Apt Pupil (1998) |
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Apt Pupil (1998) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Thriller |
Dolby Digital Trailer-City Theatrical Trailer-1.78:1 non-16x9 DD 2.0 Filmographies-Cast & Crew Featurette-Behind The Scenes (6:31) |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1998 | ||
| Running Time | 106:40 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Bryan Singer |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
Ian McKellen Brad Renfro Bruce Davison Elias Koteas David Schwimmer |
| Case | Brackley-Trans-No Lip | ||
| RPI | $36.95 | Music | John Ottman |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English French Arabic |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | Yes, mildly | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
It's only towards the very end of the movie that it becomes a little clearer as to what is going on, and even then it seems hardly worth it.
Ian McKellen is Kurt Dussander, a Nazi war criminal who is living a quiet life in America under an assumed name. Brad Renfro is Todd Bowden, a teenager who figures out who Kurt really is, but instead of turning him in to the appropriate authorities, he compels Dussander to tell him about the Holocaust and about the details of the gas chambers. Very unsettling stuff in theory, but dully presented.
This transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced. It is a superb video transfer and is of reference quality.
The transfer was razor sharp and crystal clear. Shadow detail was excellent and there was no low level noise.
The colours tended towards the strong side, but never to the extent of being oversaturated.
No MPEG artefacts were seen. No film-to-video artefacts were seen. One scratch and a very few flecks here and there were the sum total of the film artefacts seen in this movie.
The overall level of this movie seemed marginally low, and I increased it a little to listen to the movie. This appears to be a more and more common issue with recent DVD transfers, though I suspect it is actually the fact that the older transfers were overly loud rather than the current ones being too soft.
Dialogue was always clear and easy to understand.
There were no audio sync problems.
The score by John Ottman had its creepy moments, but was generally quite pedestrian.
The surround channels were used occasionally for atmospheric surrounding effects, but the overall surround usage of this movie was not high.
The .1 channel supported some of the action sequences and some of the music, but did not do a great deal.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video quality is superb, and is of reference quality.
The audio quality is good without being remarkable.
The extras are passable.
| Video |  |
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| Extras | |
| Plot |  |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-505, using S-Video output |
| Display | Loewe Art-95 (95cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL). |
| Audio Decoder | Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital decoder. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | 2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer |
| Speakers | Philips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Yamaha B100-115SE subwoofer |