Pride & Glory (2008/Warner Blu-ray + DVD-Video)
Picture: B/C+ Sound: B/B- Extras: D Film: C-
Showing
that good ideas can go wrong, Gavin O’Connor’s Pride & Glory (2008) brings together Edward Norton and Colin
Farrell in a tale of police corruption and dark urban realities. They are two of the best actors of their
generation, the material would seem to be a challenge and the two together
should work. Well, they are not bad, but
good ideas soon have nowhere to go as Co-Writers Joe Carnahan (whose career has
tanked as a filmmaker) and O’Connor cannot finish any original idea it comes up
with.
A drug
deal goes so badly that several police officers are dead and with that
situation, you know there is going to be a corrupt cop somewhere in here and
that is what the film eventually becomes about.
The actors do offer some chance for character study and that is nice
while it lasts, but the picture eventually regresses to every cliché in the
genre, no matter how the actors try.
Part of the problem is that this genre is played out and another is
Carnahan in particular is out of ideas, slumming or both. Now you can see why this was hardly released
and even Jon Voight cannot help the film, especially at 130 minutes.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 image is filmed to its credit by Director of Photography Declan Quinn,
A.S.C., which is consistent but a little soft here. The anamorphically enhanced DVD is much
softer with larger detail and depth issues.
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 on the Blu-ray also has some limits, with a
soundfield that is not always everything it could be, while you get a somewhat
lesser Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on both formats that is not as good. There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
