Distributed by

Columbia TriStar

Cat.no: CDR 95277

Cert: 18

Running time: 114 minutes

Year: 1997

Pressing: 1999

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 28 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround

Languages: English, German (both DD 5.1)

Subtitles: 14 different languages available

Widescreen: 1.77:1 (16:9)

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 5

Price: £19.99

Extras : Scene index, Filmographies

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Director:

Christian Duguay (Adrift, Live Wire, Scanners 2 & 3, Screamers)

Producers:

Tom Berry and Franco Battista

Screenplay:

Dan Gordon and Sabi H. Shabtai

Music:

Normand Corbeil

Cast:

Annibal Ramirez/Carlos: Aidan Quinn (At Play in the Fields of the Lord, Benny and Joon, Blink, Desperately Seeking Susan, The Handmaid's Tale, Haunted, Legends Of The Fall, Looking For Richard, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Michael Collins, The Mission, The Playboys, Reckless, Stakeout)
Amos: Ben Kingsley (Bugsy, Ghandi, Maurice, Schindler's List, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Sneakers, Species, Twelfth Night)
Jack Shaw: Donald Sutherland (Backdraft, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Dirty Dozen, Disclosure, Fallen, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, JFK, Klute, MASH, Lock Up, National Lampoon's Animal House, Ordinary People, Outbreak, Six Degrees of Separation, A Time To Kill)

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Carlos The Jackal has been making a monkey out of the governments of Israel and the United States for many a year, turning out out of the blue, reducing public places, and the folk paying a visit, to fragments and then disappearing before he can be caught. In a Paris cafe in 1974, he demolishes the place with a single grenade, more than catching the eye of CIA operative Jack Shaw (Donald Sutherland) who was smoking a cigarette outside. A year later he turns up in Vienna to wreak more havoc. Shaw has the chance to put a stop to this once and for all, but is persuaded not to.

Eleven years later he is seen again in Jerusalem, apparently on a sight-seeing tour..or is he? He is caught and questioned by Shaw's Israeli counterpart Amos (Ben Kingsley), but he turns out to be an American naval officer, Annibal Ramirez. You can forgive them for the confusion as both characters are played by Aidan Quinn, but suspend disbelief for a couple of hours as Shaw and Amos conclude that after years of failed attempts the only way to catch Carlos is to train his new double to an exceptional standard and then release him out into the wild.

The picture quality is almost perfect. Occasionally there are minor artifacts, but these are not noticeable from the usual viewing distance. However, there's one brief moment at the end of chapter 11 and just before the next one, "Israel, Dead Sea". As the sea comes into view the print breaks up, but that's about it for the negative points of the picture. The film is presented close to its original widescreen ratio of 1.85:1, as it is in 1.77:1 (16:9). It is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions - thus allowing for 33% higher resolution - and the average bitrate is a fine 4.51 Mb/s, occasionally peaking over 6Mb/s.

The sound is top-notch with Normand Corbeil knowing just how to aid the tension at the right moment. There's plenty of action sounds too from the opening explosion in a Paris cafe, through a bizarre sequence when Quinn is drugged, to car chases and shoot-outs. Both languages, English and German, are presented in Dolby Digital 5.1.

Extras :

Chapters :

Languages/Subtitles :

Filmographies :

Menu :

Upon selecting the "Start Movie" option, you'll first see a "Sony Pictures DVD Center" logo, followed by the Dolby Digital helicopter demo, the copyright logo and then the film itself.

Overall, this is a much-underrated thriller which was released in September 1997 in Canada and the USA and easily deserved an outing in the cinemas over here. It's not the sort of film that would attract many Oscars for acting ability, but the three principal actors look like they enjoyed themselves while making the film and for a couple of hours pure entertainment it's hard to beat, especially on a well-made anamorphic DVD as compared to a VHS rental tape.

As I said earlier, this is the first simultaneous day-and-date DVD and VHS rental title, future ones including one which made the cinema, The Opposite of Sex starring a blonde Christina Ricci who certainly has come of age and another straight-to-video film, In God's Hands.

FILM	 		: ****½
PICTURE QUALITY		: ****½
SOUND QUALITY		: *****
EXTRAS			: *
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OVERALL			: ****

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.