue, soundtrack and effects are all perfectly mixed for good clarity but without much depth. As with the video transfer, this is fine for a telemovie originally screened in SD some years ago - nothing special.

     The original music by David Hirschfelder is also fine - basically on the level with other Australian TV works. It mixes genres to compliment the onscreen action without being challenging or meaningful.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menus with Sound

   The video and audio transfers are both competent but unexceptional.

   There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall