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I can recall seeing the theatrical trailer for 8MM and thinking
how much potential the film could have had. Shortly after the debut
of the trailer, some local buzz started to build for the film. Fellow
Central Pennsylvania native Andrew Kevin Walker had written the
film and there were rumors that some photography had taken place
around Harrisburg for the picture. I also had enjoyed Walker's previous
work, SE7EN. Between the dark and sinister look of the trailer and
my love for SE7EN, 8MM became a must see film. I remember when the
repetitious theatrical trivia cleared the way for the trailers and
the trailers cleared the way for 8MM. The very first shot in the
film was an aerial view of City Island, Harrisburg. The crowd started
to roar at the very familiar site and the initial excitement with
the picture was intense. With the exception of local towns Lancaster
and Hershey (yes, the chocolate people), there were more uproars,
but soon the entire crowd entered the roller coaster ride that is
8MM.
8MM truly
was dark and for me, the film never quite hit the mark. There
were some incredible sequences and memorable moments. At times,
the picture seemed to near the genre powerhouses Silence of
the Lambs and SE7EN. Unfortunately, 8MM never quite go there.
The villains were nowhere near the caliber of Hannibal Lecter
(Anthony Hopkins) or John Doe (Kevin Spacey). The primary
villain, Machine (Chris Bauer) seemed to have a lot of potential
early on but along with the rest, he lacked that insanity
needed to drive such a picture. Too much focus and attention
was spent on trying to make the Machine's real identity shocking
and not make the character as deranged and twisted as he should
have been. The most memorable character was easily Max California
(Joaquin Phoenix), and they killed him off when things were
just starting to get good. As far as Nicolas Cage's performance,
he puts forth a performance that is good, but it seems he
has too much tendency in the picture to want to be an action
star.
What does
seem to work for Cage in this picture is his development through
the picture. He begins as a man who prides himself with high
classed clients and strong morals and views on other people.
As the picture goes along, he finds himself feeling more for
the less fortunate and for those with serious character flaws.
He finds himself feeling badly for the mother of the daughter
killed and he finds a friend in Max California, who has the
outward appearance and attitude of white trash, but some strong
redeeming qualities under the surface. Eventually, Cage finds
himself with thoughts that are totally against his beliefs
and he becomes driven more by pure emotion than decisions.
As Max California said, "ăthe devil changes you."
The lack
of a solid villain in 8MM was one of my primary reasons for
not placing the film with the classics of the genre. However,
many did (and will) not enjoy the picture because of the shock
value that some scenes present. There really are some graphic
and gory moments to be seen and some situations suggested
are equally rough. The film is very dark in presentation and
offers no bright spots to help bring one out of the mood caused
by these graphic moments. Once the picture starts to roll,
it keeps your stomach with a feeling of uneasiness. These
elements really helped 8MM become a memorable motion picture.
For me, the memories left by the intense graphic nature of
the film were good, but many will write 8MM off as a piece
of trash because of them.
In final
summary of the quality of the picture, the film is well made.
8MM is a story about some very dark ideas and practices. The
film was designed to look as gruesome as the topics it covers
are. If pornography and murder are not necessarily your cup
of tea and you find yourself offended by them, 8MM will turn
your stomach. The movie can succeed in disturbing its viewer
and if the villains would have been a tad bit odder, I believe
director Joel Schumacher would have had a film to compete
with the greats of the murder / thriller genre. I enjoyed
the film, but will be the first to tell you that it is not
for everybody.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
8MM has
a visual appeal that can leave one feeling very uneasy. The
cinematography is designed to be very dark and gruesome. It
is meant to look seedy. The picture has some graphic and disturbing
scenes, but what will hit the hardest are the scenes that
are not shown. The film has a way of slowing down after a
scene is purposely now shown, so that one may ponder it and
the imagination may fill in the holes with some truly horrible
images and thoughts. 8MM has the ability to turn one's imagination
against them and bring out some of the worst ideas imaginable.
The film looks dirty and well suits its content. Sunshine
and happiness are not to be found, and as far as visual appeal,
8MM ranks right up there with SE7EN and easily surpasses The
Silence of the Lambs.
Sony (Columbia
TriStar) have delivered their usual top-notch transfer with
8MM. The film is very dark and well shrouded in shadown. The
DVD transfer reproduces the blacks with perfection and shadow
detail is perfect. Color saturation is very good for a film
of this nature and the look of the film cannot be done much
greater justice than it is presented here. The film is presented
in both an anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen transfer that correctly
shows the film in its original theatrical presentation and
a modified pan and scan transfer that changes the look of
the original film to fill a square television screen. The
widescreen transfer is easily preferred because the wide 2.35:1
ratio looses a little too much information when it is cropped
to fill the screen. Both transfers are solid, and there is
little problems with edge enhancement, source faults or digital
compression. The detail level is generally good, though there
are moments when the film appears a bit soft. All in all,
8MM looks very good and will do so while putting horrible
images in your mind.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
The audio
presence of 8MM is not nearly as disturbing or as powerful
as how it looks. Much of the time in the film is spent in
dialogue or sets where not much audible action is taking place.
There are some moments when the soundtrack sounds good and
there is a bit going on, but the film is not driven, or cares
to be driven, by audio. Columbia TriStar offers two standard
soundtracks for listening. For those of us with six-channel
capability, there is a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix. If Dolby Pro
Logic is your current audio capability, a 2.0 Dolby Digital
surround track is provided that will more accurately down-convert
and sound better on Pro Logic systems. As far as audio quality
goes, 8MM sounded pretty damn good. The rear speakers provided
ambient sounds and action when needed, though a film of this
nature does not allow for constant surround information. The
same holds true for the .1 LFE channel. When comparing the
two tracks to each other, the difference could be heard, but
the 5.1 mix was not as clearly superior to the 2.0 mix as
it is in most instances.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There? The pricing
point for 8MM is $24.95. This is five dollars less than the
standard price of a Sony DVD. Sony, who for a while was stingy
on supplements with their base releases has improved greatly
since the introduction of their product in March 1997. For
8MM, they have seen fit to include basic extras as dual format
presentation, production notes, talent filmographies and the
theatrical trailer. They have included some additional features
that make the disc more of a bargain. The first of these features
is a short documentary on the making of the film. This documentary
is something that is nice to watch once, but does not contain
anything groundbreaking or has the quality of something Criterion,
Sharpline or Universal has done in the past and present.
The real
gem of the disc is the screen-specific audio commentary with director
Joel Schumacher. Many think of Schumacher as the man who ruined
Batman. He brought a more colorful and comic book like appearance
to the series, that moved away from Burton's dark and gothic
makeover. Interesting is it that Schumacher gets very dark
with 8MM. Schumacher does a fine job of delivering his commentary.
He never gets boring. In fact, this commentary provides depth
to the picture and shows how talented a director the man really
is. After listening to the documentary, 8MM is a better picture.
His research into the pornography world is quickly apparent.
Schumacher provides tips on filmmaking and some porno tidbits.
He gives a good bit of background on the picture and even
mentions that a three hour cut of the movie exists. Though
no reason is given why these cuts were made, a good guess
would be to get the film an R rating. I personally believe
that a director's cut of 8MM is needed in the future and perhaps
this is something that Sony should allow Criterion to do.
Parting Thoughts
Not many
pictures come along that fail with the general public because
they are disturbing. 8MM is one such picture. The ponderance
of the existence of "snuff films" and the underworld that
would create them are brought to the big screen. What the
film shows can be fairly graphic, but what the film neglects
to show and leaves for the imagination is what will scar.
The performances are not top notch, but good. The film really
could have been a classic is the primary villains were more
villainous. I enjoyed the film, but the film left enough of
a negative impression with its content that it took two months
to get around to reviewing it. My enjoyment of the picture
grew greatly after viewing it a second time, and a third time
with the commentary. With enough viewings, I could probably
argue myself to thinking this is one of the all-time greats.
It is that close to being one, if you can stomach it.
The video transfer and audio soundtrack are very good and do nothing
to hurt the picture. The supplements are not the deepest in content,
but the above average commentary and wealth of standard extras help
make the disc a good value. Sony has proven that they are among
the best when it comes to the films actual transfer and they are
getting better all the time with their supplements. Though 8MM may
not be for everybody, it is worth a look.
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