Regarding Henry
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: D Film: B
The career of Harrison
Ford has been marked by all sorts of films and looking back over his 20+ year
career there are definitely some highlight performances, but the one that seems
most overshadowed was his portrayal in Mike Nichols’ 1991 film, Regarding
Henry. At the time of its release
Ford had been in a slump after the last Indiana Jones film finished in
1989. He would do Presumed Innocent
in 1990 and then his role here as Henry.
Certainly after this film though he was back on course doing Patriot
Games the following year, which would escalade into his amazing role in The
Fugitive and then of course films like Clear and Present Danger and Air
Force One.
Regarding Henry in many ways took this action-based actor and
transformed him into a dramatic icon that would help his career during the
90’s. The story of Henry is one that
brings to mind the importance of who we are as well as changing ourselves to
become better for those around us. For
lawyer Henry Turner his whole life had been nothing but money and success. He hardly paid attention to the affairs of
his family, which comprised of his wife (Annette Bening) and a teenage
daughter. On a trip to the local
convenience store Henry gets caught in the middle of a hold-up and is shot in
the head. The injury leaves him
severely damaged with a physical handicap and the inability to speak. While he can hear, his motor skills are not
regained to the point where he can talk back.
In many ways, Henry must learn to do everything all over again.
Memory can be such a
bizarre thing, as films like Memento (2002) have shown us. We take memory for granted, but most of us
never think what it would be like if we suddenly could not remember anything
about our past. Well, for Henry he has
been given a second chance to live his life and create new memories for
himself, with the constant thought that his old memories may return. What he begins to uncover as he starts his
life again and with his family is that the ‘old’ Henry was not a good man. The ‘new’ Henry begins to wash away the
memories that everyone has of the old one in an attempt to keep his family
together. What he values now are things
that he only took for granted before.
Paramount is one of the
few companies that seem to be doing things backwards from most. When the DVD format began they were one of
the first studios to embrace the format, but they made a few errors along the
way. One of which was never doing much
in the way or supplements until other companies began doing them since the
market seem interested in extras just as much as the actual films. Paramount also never supported the DTS
format for an alternative to the basic Dolby Digital soundtracks. Because of this mistake they are going back
and doing some of their catalog (The Hunt for Red October for example)
and adding a DTS audio track. Although
many of their earlier DVD’s were decent in terms of quality, most of them were
standard recycling of the LaserDisc editions. That was fine for back then, but there is no excuse for doing
newer DVD’s of back catalog with recycled transfers.
The 1.85 X 1 anamorphically enhanced picture shows definite age and clarity
problems. Darker scenes appear grainy,
while colors are all over the place. A
smeary color palette truly reveals the poor condition of this transfer. Part of the problem with some of Paramount’s
discs is the low bit-rate transfers that are performed allowing for a more
compressed video and audio capture. The
Dolby 5.1 mix is average even at best for a drama. There are hardly any moments of a full-enclosed feel, which makes
the 5.1 mix feel more like stereo with a little thrown into the rear. While this title may not necessarily be
‘begging’ for extras there could at least be something to make up for some of
the picture and audio problems.
- Nate Goss
