DaViD Boulet
Senior HTF Member
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Enemy of the State
Extended Edition
Studio: Buena Vista Year:1998 Rating:URAspect Ratio: 16x9 encoded 2.35:1 Audio: 5.1 DD English SpecialFeatures: Making-of featurette, Deleted Scenes, Theatrical Trailer ReleaseDate: May 16, 2006
Feature...
Enemy of the state is a rare film where good ideas collide with good execution in a action-packed experience that preserves the credibility of a serious attempt at film-making. In other words, this is not another Hollywood “action movie” of the week that’s here to day and forgotten tomorrow.
The subject matter is also uncannily germane to present-day politics…questions about an individual’s right to privacy balanced against the government’s need to observe personal behavior to protect itself against the threat of terrorism. The film manages to build on these controversial themes without feeling cliché, and many experts provided assistance to ensure that the film approximates real technological ability…and this comes through and contributes to the believability of the film all the more.
Acting is simply superb. Will Smith and Gene Hackman have an almost uncanny chemistry and the whole cast ensemble looks and behaves “real”. Enemy of the State also brings with it a fair share of suspense. While not quite reaching the same intensity, I couldn’t help but think of Training Day as I watched this movie on DVD.
I’m typically not drawn to action films of this type, and when I do it’s usually because the film ends up being much more than an “action film”. If you like Braveheart, Hunt for Red October, and Training Day, then Enemy of the State deserves your exploration. If you’ve already seen and love this movie, you’ll be thrilled that the picture and sound quality afforded on this R1 DVD do the film justice.
note: this is the "extended" and "unrated" version of the film. This DVD is my first time viewing this movie so I can't comment about the additional footage or how it affects the flow of the movie experience, but I hope that others more familiar with the theatrical cut can offer their input for the rest of us.
Picture...
Excellent.
While not as razor-sharp on my 106” screen as some top-mastered Warner Brothers live-action titles like Matrix Reloaded, Enemy of the State comes through clear, clean, and utterly film-like. Disney might be turning a new leaf…as this DVD (along with Crimson Tide and Con Air) preserves a great deal of fine object detail and doesn’t appear to have suffered from overzealous HF filtering as have most live-action Disney DVD titles to date. I see no obvious edge-artifacting in the form of halos, compression seems clean overall and the image is smoothly rendered and has preserved its natural, film-like character. Blacks are solid though contrast seemed to lack the dynamics of some other films which I suspect is a consequence of the film-style more than digital mastering. Sadly, my projector bulb has started to drop off its light output dramatically the last 2 weeks (a new bulb is on order) so I can’t attest to the level of color saturation and depth, but I hope to amend that shortly when my new bulb arrives!
I can say this: the film-style of Enemy of the State is a genuine craft. Scenes are edited with confidence and there’s a dynamism to the cinematic style seldom scene in typical Hollywood films these days. On a wide-angle viewing system, the result is a dramatic and awe-inspiring immersion in visual stimuli.
Good Job Disney.
Picture Quality: 4.75 / 5
:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
Rating Rationale...
Rating Key:
SCORE Description 1-2 An absolute abomination. Hurts to watch even on a 32” 4x3 480I TV. Think Outland or Jean De Flourette (scan-line aliasing, chroma noise, dotcrawl, PAL-NTSC conversion artifacts etc.)-- truly horrid. 2-3 Has some serious problems, but one can at least watch it without getting a headache despite all the problems though you might try to talk your guests into picking a different movie to watch if you have a large projection screen. Think Kill Bill Vol 1. 3-4 Good or at least "acceptable" on a big-screen, but not winning any awards and definitely room for improvement if you view the image wide-angle (though smaller-screen viewers may be quite content). Think the first extended cut of Fellowship of the Ring...decent picture but still some HF filtering and some edge-halos. 4-5 A reference picture that really makes the most of the DVD medium and shows extraordinary transparency to the film-source elements limited only by DVD’s 720 x 480 resolution. Non-videophile observers can't help but remark "WOW" and ask you if they are watching HD. Think The Empire Strikes Back, the Fifth Element Superbit or the new Toy Story 10th Anniversary Edition.
Viewing Equipment:
Currently running DVDs on my OPPO DVD player (Faroudja deinterlacing) which scales to 720P, feeding my BenQ 8700+ PJ via DVI, projecting onto a 106” 16x9 Dalite HiPower screen, viewed from approximately 1.6 screen-widths distance. Well mastered DVDs produce a stunningly film-like image in this scenario, and lesser-mastered material quickly shows its flaws.
Sound...
I have no other version of this title to compare, but I can say that without comparison this 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack does not disappoint. The sense of immersion in sound is wonderful…many scenes come alive with a 360 flood of sound that enhances the on-screen visuals. Surround activity is well employed and this is one of those classic “demo discs” that maintains its sense of dignity without giving way to gimmicky mixing tricks. Dynamics are bold and the soundstage is wide with good frequency response. I did notice that at times I wanted to turn up the center volume a bit to raise the vocals but I’ve been playing with my audio calibration lately and need to make sure that I have the right ‘basline’ in my AVR before making any critical remark about the disc mastering on this point. Vocals are smooth and clean without sounding bright or flattened. A very “DTSish” sounding Dolby Digital track (if you know what I mean).
Sound Quality: 5 / 5
:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
Listening Equipment:
B&K AVR 212 processor/receiver driving my Onix-Rocket Loudspeaker system.
Special Features...
The features aren’t winning any special-edition awards for quantity, but what’s here is welcome and actually interesting to view.
Documentary: A very nice 20 minute 4x3 doc that was made during the making of the film accompanies this feature. Lots of cool behind-the-scenes stuff and interviews with cast and crew. Better than average, I’d recommend anyone who watched the movie watch this doc…but don’t watch the doc until *after* you’ve seen the movie (even if you’ve seen the film before). Watch the DVD feature film first to preserve the sense of mystery.
Deleted Scenes: There are a handful of deleted scenes presented from archived 4x3 video source material. Interesting and fans may enjoy.
Trailer: Yep. You get a 4x3 encoded trailer for the film. An actual trailer on a Disney DVD!
All Together...
My high recommendation of this film stems from the fantastic MOVIE experience that Enemy of the State can offer. It’s an outstanding film—well conceived, well written, well acted, and well filmed. The standard-definition presentation on this DVD does a great job of replicating a film-like experience within the confines of DVD’s 720 x 480 pixels, and the 5.1 DD soundtrack is outstanding. Bonus features are slim but worth watching. If you don’t already have this title in your collection, I can’t recommend you go out and purchase this disc strongly enough. This is one of the few DVDs that I would encourage someone not to pass while they wait for an HD release. It’s too good to wait, and you’ll make a friend or family member happy when you finally do upgrade to an HD release and pass this DVD edition along.
Highly Recommended
