Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by

Columbia TriStar

Cat.no: CDR 96476

Cert: 18

Running time: 119 minutes

Year: 1997

Pressing: 1998

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 28 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround

Languages: English, German (both DD 5.1)

Subtitles: 13 different languages available

Widescreen: 1.85:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 5

Price: £19.99

Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer, Filmographies.

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Director:

Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July, The Doors, Heaven and Earth, JFK, Natural Born Killers, Nixon, Platoon, Salvador, Talk Radio, Wall Street)

Producer:

Clayton Townsend and Dan Halsted

Screenplay:

John Ridley (based on his book "Stray Dogs")

Music:

Ennio Morricone

Cast:

Bobby: Sean Penn (Carlito's Way, Casualties Of War, Colors, Dead Man Walking, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, The Game, Taps)
Grace: Jennifer Lopez (Anaconda, Blood & Wine, Jack, Money Train, Out Of Sight)
Jake: Nick Nolte (Afterglow, Another 48 Hours, Cape Fear, Down And Out in Beverly Hills, 48 Hours, I'll Do Anything, The Prince Of Tides, Q&A, The Thin Red Line)
Blind Man: Jon Voight (Anaconda, The Champ, Deliverance, Heat, Midnight Cowboy, Mission: Impossible, The Rainmaker, U-Turn)
Darrell: Billy Bob Thornton (The Apostle, Armageddon, Homegrown, Sling Blade)
Sheriff Potter: Powers Boothe (Blue Sky, Nixon, Sudden Death, Tombstone)
Flo: Julie Hagerty (Airplane I & II, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Rude Awakening)
Toby N. Tucker: Joaquin Phoenix (Inventing The Abbots, Return To Paradise, To Die For)
Jenny: Claire Danes (Home For the Holidays, Les Miserables, Little Women, Polish Wedding, The Rainmaker, Romeo And Juliet, To Gillian On Her 37th Birthday)
Bus Station Clerk: Laurie Metcalf (A Dangerous Woman, Internal Affairs, Leaving Las Vegas, Pacific Heights, TV: "Roseanne")
Ed: Bo Hopkins (The Ballad of Little Jo, Sweet Sixteen, Tom Clancy's Op Centre, TV: "ER")
Girl In Bus Station: Liv Tyler (Armageddon, Heavy, Inventing The Abbots, Stealing Beauty)

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While waiting for his car to be fixed he meets a young woman (Jennifer Lopez) who asks him to hang up some drapes and have a drink, but this is no "Confessions of a Vegas Gambler" (sic) starring Robin Askwith, this is an Oliver Stone film with plenty of characters that play off against each other. Just as he looks to be getting somewhere, in walks Nick Nolte and after an exchange of "Who the hell are you?"'s, this man is revealed to be her husband. What results, in bizarre fashion, is a labyrinthine plot in which both members of the marriage want out - at any cost - and they see Penn as their ticket to freedom.

Perfect performances are on offer from the entire cast: Sean Penn as the put-upon drifter whose day is going from bad to worse...and then some, the sultry Jennifer Lopez, the determined and angry Nolte, Powers Boothe as the local sheriff, Claire Danes as a dizzy blonde and Joaquin Phoenix as her obsessive boyfriend, not forgetting a cameo from Danes' "Rainmaker" co-star Jon Voight as a weird, old blind man and the garage-owner-from hell, Billy Bob Thornton.

The picture quality is superb, bringing out the crisp, sharp colours of the desert and the glorious skin tones. At times there are some grainy effects in the background, but after the number of DVDs I've reviewed, this looks more like an intended video effect and not something as a result of the usual artifacts. Given Stone's usual less-than-conventional visual style, you can tell this is down to him - especially in chapter 10 where the picture changes quickly - and not at the fault of the encoding which makes an excellent job of his vision.

The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 1.85:1, is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions - thus allowing for higher resolution - and the average bitrate is a very good 6.49 Mb/s.

In terms of sound, that is also flawless. The soundtrack is littered with classic songs such as Peggy Lee: It's a Good Day and Patsy Cline: Your Cheatin' Heart which may sound out of place in any other film but fit in perfectly here. Couple this with Ennio Morricone's powerful score and Stone's use of quick-cut ambient sounds to match the picture and you have a reason to turn the volume all the way up to maximum.

Extras :

Chapters/Theatrical Trailers :

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.

Occasionally, Oliver Stone will pull off a masterpiece and this is one of those. The mix of everything onscreen provides the best audio-visual entertainment since Natural Born Killers. U-Turn is also reminiscent of another of my favourite films from the past decade, Joel Schumacher's Falling Down starring Michael Douglas as another man trying to make sense of the world around him but failing at every turn.

If I had any complaints it would be that there aren't many extras, but since the USA Region 1 version only contained a mere trailer, you're getting more here. The UK disc also has a higher average bitrate. If it loses anything, it's a pan-and-scan option - so no, you're not losing anything.

Overall, if you liked either of the aforementioned two films, you'll be missing out if you don't buy this release. It was one of my favourite films of last year when I first saw it and it can be watched time and time again.

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

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.