Review of Bone Collector, The

Introduction

A friend bought this DVD and lent it to me after watching and enjoying it.

Denzel Washington is a superb actor, I`ve seen quite a few of his films and also own "The Siege" on DVD. As I`ve yet to see a bad film with Denzel in, I had high hopes for "The Bone Collector". I still remember Angelina Jolie from Hackers a few years back, but she really has made the move into the big time in the last couple of years, with some fine performances and she is of course very pleasing to the eye!

I didn`t really know anything else about the film when I sat down to watch it other than the blurb on the back of the box.

Video

The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is excellent throughout. Most of the action takes place at night and the detail and clarity is top-notch.

The sets used are fantastic and very well shot, and as a result are extremely convincing.

Audio

Region 2 doesn`t get the DTS soundtrack from the Region 1 disc, but the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is good throughout, and to be honest this is in the most part a dialogue based film so the extra range of DTS is probably not needed.

That said, when needed, all the channels come to life and help to recreate the tense atmosphere of the murder scenes but still leave the dialogue clear and understandable.

Features

There`s a director`s commentary, featurette, filmographies, isolated music score and a trailer for this film and "Devil in a Blue Dress".

I didn`t have time to listen to the commentary before returning the film, and to be honest probably wouldn`t have done so anyway - I don`t have time to listen to them all and prefer to listen to only those for "special" films where I`m interested in how certain things were done.

Conclusion

The major change from the usual detective film is that the detective in question is paralysed and confined to his bed. He is however surrounded by enough gadgetry to launch a Mars landing and effectively Angelina Jolie spends the whole time following Denzel`s instructions after he`s analyzed some bizarre piece of evidence and had a brainwave. The film is enjoyable enough but there`s nothing much new here. The filmmakers play a cheeky little game at the end of the film and there really is no clue to "whodunnit" before the killer makes his final appearance.

There is a very strong cast who all play their part well, but I`m sorry, I just can`t take Ed O`Neill seriously as a policeman - he will always be Al Bundy to me!

There were however missed opportunities to up the atmosphere even more. There`s a few scenes where you are expecting the killer to jump out so you`re on edge of your seat waiting for it and I felt a bit dissapointed when he didn`t appear!

Video and sound are both good, with an excellent selection of features.