Review of Claim, The

Introduction

I`m usually not a big fan of traditional westerns and when The Claim arrived on my doorstep I was a bit unsure what to expect. It is a bit of an epic so you need to set aside a good two hours of interrupted time to really appreciate the scale of this picture. Two hours may not sound long in the realm of current blockbusters like Lord of the Rings, Titanic and Harry Potter that run to three or over. But with a movie like The Claim, that covers a plethora of characters against a backdrop of the vast old west it doesn`t quite flash by.

This really is The Claims downfall as it starts very slow. The first forty-five minutes became incredibly boring with too much set up and not enough action. But the second half made up for it with some great performances from both the leads and supporting cast to a point where it became very engrossing.

Video

The visuals are pretty good with very little digital artefacting, what is there is never distracting. The anamorphic picture really adds to the western style with a fabulous wide (2.35:1) picture.

Colours are vivid and blacks are pure and dark. My only quibble would be on the whites which are sharp and bright but do tend to halo on some scenes. I also got the feeling that the cinematography didn`t use the vast western vistas quite as well as it should but hell I`m no Dean Cundey.

Audio

Presented in glorious 5.1 Dolby Digital it doesn`t rock but does offer some fabulous ambient surround use. Front stage pans are used to good effect, and the bass does kick in with gusto when it`s required.

Features

Yet another trailer only disc. OK it was never a major box office sensation but I would have loved to know a little bit more about what must have been a grueling epic production.

Conclusion

A good looking disc with not alot to offer apart from a slightly flawed epic, which hangs on to the classic western feel by the skin of its teeth. Some of the casting was hit and miss. If this movie had been made twenty years earlier I could have easily seen it as a perfect vehicle for Clint Eastwood.

For the first third of this movie I almost nodded off but the above average second act and even better third made this something of a diamond in the rough.