Felon
(2008/Sony DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C+
Steven
Dorff always to his credit tries to find acting roles that challenge him and
even when he is not always successful, he is one of the most ambitious,
risk-taking actors around. In Ric Roman
Waugh’s Felon, he plays a father
trying to make it with a loving wife and their new child when his handling of a
home invasion has him accidentally killing the intruder. Using a baseball bat, he hits the guy outside
of the house and kills him. The law of
the time only covers this as self-defense if it is inside the home.
He lands
up in jail and on a bus ride, when rival gangs target someone to kill them,
they take the sharp object and plant it near Wade (Dorff) meaning he gets into
more trouble. This gets worse and worse,
though Waugh’s screenplay does not allow this to descend into comedy. However, it does not stop this from being a
little standard, predictable and with some obvious casting, including Val
Kilmer as an old school criminal. Oz has nothing to worry about, but this
is still worth a look for what does work, including an appearance by the
underused Anne Archer.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.85 X 1 DVD is a bit soft and detail-challenged, while the Dolby
Digital 5.1 actually has a good soundfield and is a pretty decent
recording. This has also been issued on
Blu-ray (which we did not receive) but is likely the preferred way to see it if
you can play the format and are interested.
The only extra is a making of featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
