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Frailty Blu-ray Review |
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Frailty Blu-ray
Lionsgate Films | 2001 | 100 mins | Rated R | Nov 24, 2009
Frailty Blu-ray ReviewA disquieting genre standout earns a flawed Blu-ray release...Reviewed by Kenneth Brown, December 10, 2009 There's a fine line between intelligent horror and gimmick-laced drivel. One offers complex human beings forced to endure terrifying ordeals and creatures that defy common logic, the other offers caricatures bent on surviving a series of seemingly random encounters with unadulterated evil. One revels in psychological complexity and thematic ambiguity, the other celebrates the visceral and the vile. One allows viewers to relate to its protagonists and recoil from its frights, the other invites viewers to detach from its victims and embrace their fates. One examines the intricacies of morality and madness, the other is content with fountains of blood and gruesome gore. And it's in each of these areas that director Bill Paxton and screenwriter Brent Hanley's Frailty proves itself to be a smarter, scarier, more satisfying dose of horror than Hollywood often hands filmfans.
An upstanding father (Bill Paxton) wakes his young children, Fenton (Matt O'Leary) and Adam (Jeremy Sumpter), in the dead of night. With wide eyes and hushed elation, he tells them of an angel who visited his bedside and tasked him with a mission from God: to destroy a number of demons posing as humans in their local town. Initially, Fenton refuses to believe his father would harm anyone, but when dear old dad comes home with his first demon -- a woman who appears to be completely innocent -- his nightmares become all too real. While Adam seems convinced of their father's mission, Fenton is anything but, questioning every decision, action, and anointed holy weapon that graces the fragile man's mind. The slippery tale unfolds several decades later as a much older Fenton (Matthew McConaughey) tells his story to an FBI agent (Powers Boothe) searching for a serial killer. He explains that Adam has taken up his father's mantle, offers to lead the FBI to the location of several bodies, and attempts to deal with own inner demons along the way. Little in Frailty's surreal dreamscape is certain, but it renders Fenton's guilt-ridden confessions that much more absorbing. Drawing from Hitchcock, Poe, and Stephen King, Paxton and Hanley deliver a truly memorable horror film that, in spite of its restrained atmosphere, doesn't remotely resemble gimmick-laced drivel. I should start by admitting I've never been a big Paxton junkie. Other than Frailty, A Simple Plan, and Big Love, his work simply hasn't resonated in my mind. However, his handle on Hanley's story and its tone, both behind and in front of the camera, lends the haunting tale legitimacy and potency. As the Meiks family's nameless patriarch -- I love that his God-given ax boasts a prominent name, but his character is left without one -- Paxton manages to blend the soft disciplined demeanor of a caring father with the unwieldy desperation of a madman. The scenes he shares with his young co-stars are both affectionate and frightening, providing the film with its most touching exchanges and disturbing, frankly repulsive sequences. To that end, O'Leary and Sumpter are equally effective, forgoing rote kiddie line-reading in favor of more nuanced, unexpectedly mature performances. While Sumpter seems a bit too willing to follow dad to hell and back, third-act revelations tie up any loose ends. Likewise, while O'Leary seems to have difficulty navigating some of Paxton's meatier scenes, Hanley's endgame fills in a few minor gaps. While I walked away impressed the first time I watched Frailty, it becomes a fully realized film with subsequent viewings. But it's Boothe and McConaughey's stellar game of cat-and-mouse that allows Frailty to conceal its twists and captivate its audience. Theirs is a dance of hesitance and distrust; one fears squandering his investigation on flights of fancy, the other struggles with betraying his family and sharing their dark secrets. Each actor maintains careful control over their characters, giving Paxton ample opportunity to develop the film's underlying dread, toy with his viewers' cinematic securities, and deliver an engrossing story. Yes, Holmsian sleuths will unravel some of Hanley's mysteries long before answers are presented on-screen, but I doubt anyone, even the most eagle-eyed clue addicts, will see every turn coming. The last five minutes alone are a complete game-changer, and a fascinating, unpredictable one at that. If anything holds Frailty back from genre perfection, it's the inclusion of a handful of missteps -- Fenton's face in a dark cellar chief among them -- that seem out of place with Paxton's subtle repertoire of measured angles, refined lighting, and less-is-more style. Still, these distracting shots rarely detract from the experience and Frailty largely escapes unscathed. As it stands, Paxton's film is one of the best horror films of the last ten years and deserves to bring new fans into its fold. Video  Sadly, Frailty's high definition debut is marred by a wildly inconsistent 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that suffers from a number of issues. While Bill Butler's photography is cloaked with an intentionally dreamy haze, an overzealous application of noise reduction reduces clarity even further. It's curious: some shots, particularly in the third act, feature a fine veneer of grain and more revealing textures, others offer little more than smeared skin, waxy faces, and indistinct fine details. Don't get me wrong, it all looks dramatically better than its 2002 DVD counterpart -- colors are bolder and more stable, fleshtones are more lifelike, blacks are deeper, and edge definition is more impressive -- but its lesser qualities continually hinder the impact of the upgrade. It doesn't help that faint artifacts dot the proceedings, crush crops up on occasion, ringing is a constant problem, and a few nighttime shots are assaulted by source noise. Severe aliasing also appears at inopportune times, generally whenever a foreground object is framed by Paxton's sunlit summer skies. In these instances, everything from faces to cars, roofs to an iron gateway exhibit somewhat harsh, digitized edges. Granted, it isn't a frequent eyesore, but it's there nonetheless. All things considered, Frailty's transfer is decent, and certainly a step up from the standard DVD, but it leaves a lot to be desired. Audio  Lionsgate's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track is more impressive, but only by a small margin. Though it isn't limited by any outright technical issues, it doesn't pack the sonic punch listeners might expect from such a beefy mix. Anytime the Meiks ax is about to fall, Brian Tyler's musical score and the film's genre ambience surge, calling upon raw LFE power and rear speaker chaos to make every hunt and kill a disturbing aural experience. However, most scenes are supported only by the filmmakers' minimalistic sound design, resulting in an exceedingly quiet, front-heavy soundfield that isn't nearly as immersive as I hoped it would be. Acoustics are solid but not entirely convincing, dynamics are a tad spotty, and directionality is hit or miss. Thankfully, dialogue remains intelligible and nicely prioritized throughout, and pans are smooth. Effects are also quite crisp and clean, granting subtle elements -- the shuffling of a bound victim, the scattering of soft earth -- adequate presence in the mix. Ultimately, I doubt anyone will be blown away by Frailty's DTS-HD MA track, but it does add some welcome value to the release. Supplements The Blu-ray edition of Frailty arrives with the same generous supplemental package that first appeared on Lionsgate's 2002 DVD. But, aside from the content's standard definition video presentation, that it isn't a bad thing at all. With three audio commentaries and several quality features, it's a strong addition to this release.
Final words Frailty is an excellent genre pic, one that's already been deemed a classic in many circles. Both its performances and story are up to snuff, and Paxton proves himself to be a sure-handed filmmaker. Unfortunately, Lionsgate's Blu-ray release doesn't fare as well. Its video transfer is hindered by a number of issues, its DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track is a tad underwhelming, and its supplemental package, while strong in its own right, has merely been ported from Lionsgate's 2002 DVD. The Blu-ray edition is certainly worth the bargain bin pricepoint it's been assigned and will hopefully make its way into many a collection, regardless of the disc's shortcomings. 
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