Review of Barber, The

Introduction

Yorkshireman Malcolm McDowell seems to have been around forever. With over 100 TV and film credits to his name, you`re bound to have seen him in something good or bad. Maybe as Alexander De Large in A Clockwork Orange, or maybe as Dr. Tolian Soran in Star Trek: Generations. But to me he`s always destined to be Admiral Sir Geoffrey Tolwyn from Chris Roberts` PC games Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger and Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (the latter is still one of the most expensive games ever made at a cost of $10,000,000). PC gamers of a certain age will probably remember these with fondness, as they also starred Mark Hamill and John Rhys-Davies.

This time around he plays the barber of the film`s title, living in a small town in Alaska, one of those places where everybody knows everybody. Some of the residents also know certain residents very intimately. The town seems to suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, as during winter they live in almost permanent darkness.

The Barber was originally planned for theatrical release, but went straight to video/DVD in November 2002. It`s taken another year to make it over here.

Video

A direct to video film brings with it a made for TV picture, with a reasonably good full frame transfer. As the town featured is dark during day and night, there`s a lot of dark scenes, or indoor scenes with artificial light. With a bigger and better transfer these might have been more effective, as it stands they are just average. The region 1 DVD contains a widescreen transfer.

Audio

A DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, which is just as unremarkable as the visuals. The sound is clear and crisp throughout, and there`s nothing wrong with it, it`s just rather unexciting. The region 1 DVD contains a DD5.1 soundtrack.

There`s quite a bit of narration frmo McDowell`s character which tries to move the film along, as well as a slightly annoying soundtrack which doesn`t seem to fit the film all that well.

Due to Malcolm McDowell living in my brain as Admiral Sir Geoffrey Tolwyn, I kept expecting him to say "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance", which is the only line I can remember from the Wing Commander games.

Features

The only extra of note (and not much note at that) is a brief interview with McDowell which seems to have been culled from the Electronic Press Kit. Not worth bothering with.

Conclusion

A small town smothered by darkness and populated by one dimensional stereotypes. Doesn`t add up to a good film does it? The answer is no. Airhead women who jump into bed at the drop of a hat, lonely men who spend all night drinking in the bar. In the end you end up wishing that the killer will bump off a few more of these annoying characters.

Instead he hams it up a bit more, and then narrates over the ham. It does have the odd good moment, and the Seasonal Affective Disorder is a good idea but badly handled. But in the end it turned out to be some half-baked Twin Peaks wannabe.

If you really want to see the film, get the region 1 version which has a DD5.1 soundtrack and anamorphic widescreen transfer. Otherwise you should avoid this below average film.