Cape Fear (1991) [DVD]

This version of cape fear is brilliantly put together by the cast Robert DeNiro makes this film playing the an evil rapist and abuser who could have got away with going to prison on a technicality even though he knew he deserved the sentence he deserved but seeks out his defence attorney to attain a warped campaign of vengeance against him that turns out to be a violent and deadly one, Juliette Lewis and Jessica Lange also play their roles with conviction, this film is a 1990s film but I highly recommend watching it, the last time I watched it was around 15 years ago and this film never fails to deliver.

Cape Fear was created at a time when directors, writers, and actors thought deeply about the messages they wanted to present. That’s why these films have stood the test of time.Cape Fear exhibits a very broken family who live on multiple deceptions, headed by a husband and father who tries to rectify the deceptions he’s created through his own wisdom.With a bitter wife who conceals her resentment with sarcasm and a disobedient, naïve daughter who revels in rebellion, lead character Sam Bowden lives the family-life-consequences of his own making.In this depiction of the standard troubles within family life, one of Sam’s deceptions returns from burial in the form of a severely disgruntled ex-client Max Cady. And ‘disgruntled’ is a gentle way of describing him.This living, walking representation of one of Sam Bowden’s deceptions is a beast of a man, who refuses any discussion, compromise, or compensation for the wrong that Sam did ‘unto him.’This plot message exposes the very real-life fact that there is NO compensation for our sins—a terrifying thought when people so often try to rectify their public misdemeanours via their own perspective of balance.On the contrary, this animal of a person—Max Cady—has taken it upon himself to be a relentless force of vengeance.Perhaps the scene that justifies my clarification of antagonist Max Cady as an ‘animal,’ is when he bites the face of one of his female rape victims while beating her up.He is a terrifying incarnation of what vengeance looks like in the flesh. There is no talking him down.One of my favourite scenes is when both protagonist and antagonist examine remuneration. It’s a philosophical debate with one real answer – we can never balance the scales of our wrong doings.A timeless classic, this film is one of those didactic productions that everyone should watch at least once.

This blu-ray presents the film in 2.35:1 cinemascope with a great lossless DTS 5.1 sound upgrade and it looks terrific. The added detail has an effect of adding beauty (the opening water ripples of Saul Bass and co's credits) or atmospheric detail (everywhere else!). The HD format has been a big benefit for the presentation.Extras are a whole 'nother story:There's a SD 1991 "behind the scenes" (ie. EPK video) which adds not much, except that Martin Scorcese rather disappointingly refers to the original as a "perfect B picture" and Wesley Strick turns out to be a mallflower teenager with a goatee - yikes!There's also a SD compilation of Saul Bass credit sequences, including Vertigo, which are pretty nifty but completely superfluous unfortunately.I love this film, for the record, but I think I prefer the original. This one aspires more to realism in characterisation, while the original used archetypes to tell more of a fairytale/fable kind of approach. However, this one adds some religious connotations, some of which works and some of which doesn't. I never really get a good feel of why Max Cady would want to (sort of spoilers) try Sam in a Book of Job fashion. I get that he got all up his own bottom in prison trying to make himself better than the rest of the prisoners and fixated on a higher kind of revenge, but it never really coelesces with his other actions, which remain those of a petty crook with an inflated image. You could argue that inflated image is what's given to delusions of grandeur, but the film seems to play up to the idea that Cady's trial has some grander, perhaps even spiritual value.The real reason all this stuff is here? To make the film seem, sigh, "deeper" than it really is. Scorsese mentions some of this stuff in the "Making of"/Behind the Scenes fluff, but he seems to have little to no idea most of the subtext in his film was there in the first place in the first movie.Very confusing stuff! The film, however, is still a Hell of a good watch. I suggest you do what I did, buy both Cape Fears on Blu-Ray and get The Simpsons Season 5 out of your cupboard (or buy it if you don't have it) and watch both Cape Fears, followed by "Cape Feare", the excellent Simpsons parody. Now THAT'S an evening of entertainment.