Fatale - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Fatale



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
Crazed femme fatale’s was a staple of the 1990s with Michael Douglas usually at the helm for the more lucrative projects. Those have MOSTLY fallen to the wayside, but director/writer Deon Taylor mentions in one of the special features the he kinda wanted to bring back the genre and make it a “black” Noir film of sorts. I can definitely see the noir aspects of Fatale, but sadly a rather enthusiastic cast is wasted in an epic train wreck of a film as Fatale spirals out of control to a ludicrous ending that leaves the audience begging for one more shot of whiskey to wipe the memory of this film away. Photographer Dante Spinotti supposedly was very adamant about making the film the way HE wanted, and he does an amazing job at crafting a sort of modernistic neo noir coating to the project, but even his beautiful cinematography (which uses some incredible shades of dark blue and purple to create those deep Noir black shades we’re accustomed to) can’t overcome a laughable script and even more laughable directing.

Derrick Tyler (Michael Ealy) is a former collegiate basketball star turned agent for the stars after his wonder years were over. He’s got it all. Riches, a beautiful wife in the form of Tracie (Damaris Lewis), and the upcoming bachelor party for one of his friends. However, his life spirals out of control when some problems in his marriage inspire Derrick to pull a classical marital blunder at the bachelor party when he meets the sultry Val (Hillary Swank), and the two end up in a one night fling. Waking up the next morning realizing his mistake, Derrick heads home to Tracie and tries to act as if it never happened.

That very night someone tries to break into Derrick’s swanky home only to get run off, leaving Derrick with nothing but bruises. His chickens come home to roost when the very detective that comes out to investigate the home invasion turns out to be non other than Detective Val Quinlin, the very same woman that Derrick cheated on Tracie with. It becomes very obvious very quickly that Val isn’t the most stable person the planet, having been a drunk in the past and her ex has a restraining order against her. While Derrick is worrying about whether she will out him to his wife, his life gets turned upside down when Val reveals to him that Tracie was actually the one behind the home invasion, having her own infidelities fueling her desire to collect on life insurance and bringing out a side in Derrick that he didn’t think was possible.


Fatale is pretty much a paint by the numbers story. If you’ve seen a 90s thriller with a femme fatale, then you’ve seen this one too. Deon Taylor tries to mix things up with a third act that changes some of the motivations of the key players, but in the end it’s your typical battle with the crazed fatale who goes all Glenn Close on our undeserving “hero”. The film plays out like a mixture of Fatal Attraction with Strangers on a Train, just with Deon Taylor throwing in some ulterior motives for Valerie in an effort to make a completely insane character slightly human. It doesn’t really work, and both audience and actors seem content to get this over with as quickly as possible. Swank does a solid job with what she’s given, but what she’s given isn’t a whole lot outside of a caricature of Fatal Attraction. She gives the character her all, but the mediocre acting from Michael Ealy, and the even WORSE acting by the background characters in the set makes for a bland overall experience.




Rating:

Rated R for violence, sexual content and language.




Video:

Dante Spinotti’s amazing cinematography aside, the 2.39:1 framed AVC encode is a stunner for Lionsgate. Usually low budget thrillers on Lionsgate apply “the rule of 4” (4/5 rating for both video and audio), this one kicks it up a notch. I couldn’t find out much information on what cameras were used for the creation of the film, but from a few sources I was able to nail down Arri Alexa cameras of some type used, and the film was given an 8K source resolution. I’d guess due to the clarity of the film that it was finished at 4K for the master, but that is only a supposition as I can’t find any more information on what the master was struck at from that 8K source. Either way, the end result is a very comely film, with deep purple and blue highlights in the darker shots, and brilliantly lit exterior sequences. Some of the night time shots show a little digital noise here and there, and some screedoor effects with the noise, but overall it looks incredible. Colors are vivid and richly saturated to the point of excess, with things like a red night gown, or a blue shirt standing out with stark contrast to the things around it. Facial details are impeccable, and backgrounds are just about as good, with only a few instances of blurry backgrounds (most notably in the club sequence at the beginning) to mar the image.






Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track on board is just as stellar as the video is giving us a very moody and atmospheric vibe that is very much in line with the Noir styling that was intended for the film. Moody thriller vibes pulsate throughout the entire range of speakers, and the score is really the lifeblood of the film. However, there are plenty of other great aspects to the mix to enjoy. Rippling bass from an elevator (yeah, I didn’t exactly see that coming) as well as rumbling from cars and gunshots keep the film hopping, as does the thundering roar of the night club scene at the beginning of the film. Dialog is always well placed and evenly balanced in the mix with pinpoint accuracy. The only time that the dialog ever sounds “out of whack” is when they’re yelling at each other in the club, and the film is trying to mimic the audience not being able to hear the voices like the characters aren’t. Overall a great atmospheric track.






Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Director-Producer Deon Taylor and Producer Roxanne Avent Taylor
• Making Fatale
• The Right Direction
• Cinematography: Finding the Killer Look
• Alternate Ending

Final Score: ​

I didn’t expect too much going into the film just by watching the trailer, but I was surprised that even my low expectations were subverted by an even worse film in person. It was decently acted by Swank, but everything else about the movie just screams cookie cutter, as Deon Taylor slices and dices popular elements from much more well known femme fatale thrillers to paste together into his tapestry of errors. The Blu-ray from Lionsgate is very well done, with great audio and video, but the typical meager extras one comes to expect from these films. Even the great technical features can’t pull the film out of the mire of sub par mediocrity that it lies in, leaving me with the unhappy decision of giving it a thumbs down. Skip It.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Hillary Swank, Michael Ealy, Mike Colter, Damaris Lewis, Tyrin Turner, Danny Pino
Directed by: Deon Taylor
Written by: David Loughery
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 102 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: March 2nd 2021

Recommendation: Skip It

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will skip it.