Michael Collins [DVD]

Worth watching. Great acting.

Well done movie

"Michael Collins" was a life long dream project for director Neil Jordan and when he finally got the chance to bring his version of the IRA leader and political martyr to the screen in 1996, the results were mixed at best. Part biography and part history lesson, the film comes off more as a gangster film with it's emphasis on violence, vendettas, betrayals, vengeance, assassinations and urban guerrilla warfare. That's not to say that it's bad, quite the contrary. Jordan's film is beautiful to look at but contains many alterations and inaccuracies that may leave some viewers puzzled. Warner Home Video(through it's Archive Collection) has now released "Michael Collins" on Blu-ray for the first time and the results are once again, simply spectacular. Released last week in time for not only the film's 20th Anniversary but the 100th Anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rebellion(where the film starts), Warner's has re-mastered the film in 2K from an interpositive taken from the original camera negative and this new Blu-ray transfer(Bitrate: 30.99) was supervised by director Neil Jordan. The results are a beautiful presentation from start to finish. Jordan used Oscar winning cinematographer Chris Menges("The Killing Fields", "The Mission") to photograph the many Dublin locales where the majority of the film takes place and his use of desaturated, rather than bright colors gives the film a more authentic look. The Dublin locations have never looked so dreary and foreboding, resulting in a certain sadness throughout the film. This may have been Jordan's intent all along in his version of Ireland's War of Independence(1919-1922). However, whenever the film moves outside of Dublin the Irish countryside looks simply beautiful with it's lush green fields looking especially eye popping on Blu-ray. There are no vertical lines, specks, damaged or torn frames and anyone purchasing this new Blu-ray will be pleased with the results. The acting is top notch with Liam Neeson giving one of his best performances in his role as the charismatic but doomed Michael Collins. He gets great support from Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea and the late Alan Rickman. That being said, Julia Roberts is badly miscast as Kitty Kiernan, the woman who loves(and becomes engaged to) Collins shortly before his death. To her credit, she doesn't have much to do in the film except to act as a love interest to two of the main characters. The Audio(English DTS-HD MA 5.1; Dolby Digital 5.1 for Japanese and Dolby Digital 2.0 for German and Spanish) is clear and free of any noise artifacts(hiss, pop, crackle, etc.) but viewers may want to use the individual subtitles as some of the dialogue is hard to understand when spoken by some of the actors. As mentioned above, Jordan made many alterations to the real events depicted and even some inaccuracies none more so than to Stephen Rea's character(Eamon "Ned" Broy) who is tortured and killed in the film but in reality lived until 1972. Those negatives aside, "Michael Collins" is an engrossing film from start to finish and the Warner Archive Collection has given it new life on Blu-ray. "Michael Collins" is 132 minutes(Aspect ratio: 1.78:1) and contains the following subtitles: English SDH, German SDH, Spanish, Japanese, Czech, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Thai and Turkish. Special features include: (1) Commentary by Director Neil Jordan, (2) "The South Bank Show" documentary hosted by Melvyn Bragg with a Neil Jordan Interview(51:11 minutes), (3) Deleted Scenes and (4) the Theatrical Trailer. The Blu-ray disc itself is housed in a solid standard Blu-ray case(not an eco-cutout case). "Michael Collins" is an absorbing and important film of historical events that are even more relevant today than when they actually occurred over a hundred years ago. It comes highly recommended.

Michael Collins is a fine historical film that essentially captures the life and times of the Irish hero who founded the Irish Republican Army and became the first man since George Washington to force the British Empire to the negotiating table. The production values are very high and the acting is very good. There are a few liberties taken with historical accuracy but most of these are for dramatic effect and do not detract from the overall historical perspective of the film.The film has gained additional importance since 9/11 and for this reason should be viewed by all Americans concerned with our current conflict in the Middle East. There is no way of getting around the fact that Michael Collins was a terrorist and that he founded the first modern terror organization. The film can be used as a study of how terror can successfully be used to obtain political ends, in this case independence for Ireland. It also demonstrates just how difficult it is to defeat an insurrection of this kind, even for the greatest military power on Earth. The film thus becomes a very important warning for the American public, and policy makers in Washington, concerning our current war in Iraq. Collins is presented as a sympathetic character who most Americans will root for; certainly not a bad guy like Osama bin Laden. But remember, there are a large number of people in the world, especially in the Asia, for whom Osama is a sympathetic hero. Both he and Collins fight the same kind of war against similar enemies. Will Osama, like Collins, win in the end? I certainly hope not, but then I am speaking from the perspective of a 21st century American. And if I were an early 20th century Englishman or American, having just fought a bloody world war to make the world safe for democracy, I certainly might have regarded Collins as representing the antithesis of my values.So my advice is definitely to view Michael Collins. It is an excellent and exciting action film with a very sympathetic hero who was largely responsible for founding the Republic of Ireland. But then keep in mind that we are now engaged in a life and death struggle with enemies that have similar aims, use similar tactics, and, like Collins, will stop at nothing to achieve their ends.A little bit about my own background, I am a non-Irish American (unless you go back about 300 years) who has lived and traveled in Ireland and has close ties with that country. I have also read a great deal of Irish history. I think this gives me a different perspective on Ireland's conflict with the British Empire from someone who is either Irish or from a family recently immigrated from Ireland. Having read the other Amazon reviews of this movie, I am somewhat amused with those (few) who seem to have hated it. They seem to fall into two major categories. The first are the die-hard Sinn Fein-IRA types who cannot forgive Collin's compromise with the British. The other categories are those die-hard Unionists who cannot forgive the fact that Collins beat the British Empire! Get a grip guys!