Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video (both):

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1883 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1883 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
DTS-HD Master Audio English 1560 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1560 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps

• Audio Commentary by co-director Annabel Jankel
• Audio Commentary by co-director Rocky Morton
• Theatrical Trailer

Bitrates:

 

Description: Time is running out for Dexter Cornell (Dennis Quaid - Footloose, Soul Surfer, GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra). He has just 24 hours to unravel the bitter truth surrounding his own poisoning. In his desperate search, everyone's a suspect, even the woman who loves him (Meg Ryan - Kate & Leopold, You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle). Directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, creators of superstar "Max Headroom," D.O.A. pulsates with explosive action and sizzling performances by Quaid and Ryan, two people who find themselves suddenly living on the edge. It's a night on the run, filled with fear, danger...and passion.

 

 

The Film:

Does this sound like dialogue from a suspense-filled thriller? The idea for ''D.O.A.'' is a great one, borrowed from the 1949 Edmond O'Brien movie: a man is slipped a fatal, slow-acting poison, and has less than 48 hours to solve his own murder.

This updated version has Dennis Quaid, an actor with the spark and intelligence to carry off just about anything, as Dexter Cornell - English professor, blocked novelist, murder victim. Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, who directed ''D.O.A.,'' are the flashy, innovative creators of Max Headroom. Here they aim for a stylish mix of the 40's and 80's, beginning with a black and white homage to the older film, in which Mr. Quaid stumbles into a police station to report his own murder.

Excerpt from the NY Times located HERE

"They didn't kill me; I was dead already," is the statement uttered by Dexter Cornell (Dennis Quaid), an English professor... at the University of Texas at Austin who has been poisoned by a slow-acting toxin and who has twenty-four hours to track down his killers before he ceases to exist. Remade from the 1949 Rudolph Mate thriller by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, the co-directors jazz up the old luridness with slap-up doggishness that boosts the intensity-level higher than it deserves to go. Cornell is a burned-out novelist trying to hold on to tenure at the university while seeing his marriage collapse around him. As if that weren't enough, he is receiving amorous come-ons from smart, young student Sydney Fuller (Meg Ryan) and being badgered by another student, Nick Lang (Robert Knepper), to read his brilliant first novel. Not long after Dex demurs to Nick to read his novel, Nick is killed in a fall. Only then does Dex find out that Nick has been having an affair with his wife. Things keep going from bad to worse when, after an all-night drinking binge, Dex discovers that he has been slipped a poison that will kill him within 24 hours. Teaming up with the adoring Sydney, Dex tries to track down the person who poisoned him while dodging the cops, since he happens to be a prime murder suspect.

Excerpt from MRQE located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

The remake of D. O. A. looks modest in 1080P from Mill Creek. The Blu-ray image is a little noisy and flat.  It looks superior to SD and some textured grain is evident. Colors are dullish. The opening and closing black and white scenes look solid enough. Detail doesn't scale to dramatic heights via the single layered transfer. The bitrate is supportive and we can guess that this will be the best it looks for Home theater presentations. It's fairly HD in-motion.

Kino release "D.O.A." on a single-layered Blu-ray with a similiar, yet slightly improved bitrate to the Mill Creek. This newer Kino disc has a tad larger filesize for the MPEG-4 AVC video as well. The image from Kino seems to have slightly more detail, with a sharper image. Though a shade darker, the detail is clearly more impressive than it was on the Mill Creek Blu-ray. Colors are also more realistic, with warmer skintones and better shades of red, most noticeable in the cap with Charlotte Rampling (notice the background color change). This is not a drastic jump in quality, and yet this is clearly a better Blu-ray than Mill Creek's prior offering.

Audio :

Just a 480i trailer.

The sole extras (other than the film's trailer and a handful of other Kino trailers) are 2 audio commentaries one with co-director Annabel Jankel (notable for Max Headroom), the other with co-director, and former spouse - who they worked on many projects together -  Rocky Morton.

MillCreek - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

BOTTOM LINE:
It suited me as I was in the mood for this imperfect recreation of the classic original. Quaid is Quaid, Meg Ryan is perpetually cute and the story carries the film. It's really not that bad if you give it some slack. The Blu-ray is no star either but for under $10 - I say you may want to indulge yourself in a film worth tolerating every decade or so... you may have a pleasant surprise.

May 9th, 2012

Colin Vavitz

March 2019