“Deception” on BLU RAY – A Review

"...This Isn't A Negotiation..." – Deception on BLU RAY

Mild-mannered accountant Jonathan McQuarry (Ewan McGregor) sits alone at his laptop in the plush boardroom of yet another New York high-rise mega-company doing employee audits. It’s 10:30 pm and he’s still working.

From out of nowhere – Jonathan is joined by the handsome and very slick Wyatt Bose (Hugh Jackman) – a lawyer who is clearly living a life poor McQuarry could only dream of. Bose feels sorry for the sad number cruncher - stays for a chat that soon becomes a shared spliff – joking about life (or the lack of it) as they watch the city go by on the streets down below. Next thing you know they’re playing tennis together – Jonathan sees Wyatt’s fabulous apartment – his uber babe lifestyle in city bars – his equally well-heeled work colleagues…

Then by accident at lunch in the park one afternoon – Jonathan mixes up his mobile with Wyatt’s – and that night while Wyatt is in London closing a business deal – he get’s a phonecall from a sexy female executive voice asking if "...he’s free tonight?" Jonathan soon works out that playboy Wyatt is part of a group of sex connoisseurs – powerful people enjoying anonymity and physical liaisons in plush hotels around New York because they’re on "The List". He takes a chance and soon he’s engaging in hot passion with gorgeous corporate women on "The List" who would never have looked at him twice.

But then one night in yet another hotel room - in walks a blonde girl he saw on the subway that he really liked (Michelle Williams) – and an immediate spark is lit between them. He doesn't want her to take clothes off - but talk - like normal human beings. But just as the relationships is moving away from call girl to partner – he wakes up in yet another strange room with one too many drinks taken and her naked body is missing – replaced with bloodied sheets. Then Wyatt suddenly turns up and he’s not the nice guy he once seemed. And on top of corporate blackmail - the woman Jonathan now loves - is in danger from this oily confidence man…

Directed by Marcel Laggenegger in 2008 - Mark Bomback’s razor-sharp script is brilliant – twisting and turning and constantly leading you astray. It’s helped by a trio of superbly chosen actors – McGregor as the put upon nobody who must become a somebody – Jackman as the smiling beguiling snake who knows how to press the emotional buttons in suckers – and Michelle Williams as the reluctant participant – caught up in something that gets out of hand – even murderous…

The BLU RAY picture quality is top notch – beautifully filmed to give it that silver-suit office slickness (Aspect Ratio 2.40:1). Extras include a feature length Commentary with the Director, a Making Of called “Exposing The Deception”, Deleted Scenes and a feature on the various nightclubs called “Club Sexy”. Audio is English 5.1 DTS and English 2.0 Dolby Digital - while the lone Subtitle is English SDH.

"Deception" on BLU RAY is a superb thriller with brains, cool, sexiness and angles you didn’t see coming. Play the game with this one…

"Prisoners" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2013 Film…

Here is a link to Amazon UK to get this BLU RAY at the best price:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00GBZVOEY

“…He Knows Where They Are!” – Prisoners on BLU RAY

Young parents Keller and Grace Dover walk over to the suburban home of Franklin and Nancy Birch in the November cold for a Thanksgiving Dinner involving neighbours, laughter and bad trumpet playing (Hugh Jackman, Maria Bello, Terence Howard and Viola Davis). Their respective daughters of 7 and 6 Anna and Eliza happily play upstairs with a pet while the adults below drink and reminisce. That is until both children go outside to play - and unaccompanied - addle up to the back of a muddied RV parked suspiciously by the kerb in broad daylight...

Although I thoroughly despise material that uses children being hurt as entertainment - "Prisoners" beats the pants off so many supposed thrillers because it reeks of intelligence (a fantastic and clever script) and has a cast that emotionally rivets you to the screen every second they're up there. It's also prepared to be silent - ordinary even - thereby making some scenes disturbingly close to how real life actually is. It's unnerving, creepy and stomach churning in places too (there are monsters out there).

In order for this to work you need major league actors - and lots of them - and right down to a repentant Paedophile Priest - even the small parts are perfectly cast. Hugh Jackman plays Keller Dover - a redecorator/builder and a 'prepare for the worst' deer-shooting survivalist - while his wife Grace believes she'll and her family will be 'safe' with him. Mild-mannered neighbours and friends Franklin and Nancy Birch have the opposite dynamic - the wife is the boss while her husband is more reflective.  But when a local simpleton Alex Jones is found singing in the front seat of the squalid RV and arrested but won't talk - both sets of parents have their patience and nerves tested. Frustrated by the cops lack of progress and working to the letter of the law - and with the days passing and time running out for their abducted daughters - Alpha Male Keller decides to take matters into his own hands...

Into this emotional cauldron comes Detective Loki who’s solved every case he's ever been given. He may at times seem too detached from the parent's pain and rage - but he's a man who spots things and sees through the lies in people (a mesmerizing Jake Gyllenhaal). Obsessive yet law-abiding - he instinctively feels that spaced out Alex Jones who can't say much but can still drive an RV easily - is lying - sickly concealing the whereabouts of the girls and enjoying the cat and mouse game too (an Oscar performance yet again from Paul Dano - the preacher in "There Will Be Blood"). But is he? And what about his heart-broken mother (subtle brilliance from Melissa Leo) who has defended this social outcast all her life - despite her religion-obsessed husband leaving years back and abandoning them both. Keller even goes after her. In the meantime Grace Dover (a ragged looking Maria Bello) simply breaks at the enormity of her child being lost - while the stoical Nancy folds her arms, grits her teeth and reconciles herself to what both fathers must do - go over demarcation lines you really shouldn't cross...

The genius of Aaron Guzikowski's script and Dennis Villeneuve's Direction is that one whole hour in - and you're absolutely none the wiser as to who is the bad guy and who isn't. And it has to be said that some of the violence is horrible and cringing. But what keeps you watching is the sheer visceral power of the actors. The dance between Jackman and Gyllenhaal is fantastic cinema - both men barely holding on to any humanity or faith as the frustration mounts and suspicions arise (exactly the sick kind of mental torture the abductor wants to inflict on them). And you also sit there questioning just how far a determined parent would go to get their child back (abusing a man who may or may not be an innocent).

Special mention has to be made of the picture quality of the BLU RAY. Defaulted to Full Aspect (which fills up the whole screen) - "Prisoners" is starkly gorgeous and truly beautiful throughout. Often without any music - the blunt and stainless steel cold angles ratchet up the tension to unbearable levels (fear of what is happening to the children). It's the Cinematography genius of ROGER DEAKINS ("The Shawshank Redemption" and "True Grit"). Scene after scene is filled with it: casing a house in the pouring rain at night - Jones walking his dog as Keller spies on him from a nearby truck - the decaying body tied to a chair in the basement of a suspect's house - Detective Loki interviewing a sex offender you can't see behind a filthy pane of glass - Loki's tired bulging eyes and unkempt stubble (hasn't slept for days) as he leans forward into a computer monitor scouring the screen for any detail that will help - closing in on the jagged bark of a tree... The framing of everything is the unsung hero of the movie - adding unbelievable depth and genuine unease that serves right up until the superb and clever ending.

There are two Extras - the short "Every Moment Counts" and the more extensive "Powerful Performers" which features enthusiastic interviews with all the principal actors, Director Dennis Villeneuve and Producers Kara Davis and Broderick Johnson. But don't watch "Powerful Performers" before you watch the movie - it rather clumsily gives away far too much in terms of the twisting plot.

The brilliant and unsettling "Prisoners" had my wife and I on the edge of our seats unable to press the pause button to desperately go to the loo. Now that's how you put the 'thrill' in thriller.

Job done I'd say...