DVD Review - Double Jeopardy

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Site created 12/15/97.

review added: 3/10/00

Double Jeopardy
1999 (2000) - Paramount

review by Chris Maynard of The Digital Bits

Enhanced for 16x9 TVs

Film Rating: B

Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): A/B+/B-

Specs and Features

105 mins, R , letterboxed widescreen (2.35:1), 16x9 enhanced, single-sided, RSDL dual-layered (layer switch at 1:00:13, in chapter 10), Amaray keep case packaging, behind the scenes featurette, theatrical trailer, film-themed menu screens, scene access (16 chapters), languages: English (DD 5.1 and DD 2.0) and French (DD 2.0), subtitles: English, Closed Captioned

In the spirit of The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals comes Paramount's Double Jeopardy. It appears that the winning formula of Tommy Lee Jones in a "catch the bad guy/girl who might be innocent" is replayed here for the viewing audience.

Tommy Lee Jones plays Travis Lehman, an ex-lawyer who now runs a halfway house for recent parolees. Ashley Judd plays Libby Parsons, who was convicted of killing her husband to cash in on his 2 million-dollar life insurance policy. Things get interesting when she finds out that her dead husband is still quite alive and he's framed her for the murder. Once out on parole, she skips town and sets out to get back her son and take care of her slime of a husband. You see, she's already been convicted of killing her husband - since she can't be tried twice for the same crime, she could kill him for real now and walk away scott-free. Travis is hot on her tail the entire time, not realizing the tremendous determination that drives Libby on. Is this story really that original? The short answer is no.

I found it all to be quite predictable, possessing merely limited elements of surprise. I am afraid it didn't really live up to all the hype drummed up by the media prior to its release. That being said, I still found it enjoyable enough to sit through and appreciate the movie as one of Hollywood's recent candy covered offerings to the masses.

This disc looks near perfect. Some of the only flaws I saw were flecks and nicks on the print in the opening credit sequence. After that though, I found it difficult to find any defects in the video presentation. The wonderful cinematography takes us from the Pacific Northwest to the Rocky Mountains and all the way down to the French Quarter in New Orleans. The color rendition on the disc is really top notch. Some notable scenes start about a minute into chapter 14. There is a beautiful shot of street in the French Quarter which has some of the most unique colors I have had the pleasure to view in an outdoor shot. As we make the way into the interior, with a properly calibrated television, you will pick up some eye-catching but subtle changes in the reds of the walls and the wood grains of the furniture and doors. There are numerous dark-lit interior scenes that exhibit excellent shadow detail and a solid black level. I think a lot of thought went into the cinematography of this feature film and it shows. This movie transferred quite well to DVD. Paramount's picture quality lately is among the best with their dedication to anamorphic widescreen and top-notch video transfers.

The audio is not the highlight of this movie, although it does not fail to impress where needed. There are numerous action sequences but the movie is mostly dialogue based. The musical score is very expansive and presented with notable quality. The sound effects are well recorded and compliment their respective scenes accordingly. There is a scene in New Orleans where a thunderclap really catches you off guard. It required me to take a look outside (since it was raining while I was reviewing this) and verify that it was from the movie.

The extras on the disc are not much to rave about. There is a "making of" featurette that proves to be interesting enough. My biggest complaint would have to be that the featurette is shot in 4:3 and also 1.78:1 widescreen. This presents a problem for most widescreen television viewers, making us change display modes more than once. The alternative is to switch our sets to standard 4:3 and watch it this way. I would like to see them shoot the documentary portion also in 1.78:1, so the entire extras section has the same aspect ratio. There is also a trailer found on the disc which is presented in non-anamorphic 1.78:1. While I would love to have extras in anamorphic widescreen, I know this is not always possible. Keeping a consistent aspect ratio would be an excellent middle ground.

If you liked The Fugitive and U.S. Marshals, then this should be a sure winner for you to chase down yourself.

Chris Maynard
chrismaynard@thedigitalbits.com