Plot: What’s it about?
The decade of the 1980s were filled with a lot of great movies and the rise of the music video. Some of the directors of those videos, such as David Fincher and Mark Romanek, have gone on to have success as feature film directors. One of the most goofiest novelty songs of that decade was a song called “Fish Heads”. It also provided for an amusing video. This particular one was directed by a little known actor at the time who had a few film credits and was most noted in a bit role in Stripes and would go on to be a part of one of the biggest movies of all time. His name is Bill Paxton. In 2001, after many years in acting, Bill finally got his chance to direct a feature film and with the help of some of his past co-stars and a solid script by a first time screenwriter the result is a dark twisted tale of suspense in a small Texas town during the summer of 1979 that can only be summed up in one word: Frailty.
The night is rainy. The time is 10:30 PM. The place is the FBI building in Texas and FBI Agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe) has a visitor at his office. For years, Doyle has been after a killer known as “The God’s Hand Killer” and this visitor will talk to only Doyle. The visitor identifies himself as Fenton Meiks (Matthew McConaughey) and, according to him, he knows who is the killer. He tells Doyle that the killer is his younger brother Adam, who earlier in the night had mysteriously killed himself. As Meiks goes back to the origin of these killings with Doyle, it leads to his childhood and a father (Bill Paxton) who was given a “sign” to take care of some unfinished business.
To give away the rest of this tale would be an injustice as each element is intriguing and hookable and along the way there are a few surprises. One of the big surprises of this movie is the direction of Bill Paxton. The years spent with these masters of the visual eye had paid off with many beautiful shots of Texas and a wonderful use of light that makes a difference in this film. What also drove this film were three things, the writing, the performances and the score. It amazed a viewer that Brent Hanley’s screenplay was not only very well written but that it was an original screenplay. Usually, a story in this genre would be based on a novel or short story. The dialogue drives a lot of this film as well as its actions and the script is very well done and very quotable. The viewer wants to hang on to this story from start to finish and Hanley’s screenplay does more than that. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and leaves plenty of room for head after-shakes.
Video: How does it look?
This is the first time the film has been shown in 4K and having said that, the transfer is best in it’s darker shots and the light is nicely displayed without any over-saturation of color. Although, there tends to be a bit of a haze over the print that prevents the transfer from being totally sharp and nicely detailed. The film certainly benefits from HDR and increased detail, but this isn’t the kind of film that’ll look pristine – even when it came out. Still, the re-mastered 4K and Blu-ray bring new life (pardon the pun) to the movie. It looks great.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Atmos track spreads nicely throughout the channels and providing a very good balance between dialogue and score. The score was not overbearing like most desperate scare horror films and it comes across very clear throughout the front and the back speakers. The sounds throughout the film were effective and came in mostly through the rear but were evident throughout all channels. In short, it’s good, but nothing that’ll blow the roof off the place.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The supplements from the previously-released DVD are found as well as a few new ones to boot.
- Father Figure – Paxton, who sadly left us in 2017, is the focus here and his co-stars as well as many associated with the film pay homage to the late actor.
- Establishing Shot with David Blocker – In the “they mislabeled this feature” category, we have this – a look at the film’s 4K restoration as well as the Dolby Atmos mix. Makes perfect sense…
- More Stories from the Frailty Set – This piggybacks the first supplement with the same crew of folks as they, as the title would suggest, give us some anecdotes from the film.
- Audio Commentary – Bill Paxton recorded this track in June 2002, and it is informative, descriptive and self-congratulatory without too much of all three. He shows his appreciation and is rarely silent on his track.
- Audio Commentary – The second track is with editor Arnold Glassman, producer David Kirschner and composer Brian Tyler and most of the same information is given, not as reflective but more looser and laid back and amusing.
- Audio Commentary – The most intriguing of the three is the commentary by writer Brent Hanley as he shares similar info as well as his motivations, his choices script to screen and is a little more informative on his origins than the other two tracks.
- Anatomy of a Scene – Courtesy of Sundance Channel, this 25 minute feature gives us a breakdown of one of the key sequences in the film.
- The Making of Frailty – This documents the making of the production on set and off set with all the main players both on screen and behind the camera. It’s a good piece without being a promotional piece of fluff and it’s good to see Paxton at his double-duty best both acting and directing. It’s also good to note the preparation of visual shots with cinematographer Bill Butler. It’s short, it’s sweet and it’s good.
- Deleted Scenes – A quartet of deleted scenes are played straight through and range from extensions of a scene to small scenes that would’ve taken it away from the well paced narrative. This can be viewed with or without commentary from director Bill Paxton and it’s interesting to see why they were excluded from the final cut. The scenes are good and their deletion is understandable with or without commentary.
- Storyboards
- Photo Gallery
- Teaser Trailer
- Theatrical Trailer
- TV Spots
The Bottom Line
From it’s intriguing setup at the start to the final minutes in the end, Frailty gives something refreshing to a genre that’s been laden with special effects for scares to giving subtle touches and recalling the theory that has driven some of the best horror films of all time: less is more. Lionsgate’s new 4K offering gives us better picture, sound and a few new extras to boot. If you’re a fan, this is what you’ve been waiting for.
