The Contender (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	120:55 (Case: 126)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (74:00)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Rod Lurie
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Gary Oldman Joan Allen Jeff Bridges Christian Slater William Petersen Philip Baker Hall Saul Rubinek Sam Elliott
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$39.95	Music	Larry Groupe

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    As if the line above wasn't enough to make you realise that this is something more than your average political drama, all you need to do is take a look at the depth and quality of the cast and you'll know that this is something a little bit special in many ways. Movies about politics aren't rare, especially American politics. They seem to love to churn them out, good and bad with the rare excellent ones like All The President's Men and Thirteen Days being more the exception than the rule. True to form, the simpler the premise, the more involving the plot seems to be, and this has such a believable angle to it that it could almost be true. The Contender uncovers the ruthless underbelly hidden by the polished veneer of respectability that so readily accompanies those practised in the art of politics.

    The Vice President has died and after three weeks no nominee has been put forward. The President (played with a sublime touch by Jeff Bridges) is about to shock the nation and put forward an unexpected nominee. Along with his political advisors Kermit Newman (a rejuvenated Sam Elliot in by far his best performance in many a long day) and Jerry Toliver (Saul Rubinek), he has decided that Governor Gerry Hathaway (William Peterson), who has only recently become a national hero trying to save a drowning woman who drives off a bridge and is the man-most-likely is not the ideal choice. Instead, he opts for a more daring choice, Laine Hanson (Joan Allen in an outstanding performance), whom he hopes will create a long-lasting legacy to his presidency.

    Standing in the way of Congress accepting her as the new Vice President is the chairman of the committee investigating her, Sheldon Runyon (Gary Oldman) who objects strenuously to a woman having that much power when there is a perfectly good male candidate who should be the nominee. Apart from her being a woman, he also objects to the fact that she was previously a Republican who switched to being a Democrat, and it has stuck in his craw. Setting out to discredit her any way he can, Runyon undertakes a private investigation and discovers compromising material of Laine Hanson supposedly engaging in group sex during her freshman year at college and is prepared to use it to destroy her credibility and stop her from being selected.

    This is a movie that takes place on several levels. Director Rod Lurie plays off the left and right of the political landscape using sex as the wedge and daring to take sides. His characterisations (he also wrote the story) are spot-on and aided by an excellent supporting cast, including the likes of Christian Slater, this is a movie that will enthral those that love their drama intense and unrelenting. As a former media critic, he seems to have an eye for understanding moral ambiguity and how sex is as potent a weapon as any in Washington, especially where a woman is involved.

Video

    Originally presented at 1.85:1 theatrically, this transfer is offered at 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    From the outset of the movie, you will probably notice that it has a softness to it. I am not sure whether this was deliberately done, but it did take some time to get used to. If there was any edge enhancement used I couldn't spot it, which was a good thing. Shadow detail was average for the most part, with many background scenes deliberately blurred out to concentrate the attention on the characters in the foreground. Grain was persistent throughout and very noticeable from the opening minutes on. Low level noise wasn't an issue that I could determine.

    Like the rest of the movie, the colour was a little stilted. The palette used appeared quite varied but there was a tendency towards washed-out colours and there was a striking lack of vibrancy about the entire movie. Again, this may have been deliberate and not an issue with the transfer. At 12:35 there seemed to be a change where the colour became even more washed-out than normal, but this quickly righted itself. Colour bleed and chroma noise were non-issues, and although the colours were a little bland at times, skin tones were excellent and very natural.

    There were no real MPEG artefacts of note during the movie. Moiréing can be seen at 22:03, 50:54 and 61:20 on the Venetian blinds in shot. Aliasing is also visible on the blinds at 20:18. Throughout the rest of the movie, though, there is only a slight ringing noticeable. From about 7:12 into the movie, film artefacts begin to appear (or at least become noticeable) for the first time. 16:56, 23:15 and 73:08 are the worst with major flaking or chunks missing. All the other instances were minor and not that obtrusive. The only other issue of note was a slight mark on the camera lens that can be seen from 23:35 and lasts for several seconds.

    There were no subtitles on this disc.

    The layer change occurs at 74:00, while Senator Hanson's young son is playing on a swing. This wasn't a bad place to put the change since it didn't interfere with the dialogue and although visible because of a one second pause, it doesn't interrupt the flow of the movie at all.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are two audio tracks available on this disc. The first is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track at a bitrate of 448 kilobits per second. The alternate is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack with surround encoding at 224 kilobits per second. I listened almost exclusively to the 5.1 soundtrack, although from what I could tell there was little difference between the tracks. The movie is dialogue-driven, naturally, and there isn't a great deal for most of the other speakers to do. The music is nicely cut into the front channels when in use, but your attention will undoubtedly be on the centre speaker which is where all the action is.

    The dialogue was excellent and very understandable, even when Gary Oldman was eating and talking. Audio sync was spot-on at all times.

    The music is by Larry Groupé, a new name to me, but a more stylish piece of work for this type of movie I doubt you'll find. The tempo and placement of the music is excellent, only rising about the subconscious when it is needed.

    The surround channels are rarely used in this movie and are virtually silent throughout. To be honest though, you'll hardly miss them since this is so heavily dialogue-centric.

    Apart from the opening scenes with the car crashing into the river and the helicopter taking off at 90:38, there is little for the .1 channel to do.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Main Menu Audio

    Due to the nature of the material, someone obviously felt there was no need to replicate the package of extras that were available on the Region 1 release. Basically we got screwed and get only the movie. The Region 1 disc gets:

• English Subtitles (we get none)
• Audio commentary with Rod Lurie and Joan Allen
• A "making of.." documentary
• 10 deleted scenes with/without commentary
• Biographies
• Theatrical Trailer
• On-screen production notes
• Booklet
• dts (754kb/s) soundtrack
• Possibly superior picture quality. According to Widescreen Review, the Region 1 version of this DVD has a "film-like appearance".

    The Region 1 misses out on nothing, so it would definitely be the version of choice.

    Given the nature of the material, The Contender may not have a wide audience in this country, but it is a movie of rare excellence that sports a stellar cast and was two hours of total enjoyment for this reviewer.

    We are presented with an average transfer only - watchable but nothing great

    The audio is better than the video; clean and clear, with no detectable problems

    The extras are woefully lacking compared with the Region 1 version of this DVD.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall