No Good Deed
May 2004 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

As in life, so it is with movies. Sometimes the little pleasures mean the most and last the longest. I approached this film with no expectations, putting it in the player mainly because it was short and it arrived via UPS at a time when I needed a diversion from heavier, lengthier projects. It turned out to be a good choice. Bob Rafelson, the director who beguiled us with Five Easy Pieces back in 1970, has created a nifty film noir worthy of keeping company with the best movies in the genre.

The script is based on a short story by Dashiell Hammett, "The House on Turk Street." Samuel L. Jackson stars as Jack, a police detective about to set out on a two-week vacation to a music camp. Jack plays the cello very well and dreams of playing duets with Yo Yo Ma. But then a neighbor asks him to help find her lost daughter, who has run off with a young man of whom she disapproves. Jack, the all-around good guy, cannot keep from making the effort. Armed with a photo of what looks like a punk rocker, he sets off for Turk Street, the location where the girl was last seen.

He stumbles into an eccentric household of bank robbers, who think, simply because he is a police officer, that Jack is looking for them. They knock him out and tie him up, effectively kidnapping him. The "family" consists of an older man and woman; a crazed, volatile young man (Doug Hutchison); the sadistic leader Tyrone (Stellan Skarsgard); and his voluptuous girlfriend, Erin (Milla Jovovich). Erin is the kind of woman who works every end against itself and has the looks to pull off anything she wants, a textbook noir heroine. It turns out that she is an exceptionally good pianist and the chemistry between herself and the captured Jack is fascinating to watch as it permeates all levels of their brief existence together.

The movie is stylish, literate, and thoroughly entertaining. It is character driven, and each part is expertly acted with a distinct individuality that fits comfortably into ensemble work when need be. There are delicious plot twists and turns to savor, and enough action at just the right time to keep things moving along. There were only one or two points at which the forward motion of this movie seemed to lag.

The video transfer is way above average. The back jacket says its aspect ratio is 1.33:1, which is correct, but also says that it is presented in a widescreen version, which is incorrect. My guess is that it was originally somewhere around 1.33 and that when it was shown theatrically it was cropped to 1.85. The framing looks perfect and I never felt the crowding usually so evident in a picture that has been panned and scanned from 1.85. The colors are rich and the detail, even in the prerequisite noir shadows, is astonishing. There is a lot of rain in the film and I felt I could isolate each individual drop.

The audio design is just as well crafted. Since Jack is a cellist there is a lot of music, much of it featuring his instrument. This is reproduced with an airiness not usually afforded film scores. At times, if I closed my eyes, it sounded as though I was listening to one of the finest audio recordings ever made, rather than watching a movie. The sound effects are effectively placed throughout a 360-degree stage. In a climactic ensemble scene near the end, there is a ticking clock along the left wall; yes, it images to the side. As various acts of violence ebb and flow, the clock remains solid and menacing.

There are no extras at all, only trailers for this movie, Basic, S.W.A.T., and Resident Evil.

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