State Of Play (2003/BBC Video/British TV Mini-Series)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Episodes: C
The 2003
British TV mini-series State Of Play
was a hit in England and has its fans, finally coming out on DVD in the U.S.
and even with a remake on the way.
However, I was surprised how weak and disappointing the whole production
was, how muddled it gets an d how much I just cannot buy David Morrissey (Basic Instinct 2) in anything I seem to
see him in. Ironically, it is co-star
James McAvoy who is on the rise as the ext big movie star.
Morrissey
plays a politician who gets into much trouble when a young lady he was having
an affair with ‘suddenly falls to her death’ and for him, at the worst possible
time. Faster than you can say Elliott Spitzer,
it becomes a huge news story and everything starts to unravel all over the
place in what at first seems unrelated, then turns out to be deadlier and
deadlier.
Unfortunately,
we have seen this kind of thing done better and I found this awkward overall. The cats is good, the directing not bad, but
the editing and writing are just off and without ruining anything, it is a subject I cannot address. Now you can see for yourself.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is darkened a bit to be urban, but
detail and depth suffer a bit too in this HD shoot with its share of motion
blur. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is
good, if not great. Extras include two
audio commentary tracks for the first and sixth installment, but that is all.
- Nicholas Sheffo
