Review of Ambush In Waco: In The Line Of Duty

Introduction

From the back of the box:
"This riveting, fact-based drama concentrates on the transformation of Vernon Howell into the self-made cult leader David Koresh. Failing as a musician, Howell turns to his strictly religious upbringing and uses his predatory charm to organise churches under his own leadership. But his ministry is tainted with both his obsession with rock and roll and his driven sexual appetites. Facing failure, Howell seizes control of an established group - the Branch Davidians.

Vernon Howell now metamorphoses into David Koresh and, believing the end of the world is near, prepares to repopulate the world with the offspring of God - the children of Koresh himself. He segregates everyone, even married couples, into men`s and women`s dormitories, reserving the sexual rights of marriage exclusively for himself, displaying a preference for girls as young as twelve years old. This corrupt prophet eventually accumulates 19 wives in a frenzy of misguided devotion and a calculatingly cruel madness that eventually results in tragedy."

This gives you the lowdown on the story being told in this 90 minute film and covers the period of time when Koresh took control of the Branch Davidians at Mount Carmel. It was much publicised at the time back in the early 90s and made headlines all over the globe. How does it stand up as a film?

Video

Presented with a fullframe, the video transfer isn`t too bad. There are signs of dirt and one or two scenes seem a little soft, but it doesn`t detract any. Colours are balanced and detail seems sufficient though I did notice quite a few scenes where the film jumps slightly. This was a little off putting and while this only lasts for a few seconds each time, it should have been corrected. At the end of the film there`s stock footage which looks like it`s taken from news cameras at the time of the seige.

Audio

Sound is presented in DD2.0 which remains clear throughout. It`s a story driven film with little need for any action surround effects so it`s functional. Music is by Mark Snow (The X-Files) and this sounds somewhat contrained by the DD2.0 track.

Features

The menus look nice, but seem distorted. Putting my TV into widescreen mode one menu looked okay and properly proportioned, then the root menu looked odd and overly stretched. It would have been better to properly format the menus in one aspect ratio.

Apart from Scene Selection, there`s a trailer, biographies, credits and trailers for three other Odyssey DVDs. There`s some interesting info here but not a lot. For those who might need subtitles, this disc doesn`t have any.

Conclusion

The casting seems to be spot on. Notably Tim Daly as David Koresh is charasmatic, fanatical and frightening in equal measure. The rest of the cast show their fear of the cult leader and this lends more weight to Tim`s portrayal of Koresh.

90 minutes simply isn`t enough time however to tell a story like this, there`s a lot to it and it would be interesting to know more. I know that I`m intrigued to read some more on the events surrounding this tragic episode and so perhaps more detailed information in the Special Features would add some more value to this disc.

As interesting as it is to watch, it`s just not worth buying because I feel that it has very limited replay value. You`re not likely to play this on a Friday night when friends come round. I`ve seen this film before, on TV, and this is where it should stay. If you`re curious though, go rent it.