Bringing Out The Dead

Details

Set over three long, exhausting nights, the film follows paramedic Frank Pierce as he drifts through Hell's Kitchen responding to overdoses, assaults and general urban misery. Each night he is paired with a different partner - Larry, Marcus and Walls - all of whom cope with the job in wildly different ways.

Frank, meanwhile, appears to be unraveling. He's haunted by visions of a young girl he failed to save and wanders through the city in a semi-delirious state, narrating his internal collapse. By the end of the film he looks less like a functioning human being and more like someone who hasn't slept since 1993.

If you're waiting for a coherent plot to emerge, keep waiting. The film drifts from call to call, conversation to conversation, hallucination to hallucination. It's allegedly a black comedy-drama with intensity and emotional weight. In reality, it's two hours of Nicolas Cage looking tortured while very little actually happens.

To be fair, Cage does give it everything. He throws himself into the role with twitchy conviction and haunted eyes. Unfortunately, performance alone cannot save a film that feels like it's permanently stuck in second gear. I watched this with friends - one of whom is a committed Cage fan - and even she looked ready to call for medical assistance by the halfway point. I spent most of the runtime attempting to reposition myself into a comfortable sleeping posture on a single chair while glancing repeatedly at the clock. That should tell you something.

Picture & Sound

Visually, the disc fares better than the film deserves. Considering almost the entire movie takes place at night, the image remains clear and reasonably detailed. The flashing ambulance lights cut cleanly through the darkness without excessive grain or compression artefacts. The transfer is arguably the most lively thing about the entire production.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is competent but restrained. Dialogue is clear and well-balanced, and the sirens carry decent impact across the soundstage. Surround channels see limited use, mostly for ambient city noise. It's technically fine - just not particularly dynamic.

Menu & Extras

The extras package is as underwhelming as the film itself. A short production featurette is included, but it's the standard promotional fluff - cast and crew praising the project without offering much insight. It feels like something you'd watch while waiting for your kettle to boil. Even the menus are bland and uninspired.

Overall

You should only buy this DVD if you can answer "yes" to ALL of the following questions: 1) Do you enjoy being bored to the point of self-inflicted injury? 2) Do you prefer your surround sound to sit politely in the corner doing nothing? 3) Are you a Nicolas Cage completist? 4) Do you enjoy Nicolas Cage in slow, miserable films? 5) Do you actively seek out cinematic endurance tests?

If you answered "no" to any of the above, save yourself two hours and watch literally anything else.

Special features

• Production Featurette