Plot: What’s it about?
I’m so glad that George Clooney decided to work with a director like Stephen Sodenberg. Sodenberg took Clooney from sex symbol moviestar and turned him into sex-symbol moviestar/good actor. This was Clooney’s finest work to date and I think, still is. It’s a tight race between this and Three Kings, but overall I think Clooney showed a more dynamic range here. The rest of the cast is perfect, with “tough guy” Ving Rhames as Jack Foley’s (George Clooney) ever conscious sidekick, Buddy. Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez) plays Jack’s love interest, who also happens to be a U.S. Marshall. Steve Zahn (Glenn Michaels) rounds out the “good guys” cast as an ex-con who has turned into sort of a drifter. It’s hard to believe, but Don Cheadle who plays “Snoopy”, actually makes a pretty convincing bad guy. Add all of this and throw in Albert Brooks as a banker doing time and you have this fantastic movie. Out of Sight starts in the present, and then backtracks to the events that led up to what we just saw, then goes from there. Jack has just been turned down for a job promised to him by Brooks’ character and, for no real reason, decides to go rob a bank. Now usually you think of robbing a bank as running in yelling and screaming saying “Nobody move and you won’t get hurt”! Stuff like that. Well, lest you forget, this is George Clooney playing the bank robber, and who has robbed more banks than anyone in the FBI database (his character Jack, that is). He simply walks in the bank, makes some observations and when the time is right goes up to the teller and informs her that a customer has a gun and will shoot her manager unless she gives him the money. He’s charming enough and sure enough it works, he gets away scot free…until his getaway car won’t start which lands him in prision! Now Foley has been to prision before, in fact he’s spent the better part of his life there, off and on. He knows who to talk to, who to stay away from and just happens to know a little something about a breakout that he let’s the guard in on. Things go his way and he ends up escaping with a few others, and meets up with Buddy (who was waiting for him when he broke out). In the process, they end up taking U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco hostage, but she’s more infatuated with Foley and in no position (literally) to make an arrest. It’s about this time that we meet Glenn Michaels. Glenn has been in prision with Foley and Buddy (which we see in a flashback scene) and has learned of a diamond stash up north (north being Detroit). Glenn has a big mouth and has told everyone about it, and naturally everyone wants it for themselves. The trouble for Foley and Buddy is that they have to avoid being captured by the U.S. Marshals, and not be killed by Snoopy (Cheadle) after going for his diamonds (Glenn told Snoopy about them too). The fun of this movie has got to be the casting. I think it’s one of the better cast movies and you can tell they all work very well together. The movie is low key enough, and very clever (Elmore Leonard wrote it and also Get Shorty and Jackie Brown). You don’t really know who to root for as everyone has been in jail except for Karen. So while you could do a lot better in terms of features (on the DTS version), you absolutely cannot go wrong with this movie!
Video: How does it look?
A stunning example of what DVD can be. Most movies that are part of Universal’s Collector’s Edition series have been given high marks in the video and audio department by me, and with good reason…they deserve it! No color bleeding, no artifacting, no digital noise…this is a great transfer. The image is anamorphic and shown in it’s original 1.85:1 ratio.
Audio: How does it sound?
The DTS version is a great example of audio. The soundtrack has lot of jazzy songs like “It’s your thing”…and some Hendrix thrown in (at the end). Dialogue is clean and the surround effects jump right out at you. Above all, the most enjoyable part of the movie is this, the soundtrack. I love it! That “du du da, da da da du du da du…” from the opeing credits and the closing ones is addicitive. I was humming it the whole next day at work. In comparison with the Dolby Digital version, the difference is noticable though for the lack of features I would personally go with the Dolby Digital version. The DD version has a commenary, cast bios, production notes, deleted scenes and a documentary. So while the DTS is superior in sound, it lacks in features. Your choice. Either way, you get a great movie.
Supplements: What are the extras?
There are no extras.
