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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
A Civil Action (1998)

A Civil Action (1998)

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Released 8-Jun-2001
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Featurette Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1998
Running Time	110:06
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (69:21)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Programme	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Steven Zaillian
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	John Travolta Robert Duvall James Gandolfini Dan Hedaya John Lithgow William H. Macy Kathleen Quinlan Tony Shalhoub
Case	Amaray-Transparent	Starring
RPI	$39.95	Music	Danny Elfman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Italian 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	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	Greek English Spanish French Hebrew Italian Portuguese	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

A Civil Action is supposedly based on a true story. John Travolta stars as Jan Schlichtman, a personal injury lawyer who won't touch a case unless it is a guaranteed cash-cow which he can settle before it goes to trial. He discovers that one of his partners has agreed to take on a case dealing with a country town's dodgy drinking water supply. The water is being blamed for an unusually high death-rate among the town's children, but this is difficult to prove. Jan travels to the town to dump the case.

Of course, we need a story, so Jan soon discovers that there is more to the case than appears on the surface. He discovers a couple of local industries that could be responsible for poisoning the water and finds the trail leads to the parent company, a large national corporation. So commences a large civil action. But will Jan's small three man firm have the funds to take the fight to the big boys and their bottomless pockets?

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Transfer Quality

Video

A Civil Action is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 which is close to the original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1. It is 16x9 enhanced.

The picture exhibits an excellent level of sharpness all-round with no hint of edge enhancement. Shadow detail is acceptable. This isn't a particularly bright movie, being set mostly in winter, so there are a few darker areas both indoors and out that are probably a little dimmer than they were intended to be. There is minimal scattered grain, but it is not disruptive. There is no low level noise.

Set in northeast USA during winter, as expected a drab colour palette is presented with little vibrancy present. The cold crisp winter days are captured well in the outdoor scenes with muted colours, and indoor scenes are dark and gloomy - which matches the characters' gloom and despair.

No MPEG artefacts were noticed. There are a small number of film artefacts present, but they are not at all disruptive to the viewer.

There are several subtitle tracks present on this disc. I viewed the English. Much like Days of Thunder, the subtitles on this DVD are hampered by a lack of accuracy. Sentences are abridged and some of the briefer comments from some characters are not displayed at all.

This is an RSDL formatted disc. The layer change occurs at 69:21 on a fade-to-black scene change, making it perfectly placed.

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

Audio

There are four Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks present on this disc; English, French, Italian, and Spanish. I listened to the English track and simply verified the presence of the others.

Dialogue is excellent with no audio sync problems.

The score was composed by Danny Elfman. It adds the right mix of tension and atmosphere, mandatory in courtroom dramas. There are few songs in the movie, as would be expected given the subject matter. Worthy of note is the end credits track, which seems particularly out of place. It is "Take Me To The River" by Talking Heads, which seems a little upbeat for the story just told. I think the film-makers just decided they needed a song with the word "river" in it and selected the first one they could think of.

Being primarily a dialogue-driven drama, the surrounds received only light use. Listen for Jan's speeding Porsche at 8:54 and 11:10 for good examples of surround use.

The subwoofer received even less use than the surrounds, only really waking from its slumber during the opening credits track, some of the tannery scenes, and the thunder and lightning scenes towards the end of the film.

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

Extras

Featurette (3:51 minutes)

Running for 3:51, this is virtually an extension of the theatrical trailer, with cutaways to comments from the various cast members. It is presented in Full Frame 1.33:1 with the movie clips presented at 1.66:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced and carries Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

Theatrical Trailer (2:22 minutes)

This is presented in the non 16x9 enhanced aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Complemented by Dolby Digital 2.0 sound and running for 2:22, it is a fair trailer that actually makes the story seem a little more tense and drama-filled than it actually is.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

The R4 misses out on;

1.85:1 original theatrical aspect ratio.

The R1 misses out on

16x9 Enhancement.

The R4 disc wins hands down with a 16x9 enhanced transfer, albeit in marginally the wrong aspect ratio.

Summary

With shades of Erin Brokovich permeating the story, A Civil Action is a slick courtroom drama that has added credibility from an excellent supporting cast. William H. Macy as Jan's troubled partner and Robert Duvall as one of the defendant's attorneys in particular give strong performances. It offers a different perspective on the usual courtroom antics and shows the often futile efforts that law firms go to in order to try a case. Some have labelled this film boring. I say if anyone has set foot inside a real court they ARE boring - very boring. So unless you want the theatrics of Judge Judy, this is closer to reality than we usually get served up by Hollywood.

The video and audio is of better than average quality, but there are only minimal extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	Toshiba 1200, using S-Video output
Display	Loewe Calida (84cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio Decoder	Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
Amplification	Harmon/Kardon AVR7000.
Speakers	Front - B&W 602S2, Centre - B&W CC6S2, Rear - B&W 601S2, Sub - Energy E:xl S10

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