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(Angel-A, Arthur and the Invisibles, Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard, Arthur and the Two Worlds War, Atlantis, The Big Blue, The Fifth Element, The Last Combat, Leon, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, Nikita, Subway)
Producers:
Luc Besson and François Ruggieri
Screenplay:
Luc Besson, Pierre Jolivet, Alain Le Henry, Marc Perrier and Sophie Schmit
Music:
Eric Serra
Cast :
Fred: Christopher Lambert
Héléna: Isabelle Adjani
The Florist: Richard Bohringer
Inspector Gesberg: Michel Galabru
The Roller Skater: Jean-Hugues Anglade
The Station Master: Jean Bouise
Inspector Batman: Jean-Pierre Bacri
Robin: Jean-Claude Lecas
Jean: Pierre-Ange Le Pogam
The Drummer: Jean Reno
The Bassist: Eric Serra
The Singer: Arthur Simms
The Guitarist: Michel D'Oz
The Saxophonist: Alain Guillard
The Percussionist: Jimmy Blanche
The Salesman: Benoît Régent
Big Bill: Christian Gomba
The Subway Driver (uncredited): Luc Besson
As the tagline to the film suggests,
everything that matters takes place underground and we begin by seeing
Fred (Christopher Lambert) take cover from some dinner-suited men which were after him in the car chase that
opens the story. We learn that he's broken into the safe of Héléna (Isabelle Adjani) and is demanding 10,000 Francs
in return for what he stole, and she's playing hardball.
He meets up with The Roller (Jean-Hugues Anglade), who snatches handbags and other items, around 11 times a week
according to the police, because it's easy to do so on rollerskates, and the film takes in some other characters who
frequent the underground: The Florist (Richard Bohringer), The Drummer (Jean Reno), a black weightlifter
called Big Bill (Christian Gomba and the man who wants to track down both Fred and The Roller, Inspector Gesberg
(Michel Galabru).
As time goes on in Subway, we see the events of what goes on down there between the characters, and
also of Héléna, who stumbles upon the underground network of tunnels whilst still in pursuit of Fred and the papers
she wants him to give back. Fred, himself, starts to organise a band made up of all the musicians he comes across.
Subway was the only one of four films that I'm reviewing in a collection of Luc Besson films getting the Blu-ray
treatment that I hadn't seen before, but while I was initially gripped by the wonderful '80s electropop soundtrack,
as it all progressed, it just didn't seem to have any direction and there was nothing to make you particularly care
about any of the characters. A shame as I'm a massive fan of the other three movies, Leon, The Big Blue and
Nikita, but this one just fell flat.
The picture is nicely detailed at times in close-ups, but the print has some shimmering that's mostly notable in the
black sections of the image, while at other times it just looks like a very hazy print. Not good and not what you'd
expect from Blu-ray. The film is presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen frame with Luc Besson's usual style and
touch, and I'm watching on a Panasonic 37" Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
The sound is in Dolby Digital 2.0 and sounds great for the '80s soundtrack, but it's a shame there's no DTS 5.1
mix to give us split-surround effects, but then again it just tells a story from start to finish without the need for SFX.
The only extra is a Trailer (1:57) in anamorphic 2.35:1, which is disappointing for such a trumpeted release.
The menu mixes in images of the subway to a glittering lights effect, with a small segment of music playing behind it
- the only performed by the band at the end. There are English subtitles but the Chaptering is, again for Optimum,
appalling with just 12 over the 102-minute running time.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Blu-ray: 
