Review of Untamed Heart

Introduction

Caroline (Marisa Tomei) works as a waitress in a diner and is unlucky in the romance stakes. One late night after her shift she gets attacked and is assaulted. Things could have been a lot worse if Adam (Christian Slater) hadn`t been around to save her. Adam works as a busboy in the same diner as Caroline but is the shy silent type and never lets on to how he feels about her. Once Caroline is saved by her knight in shining armour, she discovers and falls in love with someone she never gave a second thought to.

Adam isn`t just another regular Joe and leads a somewhat sheltered life, but his heart is in the right place. When Caroline and Adam `find` each other, their relationship of discovery begins.

Video

Presented with a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, Untamed Heart provides a better than average transfer but it`s not brilliant. It`s a bit grainy with some dirt and grime that appears from time-to-time which isn`t too distracting. The colours aren`t bad either, though it can make the film look a little bit dated. I didn`t see any pixellation or other digital problems with the transfer and playback however so it`s watchable and I`m thankful that it`s anamorphic.

Audio

This comes with a Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. Untamed Heart is a dialogue driven film and this is very clear with no discernible audio problems.

Features

Clean static menus with just one extra:

• Original Theatrical Trailer (1:58) - A rather long trailer that gives too much away. The film itself has some nice surprises and this trailer spoils it.

It`s not surprising to see any real extras here. While Untamed Heart is a low budget back catalogue title which is hardly going to sell in droves, it would always be appreciated to have a little something extra like cast and crew bios, or production notes. Anything to fill out the disc a little and add a little more value is all I ask!

Subtitles: English HoH, German HoH, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, and Turkish. Packaged in an Amaray case.

Conclusion

Without resorting to sappy clichés, I have to admit that Untamed Heart choked me. I`ve seen it a few times before and I`ve always liked it and seeing it now with an anamorphic transfer delivers no less than what I expected.

It`s a simple yet charming love story without going overboard on the sentimentality, instead forging ahead with two good performances from Christian Slater and Marisa Tomei. I`d even go as far as to say that this is definitely one of Slater`s best performances next to True Romance and Heathers. To underplay a character as he does is a challenge and he does well. Tomei is always a pleasure to watch, though her performance here can be a little inconsistent. The only other actor supporting them of note is Rosie Perez who is her usual charming, if mouthy, self.

After the serious assault on Caroline (Tomei) where she is rescued by Adam (Slater), the story becomes more interesting. Little things such as the story that Adam was told as a child, that he had the heart of a baboon king, in order to keep his spirits up at the orphanage adds an element of a fairy tale to the story. The film does have some flaws, and what film would be complete without them? Such as Adam leaving hospital, after being viciously attacked, on a whim to go see Caroline, or not appearing to have the hair cut he gets in the film. These are minor concerns though. Watching the relationship develop between the two leads is good and doesn`t bore at all. The ending is a little sad but is a good, if unrealistic, way to end the film.

Running at just 97 minutes long, the film is the right length with a good even pace. It`s too bad that there are no extras here, but seeing as the film is being sold cheaply, it`s good to finally have it without wearing it out. Untamed Heart is a charming romantic story that genre fans are bound to enjoy. Recommended.