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| Special Features: |
Featurette
Theatrical trailer
Scene selection
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| Video Format: |
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
[SS-SL]
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| Languages: |
English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0)
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| Subtitles: |
English, Spanish
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| Captions: |
Yes
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| Casing: |
1-Disc Keep Case
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A riveting, emotion filled tale about power, survival and love in Harlem. Wesley Snipes and Michael Wright are two brothers trapped in a high stakes game for control of the streets. When Snipes tries to break free from his world of crime and violence and start over with a new love, Theresa Randle, he is lured back to help his brother keep the mob from taking over his territory.
All in all, this disc is pretty good. Transfer quality is very good. Sound quality is good. There are not a lot of extras on the disc but that's forgivable since a lot of attention was paid to the elements that remain; namely picture quality. Some other discs could have been a lot better if as much effort had been put into them.
Picture Quality: 8/10
Picture quality is very good. The film begins in black and white and the contrast is controlled beautifully. Once the film switches to color, you get an even better feel for its high quality. In one or two places there seems to be a slight color shift, but overall the image is tight and crisp. The photography is very stylish. Color elements are placed very deliberately, but it works quite well. Some of the compositional elements are remarkable. Cinematographer Bojan Bazelli does a fine job with this film.
Sound Quality: 7/10
This film has great sound track. I was more than a little disappointed to discover the Dolby Digital 2.0 system being used on the sound. I was, however, quite pleased with the sound once I viewed the film. Sound was full, rich, clean, and nearly flawless.
Menu: 6/10
The menu is short and simple. A few points are lost because the graphic used for the menu is just not very good. While most graphical elements of the film are quite good, this is one area that the ball was dropped. The background image of Michael Wright looks like an animated still. Don't let this dissuade you though, after all, it's just the menu.
Extra Features: 7/10
Normally, minuscule extras tend to get lower scores than this, but I enjoyed the featurette on this disc. I'm not sure why, but it just really sat well with me. Maybe I was just in the mood. Go figure.
The Final Word:
While I tend to quickly dismiss variations on the mob theme, I did enjoy this whole experience. The disc quality was good. The story was good. The performances were surprisingly good. Although I believe Snipes can overact sometimes, he gives what I think is one of his better performances. Throw in a cast which includes the likes of Leslie Uggams, Clarence Williams III, Abe Vigoda, and Ernie Hudson and you have a solid base for a really good movie.
Tony Edwards
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