Dr. Spec
03-18-2003, 11:31 AM
Warning - This Review Contains Minor Plot Spoilers.
After reading tour2ma's stern admonition about this movie, I was rather hesitant to actually take the plunge and buy/rent it - since I highly value his opinion; his addiction to buying more gear than his house can comfortably hold not withstanding.
Nevertheless, Ron Epstein's generally positive review over at HTF swayed me back over to neutral so I figured what the heck, you only live once. No rental houses are carrying this movie, so I bought it from CC under a faux price match scheme against Wal-Mart for $17.99. The clerk was too busy to check and they really don't care anyway - at least not in my town.
Here's the breakdown - technical stuff first.
Video Transfer and Special Effects:
ScottVamp thought my raving about the video quality on Bourne Identity was a pant load, so take my opinion here FWIW.
The anamorphic video transfer on Below is absolutely amazing. Black levels are rich and deep, color rendering is extremely life-like, sharpness and detail is stunning (as good as or better than HDTV), and there is nary a grain nor digital artifact in sight. There is some grain in a flashback sequence, but it was clearly deliberate. If every DVD looked this good, we wouldn't need HD-DVD. Why budget films like Below can look this good, and mega-$$ films like SW Episodes I & II are in a perpetual state of soft focus is beyond me.
CGI special effects of the sub exterior are very good, especially when a dud depth charge rolls along the length of the hull, and when the destroyer overhead drags the ocean floor with huge grappling hooks in an effort to snag and ruin the sub.
Soundtrack:
Dolby Digital 5.1. Compared to my reference standard for sub movies (U-571-dts), Below falls a bit short, but it is still above average.
The LFE track is satisfyingly powerful on depth charge scenes and during deep groans and bumps on the ship's hull, but it lacks the sheer impact and power of U-571-dts. Bumping up the sub level 2 clicks would probably get me where I want on this disc for the next viewing.
Surround effects are put to good use, as one might expect for a haunted war-sub movie. There are groans, clanks, and panning effects aplenty here, but again it is lacking some of the completely enveloping and razor sharp character of U-571-dts on the "200 meters scene". Again, bumping the surrounds up a click or two might help on the next viewing.
Vocals are clear and fill the room well, and the orchestral music track is properly understated and mostly used for building suspense and delivering impact during scary scenes.
The Plot:
This is basically a WWII sub movie (circa 1943) with a twist. The crew of the USS Tiger Shark is ordered to pick-up survivors of a torpedoed British medical ship. After they pick them up (one is a woman), strange things start to occur on board. Submariners are a superstitious lot anyway, so it doesn't take much to unnerve them.
Eventually, the strange happenings take on a violent and deadly nature and the crew finds itself in a fight for its life against mechanical failures, its own superstitious fears, and quite possibly the ghost of the recently dead captain. The sub takes on a life of its own and seems hell bent on returning to the site where the survivors were originally picked up. To tell more would ruin the movie, but the "secret" the crew has been keeping since picking up the survivors eventually leaks out, and the ending has an interesting twist as it all comes together for the viewer.
There are mechanical detail shots aplenty of the interior of the USS Tiger Shark and this was a real treat for a war buff like me. The doors that seal the sub compartments have a unique mechanical differential gear action, and are of a much higher construction grade than the typical compression screw design on a German sub. Ditto for the battery room, and the ocean water temperature plotter (it is harder to get a sonar read on a sub that is in colder water).
There are also several very close-up detail shots of small instruments, pen/pencil tips, cigarette butts, lamp filaments, etc., that are used very effectively and the scene set-up and camera work is high caliber and often unique.
Acting performances from the crew are gritty and realistic. They are a crude and motley crew very much in vein of Das Boot, and Below actually exceeds U-571 in this respect. They amuse themselves in the ways only real men aboard a war sub for months at a time can appreciate. They even play a cruel and extreme practical joke on the female survivor much to her chagrin and their glee.
Where this movie definitely falls short is in the plot. There are clearly inconsistencies, unresolved issues, and it suffers from pacing problems. There are a few genuinely scary moments that result more from shock value than from a true build in suspense. This movie could have been SO much better with a judicious plot rework.
Summary:
If you're the type that simply cannot get past plot shortcomings, take a pass on Below.
For me somebody like me (who bought The Haunting in DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete just for the soundtrack), the video quality, special effects, soundtrack, and camera work made Below a worthy HT contender.
Video Quality: 10
Soundtrack: 8
Acting: 8
Scene Set-up and Camera Work: 9
Plot: 6
Regards,
Doc
After reading tour2ma's stern admonition about this movie, I was rather hesitant to actually take the plunge and buy/rent it - since I highly value his opinion; his addiction to buying more gear than his house can comfortably hold not withstanding.
Nevertheless, Ron Epstein's generally positive review over at HTF swayed me back over to neutral so I figured what the heck, you only live once. No rental houses are carrying this movie, so I bought it from CC under a faux price match scheme against Wal-Mart for $17.99. The clerk was too busy to check and they really don't care anyway - at least not in my town.
Here's the breakdown - technical stuff first.
Video Transfer and Special Effects:
ScottVamp thought my raving about the video quality on Bourne Identity was a pant load, so take my opinion here FWIW.
The anamorphic video transfer on Below is absolutely amazing. Black levels are rich and deep, color rendering is extremely life-like, sharpness and detail is stunning (as good as or better than HDTV), and there is nary a grain nor digital artifact in sight. There is some grain in a flashback sequence, but it was clearly deliberate. If every DVD looked this good, we wouldn't need HD-DVD. Why budget films like Below can look this good, and mega-$$ films like SW Episodes I & II are in a perpetual state of soft focus is beyond me.
CGI special effects of the sub exterior are very good, especially when a dud depth charge rolls along the length of the hull, and when the destroyer overhead drags the ocean floor with huge grappling hooks in an effort to snag and ruin the sub.
Soundtrack:
Dolby Digital 5.1. Compared to my reference standard for sub movies (U-571-dts), Below falls a bit short, but it is still above average.
The LFE track is satisfyingly powerful on depth charge scenes and during deep groans and bumps on the ship's hull, but it lacks the sheer impact and power of U-571-dts. Bumping up the sub level 2 clicks would probably get me where I want on this disc for the next viewing.
Surround effects are put to good use, as one might expect for a haunted war-sub movie. There are groans, clanks, and panning effects aplenty here, but again it is lacking some of the completely enveloping and razor sharp character of U-571-dts on the "200 meters scene". Again, bumping the surrounds up a click or two might help on the next viewing.
Vocals are clear and fill the room well, and the orchestral music track is properly understated and mostly used for building suspense and delivering impact during scary scenes.
The Plot:
This is basically a WWII sub movie (circa 1943) with a twist. The crew of the USS Tiger Shark is ordered to pick-up survivors of a torpedoed British medical ship. After they pick them up (one is a woman), strange things start to occur on board. Submariners are a superstitious lot anyway, so it doesn't take much to unnerve them.
Eventually, the strange happenings take on a violent and deadly nature and the crew finds itself in a fight for its life against mechanical failures, its own superstitious fears, and quite possibly the ghost of the recently dead captain. The sub takes on a life of its own and seems hell bent on returning to the site where the survivors were originally picked up. To tell more would ruin the movie, but the "secret" the crew has been keeping since picking up the survivors eventually leaks out, and the ending has an interesting twist as it all comes together for the viewer.
There are mechanical detail shots aplenty of the interior of the USS Tiger Shark and this was a real treat for a war buff like me. The doors that seal the sub compartments have a unique mechanical differential gear action, and are of a much higher construction grade than the typical compression screw design on a German sub. Ditto for the battery room, and the ocean water temperature plotter (it is harder to get a sonar read on a sub that is in colder water).
There are also several very close-up detail shots of small instruments, pen/pencil tips, cigarette butts, lamp filaments, etc., that are used very effectively and the scene set-up and camera work is high caliber and often unique.
Acting performances from the crew are gritty and realistic. They are a crude and motley crew very much in vein of Das Boot, and Below actually exceeds U-571 in this respect. They amuse themselves in the ways only real men aboard a war sub for months at a time can appreciate. They even play a cruel and extreme practical joke on the female survivor much to her chagrin and their glee.
Where this movie definitely falls short is in the plot. There are clearly inconsistencies, unresolved issues, and it suffers from pacing problems. There are a few genuinely scary moments that result more from shock value than from a true build in suspense. This movie could have been SO much better with a judicious plot rework.
Summary:
If you're the type that simply cannot get past plot shortcomings, take a pass on Below.
For me somebody like me (who bought The Haunting in DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete just for the soundtrack), the video quality, special effects, soundtrack, and camera work made Below a worthy HT contender.
Video Quality: 10
Soundtrack: 8
Acting: 8
Scene Set-up and Camera Work: 9
Plot: 6
Regards,
Doc