As much of a Bruce Willis fan as I am, I have to admit that this movie has no initial appeal to me. Still I am a fan of thrillers and hope I can be surprised by this one as it has a good enough cast including the previously mentioned Bruce Willis, Halle Berry, and Giovanni Ribisi.
The movie opens with the death of Grace, best friend of Rowena Price (Halle Berry, X-Men). We don’t learn much about her so it’s hard to garner up any feelings towards Rowena’s plight in tracking down the killer. But nonetheless as the story plays on Rowena enlists the help of her good friend Miles (Giovanni Ribisi Gone In 60 Seconds) and narrows down the list of potential killers to Harrison Hill (Bruce Willis, Live Free or Die Hard). The rest of the movie consists of Rowena following a trail of evidence that in the end is irrelevant in a twist ending that is quite common of modern day film.
What a disappointing film Perfect Stranger truly was. With an over abundance of twists that had no real bearing on the outcome, and some pretty sour performances its hard to find aspects about this movie to enjoy. The film really lacked conviction, and there was definitely no elements of thrill involved whatsoever.
Halle Berry was probably the biggest disappointment regarding this film, with a very choppy performance, completely lacking any depth. Bruce Willis had a few good moments throughout the film, but all and all this had to be one of the low points of his career as well. The real show stealer here was Giovanni Ribisi who seems to be improving on his trade in each movie I see him in.
So the story was a bit timid, the acting was sub par coming from Hollywood’s big hitters, the thrills were implausible and almost completely absent. The main thing that bothered me about this movie was the fact that the filmmakers filmed 3 alternate endings, each with a different character as the killer. I guess after some test groups they decided which ending to go with, which I wasn’t to keen on myself. Regardless, this movie was a major disappointment, and I couldn’t with good sense recommend it to anyone.
Video
Presented in 2.40:1 Widescreen, Perfect Stranger is fitted with a good transfer, unfortunately there a few things keeping it from looking great. Up close shots of the face look the best, with impressive detail and flesh tone hues. Colors themselves look vibrant; never looking too saturated or washed out. Edge enhancement is on the low side but is apparent in some exterior shots. Speaking of exteriors, the film takes place in New York and it was extremely disappointing to see how bad these shots looked compared to the rest of the film. Rather than looking crisp and detailed, these shots looked extremely soft and at times blurry. This problem is apparent in zoomed out interiors shots as well, although it doesn’t look as bad here. Still the good outweighs the bad here and we are left with a decent looking transfer.
Audio
Sony has included a 5.1 Dolby Digital track which is available in both English and French languages. There isn’t anything amazing about this track and nothing will leap out at you, but it does still provide a solid track for the dull movie. At least we get to see Bruce Willis throw some guy over his desk into a wall, which sounds as good as it looks. Aside from the Victoria Secret event and a few restaurant/bar scenes there isn’t much here that will use more than your front channels. Still, dialogue sounds clear and comes though the front channels with some depth.
Special Features
We are given only one feature here but at least it offers some info on the making of the film.
- Virtual Lives: The Making of Perfect Stranger – A 12 minute making of feature that feature interview with cast Halle Berry, Bruce Willis and Giovanni Ribisi as well as various crew like Director James Foley. As the only feature on the disc it is disappointing to see this run only 12 minutes. It does however provide a good amount of information on the films production.
Final Thoughts
The film itself was completely disappointing, that alone is enough for me to suggest you stay away from this DVD. But if for some reasons you think this movie is worthwhile owning then you will be pleased enough with this decently put together disc.
