Colin Farrell finds the odds stacked against him - in the shape of Bruce Willis - in the unusual WWII thriller "Hart's War", released onto a somewhat sombre DVD.
TECHNICAL FEATURES
Picture The main strength of the movie is the icy cinematography, which is transferred to DVD with clear precision to create a razor-sharp image.
Sound With its emphasis on courtroom style dialogue, this is not a movie that's too taxing on the 5.1 mix featured on the DVD. The opening plane raid kicks it into life, but otherwise it's a track of subtle effects.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary One Director Gregory Hoblit hooks up with writer Billy Ray for a commentary that also include the odd interjection from Bruce Willis. Both Hoblit and Ray are open and honest about their intentions with the film. Ray chats about writing the opening scene, which he felt he was unable to ever quite get right, while Hoblit devotes quite a bit of time discussing scenes that were cut from the movie. Hoblit also contributes a fair amount of detail to the technical logistics of the shoot, which includes a rather amusing story about shipping in tons of snow for a key scene, only for it then to snow once they'd spent days dressing the location. There's no such humour from Willis, who sounds quite morose but does manage to sneak in the occasional compliment for his other actors.
Audio Commentary Two Producer David Foster gets his own commentary track for this DVD, but it would have been far better if he'd been mixed into track one, as was done with Bruce Willis. Foster keeps the chat up, but somehow you learn very little about anything at all. He's able to talk about his angle as a producer, and developing the film with MGM. It's hard to recall anything else he says, as you soon find your mind drifting off for long stretches at a time thanks to his soothing tones.
Deleted Scenes It comes as no surprise after listening to Hoblit's commentary, that there are ten meaty deleted scenes to watch. In sheer production value, some expensive moments were dumped, and Hoblit is on hand to explain why.
Photo Galleries There are four image galleries: behind-the-scenes; production stills; the set; and the poster shoot. The behind-the-scenes and set galleries are quite small, and it highlights the fact that there are no 'making of' featurettes on this disc. This seems strange, as the quality of the sets and cinematography is excellent, and it would be interesting to know more about them.
Region: 2
Chapters: 28
Ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Technical Features: Scene selection, animated menus, multiple languages and subtitles, and English captions for the hearing impaired.
This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.
