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Changing Lanes
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (17th May 2009). |
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The Film
 I don't know about you but there was a time where Ben Afflect infected the media like a cancer that was hard to kill. I was sick of hearing about Ben Afflect, I was sick of "Pearl Harbor" (2001), I was sick of the whole "Gigli" (2003) thing, I was sick of the whole "Bennifer" thing. There was a time when Ben was EVERYWHERE and it began to annoy me. This minor annoyance was probably why I didn't go and see "Changing Lanes" in the cinemas. But I had made a mistake, only having discovered the film long after on DVD and now it gets its Blu-ray release. After viewing the film previously on DVD and now in HD I wished I had the chance to see it on the big screen because in a word this film is terrific. Ben Afflect stars as corporate attorney Gavin Banek and Samuel L. Jackson as recovering alcoholic Doyle Gipson two men whose worlds cannot be further apart, caught up in their own dramas these two men meet as a result of a fender bender on the FDR highway. In his rush Gavin leaves the scene of the accident in order to make his court appearance to deliver to the judge important documents pertaining to a high profile case. However he inadvertently leaves the file on the side of the road and is now in the hands of Doyle who was left stranded on the FDR highway. As a result Doyle misses his child custody court hearing and sole custody has been awarded to his wife who plans to move away from Doyle. After spending a good portion of his life trying to clean up his act and stop drinking Doyle was finally in a place where he and his family could start over again, but since he missed his hearing all that has gone down the toilet. Gavin now has a dilemma, if he doesn't get the file back by the end of the day and present it to the judge, his job and career are in jeopardy, he may even face jail time. At a chance meeting with Doyle he tries to pay him off for the file, but all Doyle wants is his twenty minutes back so he can rebuild his relationship with his estranged wife and kids. It's at this point where the film begins to get very interesting, as it triggers a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. Gavin tries to force Doyle in giving him back the file by contracting the services of a hacker to break into Doyle's personal records and destroy his credit. In return Doyle threatens to destroy the file if his credit isn't restored. One turn begets another until someone is willing to stop and do the right thing. The film's themes of eye-for-an-eye is interestingly integrated into the film's message, which thankfully isn't as heavy handed as you might think. The film works as an effective dramatic thriller and moves at an equally rapid pace after the opening build up. You'll find yourself at the end hoping it would have been a little longer... but in saying that I'm glad the filmmaker's didn't over extend the film as they could easily have exhausted the premis. This was a captivating film from start to finish, held together by some wonderful performances by the two leading men as well as an excellent supporting cast that includes Toni Collette, Sydney Pollack and Amanda Peet. Director Roger Michell has pieced together a fine drama made up of smart storytelling that really plays on the viewers loyalties between the two characters, these are all accentuated with solid cinematography and well paced editing keep you interested the whole way through. I would recommend this film to anyone.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.35:1 and delivered onto Blu-ray in 1080p 24/fps high-definition mastered with AVC MPEG-4 compression. The filmed good on DVD and looks even better on HD. The film's sharpness is consistent with only the occasional bit of softness, close-ups particularly look impressive with detail right down to facial textures. Wide shots exhibit excellent detail, colors are accurate and reflect the steely look of the locations and sets. Black levels are equally solid, there's some grain, but it's light and not distracting. There was also some dirt and the occasional speck that popped up, these are the only flaws that I could spot.
Audio
Paramount has released this film on HD with three audio tracks, they are in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround as well as French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its TrueHD audio track, the DVD had an ok track, this HD audio feels similar to the DVD's standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. While dialogue is clear, ambient sounds are well mixed and music comes across well the overall depth was a little lacking and the track felt lacking in punch. If anything it's serviceable. Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Extras
Paramount has ported over all the extras from the DVD release, included are a director's audio commentary, two featurettes, some deleted/extended scenes as well as a theatrical trailer. The first extra is the feature-length audio commentary by the film's director Roger Michell, the director talks mainly about his character's motivations, the locations used in the film and how the events of 9/11 effected the film. These comments are also interweaved with the occasional on set story or tidbit. Overall it's a very interesting and informative track. Following the commentary we have two featurettes the first entitled "The Making of Changing Lanes" your basic EPK style clip which runs 14 minutes 58 seconds in length and is made up of various interviews edited in with some behind-the-scenes footage and clips from the film. The second featurette is entitled "The Writer's Perspective" and runs for 6 minutes 30 seconds. This is basically interviews with the two screenwriters Michael Tolkin and Chap Taylor. They discuss the writing of the film and the character's motivations. Then there are two deleted scenes and one extended scene running a total of 9 minutes 30 seconds. The first features Gavin conducting a job interview with a young law graduate, and the second deleted scene features Doyle getting fired from his job. And finally we get an extended confessional booth scene with Gavin and doesn't really add anything to the film. There are no explanations why these scenes where trimmed but it's not really necessary. Rounding out the extras is the film's theatrical trailer which runs for 2 minutes 11 seconds.
Overall
"Changing Lanes" is an underestimated drama that is both riveting and thought provoking, what we have is one solid film, the audio and video are decent enough and although the extras are light I'd still recommend this film.
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