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Family, The

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    Ian Jane
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  • Family, The



    Family, The
    Released by: Fox
    Released on: December 17th, 2014.
    Director: Luc Besson
    Cast: Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron, John D'Leo
    Year: 2013
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    Written and directed by Luc Besson, 2013's The Family tells the story of Giovanni Manzoni (Robert De Niro), a mobster who is married to his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer) and who helps to raise their two children, Belle (Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D'Leo). Things get dicey for them when Fred winds up having to become a snitch and after he spills the beans about what the mob he's connected with his been up to, his life is obviously in danger.

    And so the Manzonis, now the Blakes, go into the witness protection program and are relocated to a quaint town in the French countryside. Here they're watched over by a CIA agent named Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones). Everything seems to be more or less going as planned until the man that Giovanni snitched on orders a hit. From here, we learn that old habits die hard in this family. Even the younger members of the Manzoni clan get violent in times of tension, but Giovanni, now going under the alias of Fred, finds solace in a typewriter he uses to start writing his life story. But that guy they helped put behind bars? He's got connections on the outside, dangerous connections who have no problem following orders…

    If there's one word to accurately sum up how The Family plays out, it would be uneven. There are some drastic, jarring tonal shifts throughout the movie, the kind that take what is basically a by the numbers crime story and attempt to turn it into a comedy but which come from so far out of left field that they instead knock the story off of its rails. For every serious moment, the kind that carries with it some heaviness and delivers some impact (the opening scene in which a family mistaken for the Manzoni's is slaughtered in cold blood being a prime example) we get a blood vendetta based on something as trivial as peanut butter complete with bad dialogue and corny banter. The movie continues like this throughout its running time, pulling us from left to right and never really seeming to focus on its strengths, which in this case would be the characters and the actors tasked with playing them.

    Giovanni Manzoni is an interesting man. He's lead a life that could fill a book, so his intention to write his memoirs makes sense, but we don't get the focus we need to feel for him. The wizened old mobster who has not so much mellowed with age as he has been removed from situations that might set him off should be intense, intimidating and even frightening. This is De Niro, a man who has made a career out of playing these types and who, despite making a lot of bad movies lately, still has the chops to pull it off. But the script won't let him. The story makes him a buffoon, a stereotype - and the same can be said of the rest of his hot headed family.

    The cast all do fine work here, they all look right for their parts and deliver the lackluster material with conviction. Additionally the cinematography is quite nice, and there's some impressive camera work here to appreciate. On a technical level, the movie certainly shines. More's the pity then that this winds up like some sort of ineffective mix of Goodfellas and National Lampoon's European Vacation, two movies that are perfectly great in their own right but which should probably never again cross paths like they do here.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    The transfer on this AVC encoded 1080p high definition release frames the movie at 2.39.1 widescreen and it looks excellent. As you'd expect, there's no dirt or debris here and detail is generally outstanding. Colors are nicely reproduced and look quite natural most of the time while black levels are solid throughout and contrast is solid. No complaints here, this is an excellent looking transfer from Fox.

    The English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix is also very strong. There are moments of intense surround activity throughout, particularly during the gunfire scenes. There are stretches here without any action that are instead more dialogue and mood based but they too demonstrate some subtle and effective use of the surrounds. The score in particular really benefits from a lot of great depth and directionality. Subtitles are offered in English SDH and Spanish.

    Extras are slim, limited to a fairly generic ten minute behind the scenes segment, a minute long montage of the movie's creative use of the F-bomb and a theatrical trailer. There are also the obligatory menu and chapter selection options and as this is a combo pack release we also get a digital copy of the movie and a DVD version of the movie as well. The case comes housed inside a slipcase with identical cover art.

    The Final Word:

    This one had the potential to be a GREAT movie but the disjointed nature of the script and the way in which the movie bounces between tones means that it never quite finds its voice. The performances are good and there are a few stand out moments here, but most of us expect better from Besson, particularly when he manages to work with a cast as able as the one he works with here. The disc is light on extras but it does look and sound very good.

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!




















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