Erin Brockovich (HD-DVD)
Picture: B+ Sound: B Extras: C+ Film: B
Julia
Roberts commercial films range from awful fluff (Ocean’s 12) to underappreciated Indies (Mystic Pizza) to hits that have more than meet the eye. Her work with Steven Soderbergh has been her
smartest move for the most part, assuring her legacy as more than just another
pretty face who became a Billion Dollar Hollywood star. One of her crowning acting achievements is
easily in the title role of Erin
Brockovich (2000) as a working mother who needs a job badly, gets an
experienced lawyer (Albert Finney) to take her on and lands up involved in a
very ugly case that could endanger her life.
One of
the few “based on a true story” films of the last 15 years worth anything,
Brockovich discovers a huge, powerful, multi-national corporation is killing
people with their toxic waste and is going to do whatever they can to get away
with it. Though her boss is uneasy about
this and everyone in the office is talking about her behind her back for the
way she acts and dresses, she is going to pursue this case to the end no matter
what happens.
This
could have been an ego project and a total mess, but Roberts can act when given
the chance. Here, she goes all out,
becomes the real-life legal detective and refuses to allow this company to
bully her or hide behind the façade of small town America. The energy and pacing (thinks in part to the
great editor Anne V. Coates) is brisk, but there is substance to this film,
even when it goes sometimes broad for commercial appeal. The film holds up nicely seven years later
and Roberts rightly received her Best Actress Academy Award.
ollywood star.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 VC-1 digital High Definition image was shot by Ed Lachman, A.S.C. and
this is another pleasant surprise of a back catalog HD release. Color, definition and detail are very good
and on par with the HD-DVD of Soderbergh’s Traffic,
reviewed elsewhere on this site. The
image was never that degraded in the first place. Both discs also have Dolby Digital Plus 5.1,
but whereas the mix on Traffic has
always had mixing issues, this mix is simply underwhelming, though dialogue is
fine for the most part. Extras include
deleted scenes, a making of featurette and featurette on the real Brockovich.
- Nicholas Sheffo
