Reviewed by Colin Jacobson
Columbia-TriStar, widescreen 1.66:1/16x9, languages: English Dolby Surround [CC], subtitles: English, Spanish, single side-single layer, 28 chapters, rated R, 111 min., $19.95, street date 12/21/99.
Directed by John Frankenheimer. Starring Andrew McCarthy, Sharon Stone, Valeria Golino, John Pankow, George Murcell, Mattia Sbragia. The master of the political thriller, John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate), has done it again - this time focusing his astute lens on Rome in the late seventies, a time in which the classical city is rocked by political unrest. American journalist David Raybourne (McCarthy) has arrived in Rome to write a political best seller about The Red Brigade, militant left-wing group terrorizing Italy. When a daring photojournalist (Stone) believes Raybourne's book to be a piece of non-fiction…the manuscript falls tragically into the wrong hands. Now fictional characters named after Raybourne's closest friends and colleagues suddenly become real enemies of both the terrorists and the police. Accused of knowing too much, Raybourne's real problem is that he knows too little about the politics of Rome, about the secret lives of his friends and about the loyalties of his lovers.
Although John Frankenheimer has helmed some strong movies over the years -
such as The Manchurian Candidate and Ronin - 1991's
Most of the fault lies at the feet of the actors. Andrew McCarthy provides
an exceedingly superficial and weightless performance as our lead, David.
He's a journalist who inadvertently gets caught up in vicious political
intrigue. The plot seems Hitchcockesque, with a fairly ordinary man who
becomes involved in dire circumstances due to mistaken impressions, but the
film never really gets going and it fails to involve or excite the viewer.
For the most part, the action seems fairly predictable and does little to
deviate from a pretty well-trod path.
Again, the acting bears a lot of this weight. McCarthy appears
inappropriately cast as our struggling writer; when he's supposed to seem
forceful or active, he simply looks like a whining baby for the most part.
McCarthy's the kind of actor who can pull off light comedy but he's in
completely over his head here.
As for the remainder of our main cast, Valeria Golino looks quite sexy as
David's main love interest, Lea, but her character seems slight and her
performance barely sticks to the film. Sharon Stone - here in a feature
before she became well-known - isn't bad as reckless photojournalist
Alison - she definitely makes for a more compelling presence than the
others - but the lack of character imbued by the script hurts her; she
offers a more complete presence than we see elsewhere, but that's not saying
much.
Frankenheimer directs Year of the Gun competently, and although the script
skimps on characterization, it provides some mild excitement. The movie's
not terrible, by any stretch of the imagination, but I nonetheless found it
to be fairly lackluster, mainly because of a gritless and lighter than air
performance from Andrew McCarthy. This definitely isn't a movie I
anticipate I'll watch again.
Although Columbia-Tristar (CTS) is one of the best supporters of DVD, you
wouldn't know it from the shoddy effort they put into Year of the Gun.
First off, despite what it says on the case, the film does not appear in its
original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1; no, this is most definitely a
fullframe transfer. Because the film is shown fullframe, it has not been
enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Admittedly, the absence of letterboxing is
not the end of the world for such a mildly matted film as this, but it's
disappointing and noticeable; while no significant visual information
appears lost on the sides, I felt the image occasionally seemed more cramped
than it should have.
The picture itself seems decent but also mildly disappointing. Sharpness
appears strong for relatively close-up shots but lacks consistency for
anything wider than that; those scenes may look okay but they often seem
somewhat vague and fuzzy. Moire effects appear infrequently, though this
film does depict some of the most shimmering blinds I've ever seen, and
jagged edges also are rarely a problem. The print itself looks fairly clean
and doesn't depict too many flaws; occasional speckles and spots appear but
little else. However, the film does seem rather grainy at times.
Most colors appear largely solid and accurate, but the movie has a lot of
trouble with skin tones; these often look muddled and take on an orange
tint. Black levels are slightly too dark, which sometimes interferes with
shadow detail; most of the time, I had little difficulty discerning nuances,
but some scenes came across as a bit too opaque. The image of Year of the
Gun contains some definite flaws, but overall it seems slightly above
average.
The same can be said for the film's Dolby Surround 2.0 mix; it's decent but
nothing special. The movie features a mildly wide forward soundstage that
specializes in effective car sounds; we sometimes hear autos pan nicely from
one side to another. Other than that, however, the spatial effect is
passable at best. The mix seems strangely subdued and tepid and it never
really involved me even though all of the auditory components seemed to be
there. Take the riot scenes, for example; I heard the sounds one associates
with such an action, and they appeared decently localized to the different
speakers, but the overall effect lacked immediacy and never brought me into
the film. Rear surround usage appeared very limited and often seemed
distorted when it did occur.
Sound quality appeared acceptable for the most part. Dialogue generally
sounded clear and natural, but varying dull or edgy tendencies occasionally
affected it. Effects seemed fairly realistic, though distortion sometimes
marred explosions or gunfire. The film's score was the most successful
aspect of the mix in regard to sonic quality; it seemed nicely crisp and
smooth and boasted some fine low end. Despite that high point, YOTG
generally sounded pretty mediocre.
YOTG features few supplemental features. Trailers appear for the film
plus other Stone pictures The Quick and the Dead and Gloria. A
four-page booklet provides brief but compelling production notes; these add
the factual background for the piece. And that's all she wrote!
Year of the Gun has little to offer. The movie itself seems bland and
fairly predictable, and the DVD provides generally mediocre sound and
picture. Almost no extras come with the movie. The movie may be worth a
rental at best.
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