Review of Southern Comfort

Introduction

Deep in the Louisiana everglades, a platoon of National Guardsmen are on a training mission. When one of their group joyfully fires at a native "Cajun", they spark off a savage retaliation. One by one, the fear-stricken guardsmen are killed off. The few that are left are not only fleeing for their lives but find themselves progressively lost in the not-so-friendly swamplands.


Even when they do make it out to one of the claustrophobic, dingy towns, the tension still doesn`t let up. It actually increases since they`re in no-mans-land and their attempts to blend in makes them look all the more conspicuous.

This film has a stellar cast featuring Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe , Fred Ward and in a minor role, Brion James as the Trapper with a conscience. This is arguably Walter Hill`s best film, with a superb score by regular partner Ry Cooder.

Video

This movie has been digitally re-mastered, it says so on the cover. Unfortuantly, digitally re-mastered in this case means watching the film as though you`re looking through a thin mesh.

This is a shame as there is potential for some really stunning images in this film of the swamps and the surrounding environment.

There is quite a lot of noise still remaining on the print which is shown by the occasional blip of white and speckles.

The colours themselves are quite soft and the picture never seems to grab you and make you take notice. Alright, there are always going to be a lot of greens in this sort of movie, but green has a wide variety of shades, not just a dirty mush.

The scenes that take place inside the cajuns town are a prime example of how the picture lets the whole film down. There is some amazing opportunities for dark moody imaging but all we are left with is a slightly greyed picture that disapoints.

The image is a 4:3 full screen as well.

Audio

The audio track is a stereo 2 channel offering that is okay, but isn`t going to blow any barn doors off.

If so much effort (apparently) went into the video, why not the audio? A 5.1 track would have made up for so much with regard to the picture, but there you go. Can`t have everything I suppose.

Features

Region 2 so ther usual fare, a trailer and interactive menus. I can`t bring myself to call subtitles an extra.

The trailer is worth watching andcomparing to a modern day example. You can even hear the voice over guys breathing!

Conclusion

A superb movie that really could have done with a better treatment than this. It`s a sort of Deliverance in uniform, but the contact between the two sides is a little more frequent and brutal.

This a really enjoyable movie, although one that does appeal to a certain audience. If you liked Deliverance, you`ll love this, that sort of thing.

Keith Carradine is excellent in his role, as in fact are the entire cast. I don`t know if the Cajuns are `real` but if they are not, then they are really good actors.

This is a compelling film that will make you sit and watch it right to the end, although some have called the end a bit weak, I find it to be about spot on.

Overall, very good. Sure it could have had a better treatment in the audio and video stakes but it is still a very enjoyable watch.