One False Move
BUY AT:
See more details, packaging, or compare
Synopsis
A small-town police chief (Bill Paxton) concealing an explosive secret. A pair of ruthless drug dealers (coscreenwriter Billy Bob Thornton and Michael Beach) who leave a bloody trail in their wake as they make their way from Los Angeles to Arkansas. And an enigmatic woman (Cynda Williams) caught in the middle. The way these desperate lives converge becomes a masterclass in slow-burn tension thanks to the nuanced direction of Carl Franklin, whose haunting debut feature travels a crooked road across America’s most fraught divisions—urban and rural, Black and white—while imbuing noir conventions with a wrenching emotional depth.
Picture 8/10
Carl Franklin's debut feature, One False Move, receives a much-needed update through this new Blu-ray edition from The Criterion Collection. Sourced from a new 4K restoration scanned from the original camera negative, the film is presented on a dual-layered disc in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with a 1080p/24hz high-definition encode. I am working from the Blu-ray included in Criterion's 4K UHD edition. Criterion's standard Blu-ray edition is the same outside of missing the UHD disc.
Though not as impressive as the 4K presentation, the high-definition one still significantly upgrades Sony's previous DVD edition, released in 1999. The presentation has more of a film-like texture and consistency, improving detail levels by a wide margin, even in long shots of the landscape. The image remains sharp and crisp throughout most of its runtime (a handful of shots look to lean a little soft, inherently), and the restoration efforts have cleaned up much of the damage still found on the old DVD. Colors look bolder with better saturation, and blacks are inky and deep, meaning the film's darker sequences are nowhere near as muddy as they were on the old DVD.
Shadow detail and range are decent, though unsurprisingly, this high-definition presentation can't hold a torch to how the 4K handles things. For example, the opening shot of a car riding in on a darkened L.A. street looks flatter here due to the range in the darker grays and blacks being more limited. Part of the issue is that the light from the headlights and streetlamps doesn't blend all that cleanly into the darkness, with the film's grain looking a little messier and less refined as well. On that note, the encode is primarily solid, rendering grain well enough much of the time. Still, things can get a little noisy in some low-lit sections, with grain looking buzzy. Brighter sequences look perfectly fine.
Slight issues aside, it's still an incredibly sharp-looking high-def presentation and still a substantial improvement over Sony's DVD edition.
One False Move - Screen Captures
Audio 7/10
Criterion presents the film’s surround soundtrack in 2.0 DTS-HD MA. The soundtrack and mix deliver ample range and decent fidelity. Still, there are moments when I was straining to hear the dialogue, which can come off a bit muffled in places, more during the earlier portions of the film. I think it’s baked into the original materials, maybe a byproduct of the film’s low-budget and quick shoot, and I had the same issue with the DVD. Despite that, the audio does still sharper overall.
Extras 6/10
When Criterion first started licensing films from Sony (back in 2008), I had hoped this would be a title they would eventually pick up. While I’m beyond happy they finally did (15 years later), delivering a knockout presentation in the process, this new edition leaves one wanting when it comes to supplements.
Criterion does port over Franklin’s excellent 1999 audio commentary. It’s focused on the technical aspects of the film, as one would figure, yet it still proves interesting to listen to Franklin explain how he worked out adapting the story visually, even talking in detail over some of the film’s key sequences to explain the planning that went into them. He even took inspiration from other films, including High Noon, which he states influenced the pacing of the film's conclusion. He also touches on editing, working with the actors (which included Thornton, who was also one of the writers), and the casting process. In the case of casting, he shares a rather funny (yet scary) story about how one actress trapped him to audition for the role of Fantasia. It can taper off a bit toward the end, but it’s a solid effort from Franklin. Worth a listen if one hasn’t done so yet.
That then leaves the film’s trailer and the only new supplement, an interview between director Carl Franklin and writer/actor Billy Bob Thornton. Running 27 minutes, it’s a fun reflection on the film’s production. Thornton talks about the influences behind the story and how he and writing partner Tom Epperson split out the work (Thornton focused on the sections around the antagonists). At the same time, Franklin touches on visualizing the script to screen, expanding on things he mentions in the commentary.
They also bring up the film’s surprise critical success after producer Jesse Beaton got it screened in front of critics. Famously, the film was only supposed to receive a straight-to-video release but ended up getting a minor theatrical release after critics like Siskel & Ebert started singing its praises. Sadly, that whole story ends up only coming up passively here and in the commentary, with Criterion choosing not to delve any further into it (Criterion did something along the lines of this for Hoop Dreams). They also don’t bother with any academic material outside of an essay by William Boyle (who shares how his video store adventures led him to the film) or any new interviews with cast members. Cynda Williams sat for an interview for Imprint’s Australian Blu-ray edition, so I would have to think she would have been willing here.
What's here is fine, but altogether it's underwhelming.
Closing
The release drops the ball on supplements, but the new high-definition presentation is a significant step up over Sony's previous DVD edition.
BUY AT:
