Criminal Law (1988/MGM)
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: D Film: D
Before
relaunching the James Bond film series twice, director Martin Campbell and
cinematographer Phil Meheux attempted to pull off a slick thriller, but Mark
Kasdan’s screenplay for Criminal Law
(1988) just never cohered and neither does the film.
Gary
Oldman is a top lawyer who frees suspect Kevin Bacon from a serious and
seriously public murder charge, he gains clout until he personally realizes he
has made a mistake and Bacon is the killer after all and much worse. As a result, Oldman takes matters into his
own hands and starts stalking Bacon until he catches him, but complications
ensure.
Several
films with this storyline have been made and none of them worked, but this one
tries to do it with a certain cleverness and panache. However, this is a failed curio that is never
believable or suspenseful. Tess Harper,
Karen Young, Joe Don Baker and Elizabeth Shepherd also star.
The letterboxed
1.85 X 1 image is from an old analog master upgraded and shows its age. Phil Meheux, B.S.C., was ambitious in many of
his shots, but it never adds up. The
sound mix on this film is notoriously lame and the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has
poor surrounds, offering a second-generation version of a problematic sound
design to begin with. Even Jerry
Goldsmith’s score could not save it.
There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
