Synopsis
Sylvester Stallone is Frankie Delano, bodyguard to Anthony Quinn (in his final filmappearance). Quinn, an aging mobster, is tidying up his life, and spending most of his timewatching his daughter (Madeleine Stowe) from a distance. He had to give her up in her infancy,otherwise she would have been killed in a vendetta, and she does not know who her father is.Stallone, natch, has long since fallen in love with Stowe after decades of watching her from afar.When Quinn is murder…d, Stallone takes it upon himself to protect the (deeply neurotic) Stowe,as well as letting her know who she really is. This sounds like the set-up for an action thriller,but the threats are never too serious, and most of the film involves the sparking of the twocharacters. As indicated, this is better than Eye See You, but that’s not really saying very much.Avenging Angelo is cheerful and good-humoured, but Stowe’s character comes across as abundle of male stereotypes about women, and the film needs more romance and comedy toproperly succeed as a romantic comedy.
Audio
The sound comes in both 5.1 and 2.0 versions. Bill Conti’s jaunty score leaps outimmediately, and is well-served throughout by the mix (becoming arguably the most successfulaspect of the film). The dialogue is clear and buzz-free. The sound effects are very good, bothfrom the point of view of left-right separation and rear speaker action. The environmental effect,whether we are in the middle of a cocktail crowd or one of the few gun battles, is almosttotal.
Video
The picture comes in both fullscreen and 2.35:1 widescreen versions. This fact is not,however, mentioned on the case (which refers only to the widescreen), and the disc itself defaultsto the fullscreen, so do look into Set-Up before you start the movie. The picture itself is verygood, with appealingly warm colours and contrasts (shifting to a starker palette in theflashbacks). The blacks are especially good, and there is no grain or edge enhancement halo todeal with.
Special Features
Director Martyn Burke’s commentary is interesting, and there is a degree of poignancy whenhe talks about Quinn, who died a few months after shooting completed. His death also castsa shadow over the 10-minute interview with writers Will Aldis and Steve Mackall (a discussiondominated by Aldis, who originated the story). The behind-the-scenes featurette really is behind-the-scenes: a 20-minute look at the shooting of a relatively small portion of the film — theclimax, shot in Palermo. The two trailers are interesting contrasts: the international versionmakes the film look like what it is (a romantic comedy), while the domestic trailer makes it seemlike a full-on action thriller, which it most certainly is not. The menu’s main page, intro andtransitions are animated and scored.
Closing Thoughts
An okay 90 minutes, no more, but backed up by rathe more extras than I would haveexpected.
Special Features List
- Director’s Commentary
- Writers’ Interview
- Featurette
- Domestic and International Trailers
