Primal Fear

Richard Gere is great, as usual. Ed Norton, however, is fantastic and steals the spotlight in this incredible movie that has a twist you have no way to see coming before it occurs. Made my jaw drop!

FORMAT: Blu-Ray UPC: 8-83929-30112-6 RELEASED: 2009-05-10TITLE: Primal Fear (1996) • R • 2:10:28 Richard Gere, Laura Linney, John Mahoney, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Alfre Woodard, Maura Tierney, Andre Braugher, Steven Bauer Gregory Hoblit (Director) The movie that made Edward Norton a star (well, made him somewhat more widely known, anyway). This movie is the kind of intelligent, well written, well acted and well made adult drama that you rarely see anymore. It relies on its story and the performances of its actors to keep you engaged — and, it does an excellent job on both fronts in achieving the goal of having you on the edge of your seat for the entire movie. As fine an example of psychological/courtroom drama as you will ever see (and, yet another vivid example of things NOT being as they appear). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. See the other reviews for more detail and/or other opinions regarding the plot of the movie.VIDEO: 1.78:1 • Color • 1080p • MPEG-4 AVC (34.1 Mbps) Mostly, the images in this movie are fairly sharp, and they have decent shadow detail. They also feature richly saturated colors in most of the outdoor daylight scenes and muted colors in most of the indoor and nighttime scenes. However, the entire film appeared ever-so-slightly soft, and lacking in fine detail — as was evident in many of the close-ups of faces and clothing (I can't tell if this "slight" softness is due to the original film stock and lens or to some deficiency in the transfer — though, I suspect, it is due to the source elements). Otherwise, there were no other major picture anomalies (such as: dropped frames, specks, hair-lines, white dots, color fluctuations, etc.) to mar the image. Overall, this movie's picture quality is pretty good, and it should satisfy most viewers.AUDIO: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48 KHz, 24-bit) It is hard to believe now, but when this movie was initially released on Laser Disc (as one of that format's first movies to feature an "AC-3" [i.e.—Dolby Digital] soundtrack) it was considered a state-of-the-art, and demo worthy, soundtrack! Fast forward a few years (quite a few years, actually), and, while it still sounds pretty good, it is NOWHERE NEAR the current state-of-the-art in movie soundtracks. None of this is say that it is a bad soundtrack — to the contrary, it has dialog that is clear and well placed, and it has fairly active surround channels (which are somewhat directional when they are used). But, the subwoofer isn't used very often, and when it is used, it isn't very loud or particularly deep. However, the music is very well recorded, and it is spread very effectively into the surrounds. Overall, considering the age of this film (and the fact that it is primarily dialog-driven), its audio presentation should satisfy the vast majority of listeners.EXTRAS: Director's commentary 'Behind-the-Scenes' Video Several Featurettes Trailers None of the extras were reviewed.

Love watching a good mystery , this movie keeps you on edge .

I initially saw this movie in the theater and really enjoyed it. Many years later I wanted to watch it again so decided to purchase it and add it to my collection. I am sure I will be watching it again in the future. Edward Norton is amazing and Richard Gere is also very good. This movie holds your attention as it takes many twists and turns. I never would have guessed the ending and suspect you won’t either. If you like psychological thrillers you should definitely watch this movie.

Think this was Norton's first film, and he did a bang up job of acting. Clever script and story. Worth the viewing.

This is an excellent courtroom movie starring. Edward Norton and richard Gere

Loved all of the movie.

Edward Norton shows his chops in this film. Lots of twists and turns and keeps your interest.

Arrived in mint condition, glad someone is stocking it, because it was discontinued some time ago.The film, by the way, is top acting from messrs Gere and Norton. Bone chilling.

Recomendable

Je ne connaissais pas Edward Norton lorsque j'ai découvert ce film il y a quelques années.Et je dois dire que j'ai été complétement bluffée par cet acteur prodigieux (alors débutant) et sa performance (aux côtés de Richard Gere, excellent également) dans ce policier qui vous tient en haleine du début à la fin.Fin qui nous réserve une sacrée surprise !!!!!Ce film est vraiment une réussite totale et je le regarde régulièrement avec le même bonheur, même si je connais le dénouement.A noter la musique du film que j'adore également et que j'écoute parfois en boucle.

"Primal Fear" ist ein Film aus dem Jahre 1996, welcher auf dem gleichnamigen Roman aus dem Jahr 1993 basiert,das Buch hatte später auch noch zwei recht misslungene Fortsetzungen bekommen, welche nie verfilmt wurden.Eine Studie ist der Film nicht wirklich, allerdings werden Wirkung und Ursache, Psychologie von Verbrechern und psychische Störungen stärker behandelt als im typischen Kriminalthriller. Dies ist wohl auch der Grund, weshalb der Film eher etwas besonderes ist, es ist kein typischer Kriminalfilm, wie man ihn sonst kennt. Die Suche nach dem Täter hat hier eine ganz andere Bedeutung als in anderen Filmen, darauf werde ich allerdings nicht weiter eingehen, da dies ohne zu Spoilern nicht möglich ist.Ein von vielen geliebter Erzbischof wird ermordet, als einziger Verdächtiger wird ein junger Mann namens Aaron Stampler festgenommen. Staranwalt Martin Vail übernimmt die Verteidigung von Aaron Stampler, ob dieser schuldig ist oder nicht ist ihm recht egal,das einzige was für ihn zählt ist, dass der Angeklagte die bestmöglichste Verteidigung erhält. Es stellt sich heraus dass dieser unter Gedächtnisverlust leidet und Martin Vail vertritt schon bald die Auffassung das Stampler wirklich unschuldig ist, also versucht er hinter die Wahrheit zu kommen.Dieser Film ist in verschiedener Hinsicht etwas ungewöhnlich, sei es nun, dass der Hauptcharakter nicht der typische Held ist, es keinerlei Action gibt oder es verstärkt um die Analyse Psychischer Probleme geht. Richard Gere spielt hier eine seiner überzeugenden Rollen, man schaue sich seine Filmografie an... Ansonsten schafft es der Film eine finstere und spannende Atmosphäre zu erzeugen und bietet auch die eine oder andere Überraschung, 5/5.

A typical American movie with jury system and a star lawyer whose client is a smart psycopath, who out smarts the lawyer and the justice system where he took into his own hand to rectify justice.........good for him! The movie is old, but very interesting for anyone who is interesting in personality disorder and manipulative people. In this movie everyone is manipulative and dishonest, both the lawyer and prosecutor with their ongoing flirtations of power against each other............