U-Turn Studio:
Coulmbia Tristar
Starring:
Sean Penn
Jennifer Lopez
Nick Nolte
Billy Bob Thornton
Claire Danes
Joaquin Phoenix
Jon Voight		 Director:
Oliver Stone		 Regional code:
2		 Disc Format:
Single Sided, Dual Layer
Screenplay:
John Ridley		 Aspect Ratio:
16:9		 Anamorphic:
Yes
Year:
1997		 Sound:
Both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 in English and German		 Subtitles:
English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew, German, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Greek, Norwegian
Genre:
Noir thriller
Extra disc featues:
Theatrical trailer, filmographies		 Length:
119mins
   

Review of the DVD - rating: * * *

Review of the film - rating: * * 1/2
U-Turn has a highly unusual look, with the film shot relatively low budget. The overall picture is high contrast and high grain - a bit like a bad transfer from the 70's. But that is clearly Stone's deliberate intent, as he mixes film stock and throws in bizarre freakish cutaways every 10 seconds. The disc is dual layer, so there are no MPEG anomolies, and the layer chnage is tidy enough at around the sixty minute mark.

The sound is fine enough if unexceptional - some nice desert atmospheres and ricochets off buttes keep things lively. Add in a strong widescreen trailer in 5.1, filmographies and - hey! - a pretty disc label, and this is a decent enough if unexceptional DVD. It really is good to see Columbia routinely using dual layer technology for any film even vaguely approaching 2 1/4 hours, though.

 Weasel (Penn) stumbles into a remote Arizona desert town when his Mustang convertible breaks down. Soon enough he's up to his neck in murder, robbery, adultery and deception just in his efforts to get out again.

Good atmosphere and customary tricksy direction by Stone keep this watchable throughout, but it's hard to root for anybody - including Penn - with the lone exception of bombshell abused wife Lopez (note to those interested - HUBBA, HUBBA). Eventually everything turns increasingly sour as events reach their bloody conclusion.

Given the choice, go for Nicolas Cages' similarly themed Red Rock West every time, but still, there's half a good movie here.