Primal Fear Hard Evidence Edition
April 2009 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: Blu-ray	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Though split-personality disorder has become a staple device for movies and television, an extra here called "The Psychology of Guilt" uses specialists and real-life incidents to let us know that this criminal defense, as well as the insanity plea, is seldom used in the nonfictional courtroom. One practical aspect against using the defense is one I had never thought of: The time a prisoner would be sentenced to a mental institution might well be longer than the time he or she would get from regular penal-system sentencing.

I like to praise supplemental featurettes like this one whenever they appear. They add knowledge and understanding to one’s enjoyment of the feature presentation and are certainly more worthy than the usual "making of" documentary. There is also one of those here that is a little better than the norm, and also "Primal Fear: Star Witness -- Casting Edward Norton." The young actor was chosen over some pretty big names, including Leonardo DiCaprio, unavailable because of a medical problem. It was Norton’s first feature film and his riveting performance caused him to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor.

Rounding out the extras are a commentary track including a lot of folks: director Gregory Hoblit, writer Ann Biderman, producer Gary Lucchesi, executive producer Hawk Koch, and casting director Deborah Aquila. It doesn’t sound like much preparation was done for this; it rambles a lot, and only sets forth those things that the participants can easily remember 12 years after the fact.

The movie holds up quite well as an excellent example of the courtroom drama genre. Richard Gere, in one of his best roles, stars as hotshot lawyer Martin Vail, who starts off as cynic but grows quite a bit. He is defending Aaron Stampler (Norton), a young man charged with killing the local beloved Catholic archbishop. Vail is convinced he is innocent and starts looking for a "third man" who might have done the killing. Along the way he discovers the archbishop wasn’t as pure as everyone thought and that there was motive for his death. The movie is taut as long as it stays on track, but a subplot drags it down from time to time. In addition to Gere and Norton, the cast features excellent performances from Laura Linney as an assistant DA, Frances McDormand as a physiological expert witness, and Alfre Woodard as a tyrannical judge.

The video image is clean but seems a bit soft. This is not a Blu-ray that cries out HD, nor is it that bad. "Very good" are the words that come to mind, and at times one wishes the courtroom scenes, in particular, had more depth and pop. The audio is also very good. The tracks do what is needed while never being noticeable as such. The dialogue is clean and every word can be understood. In a drama so dependent upon its intelligent script, that is surely a plus.

In a final verdict, Primal Fear holds up as one of the top courtroom dramas in cinematic history, and its appearance on Blu-ray is welcome. Maybe it’s not a top demo piece for HD, but it’s entirely satisfactory and entertaining, with at least two extras of note.

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