Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

After early stints writing comic books and the screenplay for Richard Donner’s Assassins, the Wachowskis (Lana and Lilly) were ready to make their directorial debut with Bound, an edgy suspense thriller with a surprisingly sweet, intense love story at its core. Jennifer Tilly (never better than here) and Gina Gershon (such an interesting and — in my opinion — underrated actress) star as two women with a lot in common who concoct a risky scheme to steal $2 million from the mob as a way out of their mob-connected lifestyles. As often happens, their careful plotting counts for nothing when miscalculations send the plan sideways, with more than a little loss of life before it’s all settled. Thanks to a lot of hard work and an almost stage-like reliance upon minimal sets, the writer/directors are able to deliver a fully realized and wholly satisfying drama that belies its modest budget.

Much of the credit goes to cinematographer Bill Pope, who would take his ambitious and highly stylized camera moves even further two years later in The Matrix. He imparts a distinctive, enticing look to the 1.85:1 image that’s often shadowy but never too bright, indoors or outdoors. Colors are employed sparsely with an emphasis on reds and maroons as in a dress, a tie, some wallpaper, and copious amounts of quasi-convincing blood.

The soundtrack hails from the early days of discrete 5.1 yet holds up quite well in this DTS-HD Master Audio rendition, even though the mix can be aggressive at times with effects spread across the channels in creative ways. Don Davis’ taut musical score also extends across the sound field, but in a more judicious manner. The film’s snappy film noir dialogue is always clear, while gunshots pack the requisite jolt, encapsulating the imminent danger surrounding the characters.

The only bonus content Criterion provides is a legacy audio commentary with the sibling filmmakers, Ms. Tilly, Ms. Gershon, co-star Joe Pantoliano (who later had a starring role in The Matrix), and others. The commentary is repeated on a second movie/extras HD Blu-ray and joined by a collection of interviews and featurettes from 2014 and 2018 as well as a new video essay from film critic Christina Newland that explores some of Bound’s deeper themes.

ULTRA HD 4K BLU-RAY
STUDIO: Criterion Collection, 1996
ASPECT RATIO: 1.85:1
HDR FORMAT: Dolby Vision, HDR10
AUDIO FORMAT: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
LENGTH: 109 mins., Unrated
DIRECTOR: Lana and Lilly Wachowski
STARRING: Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano, John P. Ryan, Christopher Meloni, Richard C. Sarafian