88 Minutes Blu-ray despite stunning video and audio falls short as a Blu-ray release
Dr. Jack Gramm is a college professor who moonlights as a forensic psychiatrist for the FBI. When Gramm receives a death threat claiming he has only 88 minutes to live, he must use all his skills and training to narrow down the possible suspects, who include a disgruntled student, a jilted former lover, and a serial killer who is already on death row, before his time runs out.
As recently lamented on the Made of Honor review, the mainstream Hollywood filmmaking process is a truly baffling beast. One wonders at the sheer volume of painfully bad - or just plain forgettable - films, churned out on a weekly basis and sneered at by millions. It is a subject of morbid fascination at how these films are greenlit. How they are financed. How they somehow make it through distribution and promotion, tossed up on the silver screen nationwide for all to gawk at. And of course, the most curious of all is how legendary, brand-name actors are lulled into participation with such a hack job project in the first place.
Enter 88 Minutes. The film came, and went, through theatres with little fanfare last April, and not without reason. Meant to be a crime thriller of sorts, the film stars Al Pacino, who really couldn't save this cinematic mess if he tried. The basic premise has Pacino, a forensic psychiatrist by the name of Jack Gramm, receiving a mysterious death threat from whom he suspects to be serial killer Jon Forster (Neal McDonough), an inmate at the Washington State Penitentiary who is only there because of Gramm's pivotal professional input at the witness stand. While on his way to his morning university class, Gramm gets a sudden and very unsettling call on his cell phone. "You have 88 minutes to live. Tick tock, doc!"
A picture perfect breakfast made by a hot naked chick in an apron. Yup, it's that kind of movie.
Such shenanigans make for great trailer fodder, but fleshing out an entire film from such a thin premise proves a hard feat, indeed. At first it felt like watching any other run-of-the-mill police drama on television - every channel has their own, anyway. But of course, what makes those programs so successful is the time restriction; everything must be resolved in 44 minutes... not 88. And even the outlandish faerie tale forensics that take place on most U.S. TV series seem like gold in comparison to 88 Minutes, which unravels as fast and as slatternly as a tossed roll of toilet paper.
Though plausibly slow to act at first, as he does not believe the threat to be genuine, Jack never seems too concerned about his impending doom. When he finally understands that this threat is quite real, Jack still seems to move at a relatively leisured pace. What follows is a series of false alarms and dead ends, with reams of characters tossed about in order to throw off the viewer. Copycat murders in Forster's style, with bodies of nubile young woman strung up by one leg, occur within hours of each other, and of course Gramm is falsely accused of these crimes through planted evidence. Imploring his longtime partner in the force to let him continue following his strong leads, Gramm is strung along by the killer, who taunts the man with ghosts from his past, and baits him by capturing and threatening to murder those close to him.
The film's denouement feels like something of an anticlimactic event. I suppose the thrill here was designed to be about the tense race for life, rather than the outcome. Unfortunately, there is no single point during the film that it succeeds in engaging the viewer. 88 Minutes is never able to build a sufficient amount of sympathy for the characters - heroes, victims, or killers alike. You simply do not care about the plight of the forensic psychiatrist or any of his large female entourage. As the ominous voice on the phone continues to count down, it creates a desire for the film to end rather than increasing the audience's level of anxiety; for a story supposedly about the last 88 minutes of a man's life, the film really crawls.
Predictably, all is made right in the end. Do you think a film like this would have the mettle to kill off Al Pacino, after all? Also, in typical Hollywood fashion, every woman appearing onscreen with a line or two were impossibly beautiful waifs; they all looked so alike that it was difficult to discern which name want with whom. It wasn't just a problem with the female cast - too many names and characters are thrown into the mix just to keep the viewer guessing, and it is confusing, but not in a good way. It creates a narrative mess that only contributes to the overall poor quality of the film. So here we have the film entitled 88 Minutes, which is intended to be a crime thriller. Unfortunately, it is not a thriller, but it is certainly a crime.
Encoded in AVC and averaging roughly 25 Mbps, 88 Minutes shows yet again that even the silliest throwaway movies can look great in high definition. The overall color tone of the film is muted, with urban scenes aplenty set amidst a dreary wet autumn. Lots of blacks and grays with a bluish tint dominate much of the time, and it isn't the prettiest film to look at, but sets the appropriate grim tone. Fortunately, when more lively hues pop up onscreen, like the greens of lawns, the oranges of changing foliage, or the fiery red hair of Gramm's teaching assistant Kim (Alicia Witt), they seem to attract more attention than they are supposed to on this Blu-ray release, because they look lovely in contrast to the rest of the film's palette. Blacks and shadow detail are presented well, and whites are bright but never bloom. Textures of skin, hair, and textures are satisfactorily clear and distinguishable. Contrast is nicely set, and there is a fine layer of film grain present much of the time. Sony continues to keep a high standard for BD even with their more embarrassing ventures like 88 Minutes.
No compressed options are to be found here as 88 Minutes features Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes in both English and French. With few exceptions, dialogue is clear and easy to understand, even in quieter introspective moments. The scoring by Edward Shearmur is never too intrusive on the action or the dialogue, though will still make its presence known by a fairly loud volume at times. Rear speakers pick up some score bleeding and engulf the viewer in the action with generous ambient sound. LFE are used to ample effect during much of the action, creating appropriate chaos without becoming too "boomy." In short, 88 Minutes boasts a fine aural mix, typical for films of its ilk, and the lossless TrueHD mix is a welcome inclusion on this Blu-ray release.
88 Minutes comes with a handful of extra features which, aside from the included trailers, are presented in standard definition. The the lengthiest by far is the Audio Commentary with director Jon Avnet. Avnet seems to be the kind of person who is more suited to producing than directing a film - and indeed, his IMDb credits show many more producer listings for film and TV, as opposed to outright directing. Avnet does not seem to have a connection with his chosen subject matter, and the result is all too plain on the screen. If nearly two hours worth of the director drawling on isn't enough for you, there is also the Director's Point of View, a featurette running just under 8 minutes in which Avnet speaks of the film's subject matter. The man only comes off as incredibly crass when he mentions things like speaking to World War II death camp survivors when trying to understand the victim mindset. How exactly are persecuted Jews relevant to victims of a serial killer in a fictional crime thriller? Only Jon Avnet knows, I suppose.
The disc also features an Alternate Ending, which is in fact more of an extended ending, adding a further few final moments which seem to bring better closure to the film overall. A second featurette, entitled The Character Within, is also just under 8 minutes; sitting down with Al Pacino, the actor gives his impressions of his character Jack Gramm, and speaks a bit on how he prepares for such a role.
Finally, Sony includes the plugs. Gotta have the plugs! The BD-Live function seems the same as other Sony BD titles, featuring trailers for download as well as a few interactive features for other releases - none are relevant to 88 Minutes. A handful of Previews for other recommended Blu-rays from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment are provided, including Prom Night, Made of Honor, Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, 21, Vantage Point, Untraceable, Resident Evil: Degeneration, and Felon.
With an incoherent narrative that simply does not succeed in enticing the viewer to care about the happenings onscreen, 88 Minutes can be added to the ever-growing pile of Hollywood junk cinema. Star Al Pacino seems to do the best with what he is given, but even his involvement doesn't make the film any more bearable. For its large and confusing array of female characters, not a one of them is more than a pawn or a set piece. Even random male characters are inserted purportedly to keep the viewer guessing, but are simply dropped when they no longer service the "plot." A real mess that leaves the viewer cold, 88 Minutes is one to avoid.
