Synopsis
When three Vietnamese men are found dead, the prime suspect is a war vet who promisedto kill them after they were acquitted of assaulting his wife. Said vet slaughtered an entire villageduring the war, and the man who got him acquitted then, Brian Dennehy, is reluctantly convincedto take on the case. Though at first it seems that the prosecution has an iron-clad case, bit by bitDennehy finds clues that point to a frame-up.
About as typical a made-for-TV mystery as o…e could imagine. Dennehy phones hisperformance in, and is content to lumber around with a pained-but-jaded look in his eyes.Characterization is minimal. Scene after scene of people walking and talking fills up the runningtime, and the pivotal clue is obvious to the audience about an hour before the characters catch up.This may be based on a novel by Ed McBain, the king of police procedurals, but this feels nodifferent from any given episode of Matlock.
Audio
The 2.0 surround has its shining moments with the score, which sounds just fine. Otherwise,there is very little by way of surround effects. Most of the film is dialogue-driven and makes littleuse of sound design, but there are still a number of missed opportunities (background trafficnoise, for instance). The dialogue is a bit harsh and tends to distort a bit.
Video
The aspect is fullscreen, as one would expect. The colours are quite good, and the imageis nicely sharp. As TV transfers go, this isn’t bad. The blacks could be a bit stronger, and thereare some grainy scenes (usually during night sequences), but by and large the job gets done.
Special Features
None.
Closing Thoughts
Textbook example of mediocrity: nothing terrible, nothing great. Everyone was professional,showed up and collected their paychecks. Uninspiring.
