OVERALL

FILM

AUDIO

VIDEO

EXTRAS

ADVICE

Criminal defense attorneys hear it all the time. How can you defend a guilty man? How low must you be to do that! Lawyers will do anything for money. Or the most common refrain of them all, namely that the police wouldn’t have arrested the defendant if he weren’t guilty. Most criminal defense lawyers never ask their clients whether they are guilty or innocent as they believe it to be irrelevant to their job which is making the government prove that their client is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. A criminal defense attorney doesn’t have to prove that the defendant didn’t do the crime, just that the government didn’t meet their burden of proof that he or she did. Criminal defense attorneys aren’t heartless which is why they don’t want to clear person they know to be guilty, especially one guilty of such a heinous crime as murder. They don’t want to get a defendant off that they know to be guilty. It is probably any defense attorney’s nightmare. Which brings us to the situation presented by the film Primal Fear.

Film 

As I am sure you may have guessed from the introduction to this review, I am an attorney in real life. Although I am a trial attorney, I am not a criminal attorney, limiting my practice to the civil side of things. As such, I am normally not into court room dramas. I guess it would be the same thing as a surgeon not really being interested in a TV show such as ER. The point being that entertainment is supposed to take you away from the travails of real life. I therefore went into my viewing of the film with a little bias against this type of film. Despite this preconceived bias, I really enjoyed Primal Fear, which I found to have been well written and very well acted.

The film stars Richard Gere as the publicity seeking criminal defense attorney, Martin Vail, who actively seeks to represent Aaron Stempler (an amazing performance by Edward Norton in his first film), who is accused of murdering the Archbishop of Chicago. Throw in a little Chicago political ranging and subterfuge and underlying sexual tension between Mr. Vail and the DA assigned to try the case (played beautifully by Laura Linney) and you have a more than interesting and suspenseful film. I really enjoyed the pacing of the film. From the beginning of the film, you sense that there is more than meets the eye with both the Archbishop as well as Mr. Stempler, you just don”t know what. I really don’t care to divulge more of the plot here in case you have not seen the film. Suffice it to say that the case has a very unexpected and surprising ending. Primal Fear was originally released in theaters in 1996 and has previously been released on DVD. I really enjoyed this film and hope that you will too. Recommended.

Video 

Primal Fear is encoded with AVC and is presented in the 1:78:1 aspect ratio. This is a bit of a surprise as I was expecting a 1:85:1 presentation. Overall, this is a very nice encode and one that will please fans of the film. The first thing that strikes you about the film is the very natural color palette. The film boasts spot on skin tones and a nice color saturation. The film has a very real life quality about it that is pleasing to the eye. Detail is good as well although the film does have bit of a soft look to it, just a tad though and not distracting in any way.

The film just does not have the level of detail that would be characteristic of a film that would garner a full 5 star rating such as Iron Man or Bourne Ultimatum, just to name two. Where the film does come up a tad short is in the area of black level reproduction. The film has mediocre blacks which rob the film of the clarity and three dimensionality that are the hallmarks of the best encodes, looking a bit flat and soft in comparison. However, despite this shortcoming, this is still a fine looking film that was a pleasure to watch.

Audio 

The audio on Primal Fear is presented in Dolby True HD and frankly, sounds a lot better than I had anticipated for a courtroom drama. Right off the bat, I was impressed with the bass response which is deep and tight. The exceptional bass response is first noticed on the musical score which is reproduced here with excellent fidelity, conveying the weight and heft of a symphony orchestra beautifully.

The second area where one notices the bass response is in the reproduction of the Chicago El. Anyone who has been on an elevated train in any major city will be impressed with the sonic realism of the train in this film. The train really rumbles its way through your room. I was also impressed with the dialogue track which is also very well recorded, capturing the different acoustical character of each setting featured in the film. One has a real sense of real voices in real rooms throughout the film.

I was also impressed by the fact that good use was made of the surround speakers during the entire film, creating a convincing sense of immersion throughout. I found this to be surprising for what is essentially a dialogue driven film. Clearly, great care went into the creation of the sound design for the film. Finally, I was also quite pleased with the overall fidelity of the sound, which is rich, smooth and full with good transparency and imaging. While not a bombastic sound design by any means, Primal Fear has the type of natural sound that was not possible in the home until the advent of the lossless audio codecs featured on Blu-ray discs.

Special Features 

There is really nothing unusual about the extras included with this release. Included is the obligatory audio commentary featuring director Gregory Hoblit, writer Ann Biderman, producer Gary Lucchesi, executive producer Hawk Koch and casting director Deborah Aquila. Also featured are three featurettes about the making of the film. While the box indicates them to be in standard definition, they are in fact in high def and look very good.

The first featurette is entitled Primal Fear: The Final Verdict and details the making of the film, featuring on camera interviews with the writer, director, producer and casting director and members of the cast. Conspicuous by his absence is Richard Gere. The second is entitled Star Witness- The Casting of Ed Norton and tells the story of the casting of the unknown Ed Norton as Adam Stempler. I found this featurette to be very interesting as was the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was the first choice for the role but decided to pass. Lucky for Mr. Norton as this film and his screen test really kick started his career in cinema. The third featurette is entitled The Psychology of Guilt and details the history of defenses such as insanity in criminal law. I found this featurette the most interesting of the three and would suggest that you check it out. The final extra is the also obligatory original theatrical trailer for the film.

Final Thoughts  

Primal Fear is a fine film featuring excellent performances by the entire cast and more than satisfactory audio and video presentations. By all means, please give this film a look. I am confident that you will be glad you did.