The Wombles:
Complete Collection
Just £9.48!

Alien/Predator:
Complete Collection
for just £44.99

Harry Potter
Complete Sp.Edn
for just £40.96

Why Donate? News & Views Discussion Forum News Archive Announcements All About Us Email Dom Write 4 DVDfever Competitions Music Charts Chart Archive Cinema: Whats on Cinema Reviews Press Releases TV Issues DVD List R1 DVD Reviews R2 DVD Reviews R3-6 DVD Reviews CD Reviews PS2 Reviews PSP Reviews Xbox Reviews Xbox 360 Reviews Gamecube Revs GBA Reviews PC Reviews Hardware Revs Concert Reviews Video Reviews Comedy Reviews Book Reviews Screenplay Reviews Movie Downloads Interviews TV Shows PSX Reviews N64 Reviews Dreamcast Revs Laserdisc Revs Short Stories DVDs In Brief Right To Reply Why Widescreen? DVD Links Music Links WS Video List WS PAL LD List Me and my Aortic Valve!

• Cert:
• Cat.no: MP626D
• Running time: 80 minutes
• Year: 2007
• Pressing: 2008
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 12 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £15.99
• Extras: Trailer, Making Of
• Vote and comment on this film:

Director:

J.P. Schaefer (Chapter 27)

Producers:

Naomi Despres, Alexandra Michan and Robert Salerno

J.P. Schaefer (from the own book by Jack Jones))

Music:

Anthony Marinelli

Cast :

Mark David Chapman: Jared Leto
Jude: Lindsay Lohan
Jeri: Ursula Abbott
Paul: Judah Friedlander
John Lennon: Mark Lindsay Chapman
Yoko Ono: Mariko Takai
Frederic Seaman: Matthew Humphreys

Chapter 27's title comes from the fact that there are 26 chapters to the acclaimed novel, Catcher in the Rye, which Mark Chapman (played here by Jared Leto) was carrying at the time when he assassinated Beatles legend John Lennon in cold blood by firing five gunshots into him on the 8th December, 1980. At the age of 8, it was the first time I had one of those "You know where you were when you heard the news..." moments, like I'd always heard about in relation to JFK.

Throughout this film we hear the words of Leto, as Mark Chapman, talking about the 3 days he spent in New York City leading up to that fateful day, we see that he stayed at the local YMCA before moving into the Sheraton hotel because the former wasn't exactly 'a la carte' in terms of accommodation, and we learn of his obsession with the aforementioned book and its lead character, Holden Caulfield.

We also see him befriended by Lindsay Lohan as another Beatles fan, Jude, who turns up regularly outside Lennon's apartment in the Dakota building, with her friend Jeri (Ursula Abbott). She encourages him to get his then-latest album, Double Fantasy, and we don't actually get to learn of Lohan's character's name until, while spending a few minutes with Chapman, Jeri calls out, "Hey, Jude, um, we're goin, right?". Hmm... sounds like a potential song title...

For the role of the killer, Jared Leto reportedly put pints of Hagen Dazs ice cream in the microwave so he could drink them, and mixed them with olive oil and soy sauce "to get me bloated even more", and put on 67 pounds in total for the role. Also, the actor playing John Lennon is called... Mark Chapman(!) Oh, the irony!

Chapter 27 makes for an easy watch, as it's only 80 minutes long even though it could use some trimming even from that short time, and it's good to see Lohan actually acting properly in a movie, rather than doing children's nonsense like that Herbie film or falling out of nightclubs without any knickers on. Trouble is, it's just not particularly interesting. We know he killed John Lennon but we don't know why, apart from the fact that he's a complete nutter with an obsession for Catcher in the Rye, as he narrates his tale in retrospect.

The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and looks very good throughout, although is a little soft on occasion. However, there are no issues with artifacts. There's no DD5.1 soundtrack, just a straight-forward Dolby Surround one, which is functional but not oustanding. However, the dialogue is clear.

There are scant extras: just a Theatrical trailer (2:00) in 1.85:1 anamorphic but looking a bit washed out, and a Making Of (11:00), presented in 4:3 with on-set filming footage and soundbites from Leto, Lohan and director J.P. Schaefer about why they wanted to make the film. Well, most of it's in 4:3 although Leto and Schaefer's interview clips are in letterboxed 16:9 which seems a bit odd when Lohan's in 4:3.

The film contains a mere 12 chapters, which isn't too bad given the short running time, but I always work on a rule of thumb of one every five minutes as a reasonable figure. Subtitles are available in English and the main menu is animated as well as being scored with a looped piece of music from the film.

Before the menu even appears, though, we see trailers for PS. I Love You and The Good Night, but, Momentum, we are long past the age of the rental video where this practice was commonplace. You now have somewhere these should go: the extras menu. Please don't make them stick out like this.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2008.

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

PC games reviewed by the editor are on: