The Movie
Director John McTiernan brought many of his Die Hard caper flourishes to his remake of Norman Jewison's 1968 original Thomas Crown Affair, but also an entertaining character study to go along with the thrills. (He would also later remake Jewison's Rollerball, albeit less successfully.)
Mega-millionaire businessman-cum-art thief Crown's (Pierce Brosnan) adversary has become more aggressive, and more formidable since the days of Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, and Rene Russo makes the most of this role of a lifetime as the insurance investigator hot on his trail to recover a purloined $100M Monet. Their globetrotting, sexually charged game of cat and mouse is fairly dripping with glamour, and perhaps that's the reason why I actually know more women than men who like this movie. But with attractive leads, a winning story and ample action, there's something for everyone in this Affair.
The Picture
In an undeniable upgrade from the DVD, the 2.35:1 image here is sharp when it needs to be, but also captures the subtleties and anomalies of focus throughout. There is some noise, some distracting grain, and some very minor compression artifacts, plus the blacks can be a little severe. I wouldn't call this a reference-quality Blu-ray but it is an extremely enjoyable presentation nonetheless.
The Sound
Thomas Crown & Co. live in a fast-paced, often high-tech world and the aggressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix boasts terrific moments such as a shrill laser scanning the room, or machinery shutting down sequentially behind the walls all around us. There's all manner of directionality during the glider flight, palpable bass in the eclectic musical score, but also an impressive clarity to it all.
The Extras
There are no extras whatsoever on the Blu-ray, but Disc Two is a reasonable facsimile of the original 2000 DVD release, a standard/widescreen flipper with an audio commentary by director McTiernan.
Final Thoughts
If you enjoy this film as much as we do, you'll want to check the Blu-ray out simply for the step-up audio and video. While I was surprised that the existing DVD commentary was not ported onto the Blu-ray, I'm glad it has been preserved elsewhere in this set which, at $24.99 or less, is a steal.
Product Details
Where to Buy:
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Movie | |
| Extras |
