Review of Erin Brockovich

Introduction

This is the movie that bagged Julia Roberts her Best Actress Oscar, due to her turbulent performance based on a true story. One of Hollywood`s best talents Steven Sorderbergh is at the helm, so quality is (hopefully) guarenteed. I sat down to watch this movie with the hope that it would be more than your average `success against all odds` movie, and my hopes were answered.

Video

A perfectly acceptable 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen transfer, the palette is used well and the visuals are deep. There are no compression signs. Erin Brockovich paints a strong picture, and it`s a good job that the visuals are up to the task. As you would have come to expect from a recent movie.

Audio

A good DD 5.1 track, but this movie doesn`t rely on surround sound, but the dialogue is always crisp and clear. When the surrounds are used they are clear, and there is no `volume conflict`, as everything plays along nicely. Erin Brockovich has some witty dialogue in it, so it is good to see a good effort has been made to successfully portray this.

Features

Original Theatrical Trailer, Two Featurettes: `Personal Profile Of The Real Erin Brockovich` and `Making Of`, Deleted Scenes, Deleted Scenes with Director`s Commentary, Talent Profiles. The extras on the disc are good, the featurettes offer a good insight and the deleted scenes flesh the movie out...a good buch all in all. However, a commentaru from Soderbergh for the feature would have been good, as would perhaps a few other things thrown in. As it stands, they are compeletely passable as an array of special features.

Conclusion

This is not your average movie. It seems like a TV movie, a tacky, cheap, knock-off that premieres and then dies a death. But this is different...the first thing you notice is Miss Roberts, as her performance shines, and so does Albert Finney`s. The plot is plausible, and the script is powerful. Another excellent factor in this movie is Soderbergh`s directing, he uses the camera intelligently and the characters develop realistictly. Erin Brockovich could have been so bad...but fortunately with the right touches, it is instead a must-see experience.