Shadow of Fear DVD Review:

There must be very few roles for good actors these days if they feel the need to attach themselves to scripts like Shadow of Fear, which is dull and uninspired in every sense, from beginning to end. Although it seems like the actors are trying their best (except for James Spader, who seems to know how bad of a project he is involved in), not even Academy Award winning performances could save a story which is so desperately lost.

The story starts with a man named Harrison French who has married into money, and his struggle to win the acceptance of his father-in-law. From there the story takes a strange turn when Harrison is involved in a hit-and-run, which may or may not have to do with a bank robbery. Harrison is soon blackmailed by an important figure in the town, and the man he killed may or may not be his wife’s brother.

Matthew Davis stars as Harrison French and is the least impressive of the cast as well as being the least well known. It seems that he is trying hard, and is possibly the only one in the cast unaware of how bad the story is, but the sad fact is that he is just unable to carry a film as an actor. James Spader, as I said earlier, seems completely indifferent to the entire film, and underplays the role dramatically. Aidan Quinn, on the other hand, shows remarkable dedication to his role, always willing to try despite the mediocre circumstances. Robin Tunney is there for her looks and there is nothing else to say about her.

If it were only the script that was bad this may be an easier review to write, but the fact of the matter is that there were many things wrong with the film. There were entire scenes in the film where absolutely nothing happened, such as a scene where the detective played by Aidan Quinn smokes a cigar. There were no reason for these scenes to be added and it felt as if they were only there for the sole purpose of adding to the running time. There were also a number of strange aerial shots in between scenes that didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the editing.

Perhaps if the film moved faster it would be easier to miss all of its inadequacies, but unfortunately it moves a slow pace, which may either cause you to lose interest, or worse yet, notice how horribly constructed it is. I cannot recommend this straight-to-video release no matter how much I would like to be able to say that there are some qualities which make it worth viewing.

The DVD is about the quality that is to be expected, with a menu that looks as if it has been created in some basic program. It is cheesy and bad, which is fitting for a film with only a trailer to speak of as a special feature. The only thing good I can say about the DVD is the cover art, which makes the film look much more dramatic than it actually is.

Ryan Izay

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