Fallin Down - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Falling Down



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I’m still amazed that Joel Schumacher made the 1993 cult hit, Falling Down. I mean, I grew up watching his movies, but considered him more of a “schlocky fun” filmmaker who pumped out blockbuster-style popcorn flicks like Batman & Robin, Lost Boys, Tigerland and Phone Booth. But for some reason the man has the knack for pulling a unique film or two out of his sleeve, as he proved with 8mm and 1993’s Falling Down. A movie which would become almost synonymous with the rage of the common man against a power structure that looks only to beat down and flatten what it can’t control.

Divorced, out of work, and stuck in a horrible L.A. traffic jam during a summer heat wave, nerdy engineer William Foster (Michael Douglas) is having a BAD day. Forced to abandon his car in a massive traffic jam and heading home, William is ready to just call it quits when an interaction with a douche bag convenience store clerk goes sideways; the repressed every man’s man decides that enough is enough. Grabbing a bat and his trusty briefcase, William undertakes a near herculean effort to rid the streets of petty crime and teach a lesson to those who think that humans are just here to push around. After a standoff with some thugs, the vigilante has an Uzi machine gun, a sense of purpose, and a puffed-up sense of invincibility that he’s never experienced before. And now a near-retired detective (Robert Duvall) has to figure out a way to bring in the guy perpetuating random acts of violence against people, and hopefully without any bloodshed.

The absolute brilliance of Falling Down is that Joel Schumacher skates the line between creating a superhero for the masses and a sociopath who has no redemptive values. On the surface, William Foster is a mild-mannered guy who has just been driven too far. I mean, who hasn’t thought of road raging in the middle of a traffic jam? Or wanting to yell at the bored burger punk making a facsimile of the same product shown on TV (seriously, Whoppers look amazing on TV ads, but anemic in real life)? And who hasn’t dreamed of being Batman, taking down crime with sheer rage and impunity? And on the surface that what William appears to be. A guy driven too far and now is unleashing some vigilante justice for everyone. BUUUUT, if you watch closely, William’s acts are less heroic and more sociopathic. There are hints throughout the movie. Especially little quips about how his ex-wife had a restraining order for his anger issues. The fact that his home is no longer HIS home, but the home for his ex and their children. Making you wonder just why exactly he’s going over there in the first place. He’s a man who’s had the consequences of his actions stripped away (at least in his mind), and is now indulging in some of the most primal and forbidden acts that we as a society have held at bay in what we call “civilization”.

No, William Foster is no hero. He’s not even an anti-hero really. William Foster is an example of what happens when a person gives in to those primal urges and lives in a delusional world of their own making. Effectively, he’s the personification of every criminal on the planet believing that they’re right for the actions they take, and it’s the justice system that’s wrong. BUUUUUT at the same time the audience is clearly rooting for William’s vigilante schtick, which at the end of the day wraps around to the entire lesson of the entire thing. While we both love and loathe William, Schumacher designed the film to be a reflection of ourselves. Confronting ourselves with the realization that we are ARE cheering for the villain. And that if those same consequences for our actions were stripped away, we could very well may BE the next William Forster.

Michael Douglas is downright amazing here. Amping up the nerdiness and the anger to level 11, he makes William Forster one of the most relatable villains on the planet, and yet still fills him with such absolute rage. Robert Duvall is right behind him, giving an Oscar-worthy performance as the stoic cop who just wants to put an end to everything. Contrasting William’s vicious anger, Duvall’s Prendergast is cool and methodical. Taking great pains to allow silence and inaction to speak for him, rather than using his voice.




Rating:

Rated R for violence and strong language




4K Video: Video:

As per usual, Falling Down has been remastered by Arrow Films in its original 2.39:1 aspect ratio, with both 4.0 DTS-HD MA and a 2.0 LPCM lossless mix to round everything out. The OCN was scanned at 4K / 16bit via Warner’s MPI and color graded and approved by Director of Photography Andrej Bartkowiak. And finally, QC review was completed by Pixelogic.

I don’t have my Digibook anymore (it was one of the early Warner titles that suffered from disc rot years ago), but I remember the video quality being very “meh”, and the audio quality even worse. This new remaster is stunning, though. The difference is night and day, with none of the artifacting, compression issues, and DNR that made the previous disc so frustrating to watch. The over-brightness of the Blu-ray is long gone, giving us a much more tame-looking image on the highlight front. Not to mention the richer and more vibrant colors that push through the typical 90s ruddy look that the film has. Film grain is well done without any major spikes or clumping, and visual fine details are superb. Simply put, this is as good as the film has ever looked, and most likely the best it WILL look on home video unless some revelationary tech comes out in the next 20 years.








Audio:

The previous Blu-ray from Warner only had a 2.0 Dolby True HD track that was pretty anemic, but this disc sports a 2.0 LPCM track AND a recreated 4.0 DTS-HD MA track, which is trying to recreate the 4.0 Dolby Stereo track that some theaters were able to play 33 years ago. And as you could guess, this is not the type of action movie that you really NEED 5.1 or Atmos mixing for. It’s a slow-paced and methodical film, with a general sense of spaciousness due to William’s antics outdoors. The dialog is crisp and clean as can be, with a nice sense of ambiance in the mains. The 4.0 mix adds some subtle tweaks to allow some surround effects, but this is not nearly as surround heavy as you might expect. The 4.0 mix had some nice discrete traffic effects on the side channels, but there’s not a whole lot else in there to push out on the surrounds.

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Extras:

• Archival audio commentary by director Joel Schumacher, editor Paul Hirsch, screenwriter Ebbe Roe Smith, LA Times writer Shawn Hubler, and actors Michael Douglas, Michael Paul Chan, Vondie Curtis-Hall, and Frederic Forrest
• Man on the Edge, a brand new interview with screenwriter Ebbe Roe Smith
• At War with the World, a brand new interview with composer James Newton Howard
• Going Home, a brand new location featurette revisiting the real-life Los Angeles sites used in Falling Down
• Deconstructing D-Fens, an archival interview with Michael Douglas
• Original trailer
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork
• Collectors' booklet featuring new writing on the film by film critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Simon Ward

Final Score: ​

Falling Down is a cult hit for a reason. It’s wickedly funny, and taps into that zeitgeist of societal rage that many people have over feeling oppressed and beaten down. Yet at the same time subtly weaves in the elements to recognize that while William Foster IS all of us, he is still a villain. Which says what exactly about all of us then? Needless to say, this is one of Schumacher’s smartest films to date, and has stood the test of time for over 33 years. Arrow’s new 4K UHD disc looks and sounds amazing, and while it doesn’t have AS many extras as they normally do, the disc is still pretty packed with goodies. Highly recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Rachel Ticotin, Frederic Forrest, Barbara Hershey
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Written by: Ebbe Roe Smith
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DDTS-HD MA 4.0, English LPCM 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Arrow
Rated: R
Runtime: 113 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: July 21st, 2026

Recommendation: Recommended

 

[Asere]

I saw this when it released in theaters. Great film. Thanks for the review.