Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991/Warner Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B+ Film: B+
When
Oliver Stone’s epic about the John F. Kennedy assassination hit the big screen
in 1991, The Right Wing in this country/The U.S.A. hit the roof and started climbing
the walls, smearing Stone as much as possible.
Instead of destroying Stone, they gave him more clout and Bill Clinton was elected
president. After two more films on
presidents (Nixon & W.), JFK holds up remarkably well as an examination of what really
happened. Most people in the world still
correctly believe that it was not a couple of lone gunmen involved in what
really happened and after nearly three decades of Republicans in power and a
Barack Obama victory, Stone definitely beat those trying to hold him down.
The
biggest mistake people make in their perception of the film and one its
opponents tried to falsely perpetuate is that the film said the many theories
presented as possibilities in the film were really one giant conspiracy theory. Instead, if you pay close attention, it is
many and multi-layered in a film that offered a complex narrative without any
tricks. By this time, however, Hollywood
has made so many candy-coated mall movies with no point that a complex, smart,
serious film like this about something was disorienting after all that dumbing
down. In addition, people were so used
to films being about nothing important that the very idea of the film shocked
some no matter the ideology.
Yes, the
editing has some features not unlike the Agit-prop of some propaganda
filmmaking of the past, but there are deeper points here and as far as Stone is
concerned, some of the theories the film had have been disproved by he himself
and collaborative researchers like the controversial coroner Cyril Wecht who
refuted the “single-bullet theory” early on of now-veteran Senator Arlen
Specter, himself controversial for his political stands and the role he played
in the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings (see Sex & Power, reviewed elsewhere on this site) and is still a
Senator as of this Blu-ray release.
As for
the film, Kevin Costner (when he was still a top film and box office star)
plays investigator Jim Garrison, one of the first people to question everything
that was going on when powerful forces were trying to silence him and others as
he took on the system to speak the truth and was met with uglier truths. This is one of the bets performances Costner
will ever give and in this longer (by 17 minutes) version of the film, all is
all the more effective.
Besides a
great supporting cats that include the late John Candy, Joe Pesci, Sissy
Spacek, Kevin Bacon, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Rooker, Laurie Metcalf, Jack Lemmon, Walter
Matthau, Ed Asner, Vincent D’Onofrio, Donald Sutherland and more in some fine
performances, this is still a powerful film that by its speculative nature,
should have aged more than it has, but we now see how ahead of its time it was
and when the classified records are released on this nightmare in 2017, we’ll
know just how close Stone really was.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image uses various formats and has various
aspect ratios, from 1.33 X 1 analog video to 8mm film and much more, but it is
well edited and most of the shots are handled by Director of Photography Robert
Richardson, A.S.C. when he and Stone were still working together
exclusively. It was a great real
Anamorphic Panavision shoot, but this transfer is just too soft in the majority
35mm footage, suggesting an older HD master.
Color is a little faded and though this looks better than the previous
video editions, this deserves a better transfer. Oddly, the Nixon Blu-ray had the same limits, but was not as faded.
The Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 mix has some highlights, including its sound editing and music score
by John Williams, but the film was originally a Dolby analog SR (advanced
Spectral Recording system) release and it can show its age, though this mix
seems a bit imbalanced between the front the rear channels. A Dolby Digital 5.1 mix with the same issues,
but weaker, is also included.
Extras
include the nice booklet case the disc is included in that Warner is
increasingly making for back catalog Blu-rays, a fine feature-length audio
commentary by Stone that holds up well, multimedia essays, an alternate ending,
original theatrical trailer, deleted/extended scenes and update documentary Beyond
JFK: The Question Of Conspiracy.
Too bad there was nothing new, but we hope Stone will consider
revisiting the title with new ideas and thoughts.
For more
on the Nixon Blu-ray, try this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7427/Oliver+Stone’s+Nixon+(Blu-ray
- Nicholas Sheffo
