Phone Booth Review:

Synopsis

Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell - Minority Report, Daredevil) is a cocky and smooth talking New York City publicist leading an unethical and self-serving existence for whom the compulsion to answer a ringing phone is too great.

Set almost entirely within a New York phone booth, this adrenaline-pumping thriller grabs you immediately – strapping you into an emotional rollercoaster. Each day Stu frequents a phone booth to call his potential girlfriend (Katie Holmes - TV's Dawson's Creek, Wonder Boys), so that his wife (Radha Mitchell - Pitch Black) won't trace the calls.

On one such day he is trapped after being told by a caller – a moralistic serial killer (Kiefer Sutherland - TV's 24, A Few Good Men) with a sniper rifle – that he'll be shot dead if he hangs up. Stu must dig deep into his soul to find the strength to attempt to outwit the caller, taking the cat and mouse game to a dangerous level and leading to the riveting and tense conclusion. Forest Whitaker (Panic Room) also stars.

Critique

Director Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth was an unconventional Hollywood film - aside from being filmed in under two weeks, the entire real-time tale takes place in and around a New York City phone booth. Writer Larry Cohen claims that he discussed making the project with legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock many years ago but couldn't tie up the plot threads at the time. As expected, the final product is lean (running at under 80 minutes), tightly scripted and full of punchy dialogue.

Little time is wasted on setting up the plot, with viewers being quickly introduced to Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell), a cocky publicist that dresses sharp and lies constantly. Every day, Stu calls a potential girlfriend (Katie Holmes), using a specific phone booth to prevent his wife (Radha Mitchell) from finding out from the phone bills. On one such day, we follow Stu into the booth, at which point the phone unexpectedly rings. The mysterious caller is a serial sniper, looking to 'punish' Stu for his devious lifestyle with his own brand of justice.

This semi-experimental offering succeeds in drawing audience attention from start to finish - having a cat-and-mouse situation with virtually little physical movement is an undeniably intriguing concept. Colin Farrell is the film's most impressive asset, putting on a fine accent and displaying a broad range of moods with ease. Supporting stars Forest Whitaker, Radha Mitchell and, of course, Kiefer Sutherland's near-surgical voice also perform well. Katie Holmes appears in the film as well, but her presence and share of the lines is understandably minimal.

Most of the potential plotting problems are tied up satisfyingly but, as is almost always the case, the ending fails to be quite as convincing. Perhaps one of the reasons that the film works is that anyone could theoretically walk off into a phone booth and be placed in a similar situation. Unlikely as it may seem, the textbook possibility exists and, in fact, the film's theatrical release date was famously put back after a sniper terrorised the American capital, Washington D.C., in real life.

Overall, Phone Booth is a well-made, pacey tale that manages to hold interest despite having a somewhat gimmicky premise.

7 out of 10

The Video

The film's carefully manipulated look is transferred to DVD with impressive fidelity and quality. The colours, complete with blue tinting, are reproduced accurately, while black levels are perfect. The image is more than sharp enough throughout and edge enhancement never becomes an intrusive factor.

A touch of expected grain is on display but the visuals are thankfully devoid of any unwanted print damage in the form of scratches and specks. On the whole, therefore, this is a very good transfer.

8 out of 10

Although the film takes place entirely on the streets, the sound design wisely strips away many of the expected street noises since they might have proven to be too distracting over an extended period of time. The rear speakers are used well by the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio stream for music reproduction and decent ambience, while Kiefer Sutherland's chilling voice can be heard moving around all the directional channels.

Bass levels are pleasing, while channel separation is also desirably noticeable. To summarise, this is an effective Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack - given the limited number of extras, perhaps a DTS 5.1 stream could have also been included on the disc?

8 out of 10

The Extras

Surprisingly, only two extras are included on this disc - thankfully, they are both fairly good, thus softening the blow of having such a small quantity of features to browse through.

First up is an audio commentary by Director Joel Schumacher, which is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround. This is a good track that discloses a lot of behind-the-scenes information on a variety of topics - the concept, shooting schedule, lighting, cast and extras are just some of the areas that Schumacher delves into. Having Farrell join the director on this track would have more than doubled its worth and its a shame that the actor fails to make an appearance here. Overall, however, this is an interesting commentary that will entertain fans.

The second (and last) extra is the 28 minute 'The Making Of Phone Booth' featurette, which is shown in 1.33:1 full-frame and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. This is a surprisingly good item which essentially charts the 10 day shooting schedule in the phone booth. Lots of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews are on offer, along with quite lengthy shooting excerpts. Colin Farrell amuses with his bad language, while Kiefer Sutherland can be seen arriving on location for the first time ever on the final day.

A considerable amount of time is also spent on discussing the extras, costume design, shooting schedule, on-set still photography and, in particular, the elaborate lighting set-ups required. On a final note, the menus are animated and presented with background in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, while the disc itself is provided in a clear plastic amaray case with a chapter listing visible inside.

Overall, the extras are woefully lacking in terms of quantity, but the above average quality of the items provided actually make this a vaguely passable disc in terms of bonus material.

6 out of 10

Movie 7
Video 8
Audio 8
Extras 6

OVERALL (not an average) 7

DVD Bulletin

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