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Click above to purchase "Thirteen Days: Infinifilm" at
amazon.com
Thirteen Days
Infinifilm
review by Zach B.
Rated PG-13
Studio: New Line Home Entertainment
Running Time: 147 minutes
Starring Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwod, Steven Culp,
Dylan Baker
Written by David Self
Directed by Roger Donaldson
Retail Price: $29.99
Features: Historical Figure Audio Commentary,
Historical Information Track, Historical Figures Biographies
Gallery, Roots Of The Cuban Missle Crisis documentary,
Filmmakers Commentary, Bringing History to the Silver Screen
featurette, Visual Effects, Deleted Scenes with Optional
Commentary, Cast and Crew Filmographies, Theatrical Trailer.
DVD-ROM: Script-To-Screen Acess to the Film, Weblink
Specs: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English Dolby
Digital 5.1, English Closed Captions, Select A Scene (Movie
- 32 Chapters, Infinifilm - 59 Chapters)
I think it's fair to say that Kevin Costner's body of
work during the 1990s was horrendous, if anything. It seems
he went downhill after his double Oscar win for the
historical epic "Dances With Wolves". While he took
successful turns with movies like "JFK" and "The Bodyguard",
films like "For Love Of The Game", "Message In A Bottle" and
the "The Postman" made him a punchline in Hollywood. The
thing is not only did he star in those films which people do
still mock, he produced them. Let's face it, when I heard
Costner was producing and starring in "Thirteen Days", I was
not expecting anything more than historical inaccuracies,
boring scenes and plain idiocy. But when I got into that
theater last Winter and sat down to watch it, I was dead
wrong. "Thirteen Days" is Costner's best producing work in
years, as he helps deliver a stellar movie about a very
important time in American history.
Costner is Kenny O'Donnell, who at the start of the film,
appears to be a good-natured family man. However, we soon
learn that he is the special assistant to President John F.
Kennedy (an excellent Bruce Greenwood &endash; who really
was Oscar ®worthy here). The film centers around the
unforgettable two weeks during October 1962 when U-2
surveillance photos were discovered showing that the Soviet
Union was placing nuclear weapons in Cuba. These weapons
could wipe out a good chunk of the United States within in
minutes. This, of course, became known as the Cuban Missile
Crisis. Kennedy is eager to show that he is up to the
threat, but he and his staff must find a plan of action
against the Soviets. The Pentagon advises that the United
Sates military strikes against Cuba, but Kennedy doesn't
want to go through with that. He feels if the U.S. invades,
the Soviets will retaliate in Europe. A nuclear showdown
seems to be at handÉ and I'm sure if you know your history,
you know what happens in the end.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was way before my time, but I'm
not sure if people realize how close we came to nuclear war.
This film is simply breathtaking and really appears to be
historically accurate (it's based on Ernet R. May's book
"The Kennedy Tapes"). You probably know that a nuclear
showdown is prevented, but this film is so well made and
gives you a very good idea of how intense things were with
the JFK administration. This movie rivals any thriller
currently in theaters, it features many breathtaking moments
that will have you on the edge of your seat.
This film has some really nice production values. There
is never a dull moment in the script, and presents
everything in a clear manner without making it sound stupid,
but it is easy to understand. There is a very good amount of
intelligence in this movie. While the film is a bit lengthy,
everything presented is needed to tell the story. As the
crisis goes on in the film, each moment becomes more
captivating and driven. While this film is a historical
drama, there are moments now and then that have some humor
to give it a little more to the mix. Again, it all appears
to be historically accurate (as far as I know, though I
think O'Donnell's role in the film is expanded).
Roger Donaldson, who I am not a big fan of, directed the
movie and it's clearly his best work ever. While some of us
couldn't stand "Species" or his horrendous remake of "The
Getaway", Donaldson moves the film at a good pace, spending
the appropriate amount of time on each thing. He makes a two
and a half-hour film seem like a mere hour. There are some
nice shots in the film to really draw you in and make you
feel like you're there watching it all unfold, but what
bothered me was that at points the film would shift from
color to black and white and back to color again. I guess
the black and white shots were to show the importance of
what was being shown, but the way it shifts and what he
feels is important gets annoying. Still, it's a top notch
job (and Costner was even considering to direct the film).
The performances are mesmerizing, to say the least.
Costner's South Boston accent gets old and annoying fast,
but he is very believable as Kenny O'Donnell. Bruce
Greenwood as JFK himself is, like I said, was really
Oscar® worthy, as I was really disappointed he did not
get a nomination. While he really doesn't have Kennedy's
accent (he's Canadian, by the way), he brings JFK to full
life. The actors really make history leap out and give a
good idea of how things were in the White House during the
crisis. The actors play off each other very well, and
everyone is pretty much outstanding, including Steven Culp
as Bobby Kennedy and Bill Smitrovich as General Maxwell
Taylor.
As far as other things go with the film, there are some
nice touches. The musical score is excellent, really just
adding to the drama and tension. It's loud, strong and
represents the people trying to get out of the Cuban Missile
Crisis. Also, references to the paranoia people had (showing
a film clip of children ducking outside in case of nuclear
attackÉ like a desk or the sky is really going to save
them), the Bay of Pigs and a little more important, the book
"The Guns Of August", which can represent the film itself. A
lot of this movie deals with communication and people take
their stand in tough times. I guess you could say a lot of
miscommunication led to the Cuban Missle Crisis, but I'm not
sure how many people even know that Kennedy got us into it
in the first place. While some comments are made about that
during the first half hour of the movie, the movie basically
focuses on how he and his staff tried to get out of it and
stop it.
This movie, I think, should be shown in history
classrooms around the world. Not only is it very interesting
and intense, but it is very well made and really shows what
went on as well as what the public never got a chance to see
or know. Besides the history portion, there is also a very
good lesson to learn about communication and how people
react during major events in their lifetime. While I'm sure
this movie won't appeal to many people (I had very little
desire to see it originally), if you get yourself to sit
down and watch it, you're more than likely to get something
out of it. History buffs and those who were alive first hand
to experience it will eat it all up, as it will take them
back and have them remember an important time during JFK's
presidency and U.S. history. Whatever you do, don't miss
"Thirteen Days". I think this movie was REALLY
snubbed for some major awards, especially for its writing,
editing, technical features and acting... it's just a
fabulous movie all around, and to think that so much of this
really happened. It clearly rivals any Hollywood thriller
out there and it works as one too. This film is so powerful,
so gripping and so intense. I saw this movie in the theater
and again, I was really disappointment at how much it was
snubbed. New Line's strategy didn't work either, really. The
film was supposed to go wide December 20th, 2000, but they
held off. They released it in a few theaters Christmas Day
that year, and it went wide January 12th, 2001. The film
raked in about 35 million, with a budget of about 80
million. I personally think if the film could have been
promoted more, as well as marketed differently, it could
have been bigger. But maybe people were turned off by the
whole history aspect of the film, maybe not.
Still, while "Thirteen Days" was snubbed for awards and
wasn't seen by many, I'm sure a ton of people are going to
see it now, all thanks to the new revolutionary Infinifilm
banner from New Line Home Entertainment. While I'm sure a
good majority are going to check this DVD set out for the
supplements, the presentation and the fact that it's the
first official Infinifilm disc, the movie is now getting a
very good deal of exposure, and now people will finally be
able to see a fantastic film they probably missed the first
time around. That makes me very happy, because this film was
really ignored, and I think everyone should see it.
...and as far as Kevin Costner's career goesÉ we'll wait
and see. Though it's a good bet he'll be back to unleash
more horrible films on the world.
As we know in the past, New Line has delivered incredible
transfers for their films, standard or Platinum Series.
Their first official Infinifilm DVD release, however, is a
bit disappointing. Not that it's bad, it's pretty great, but
compared to New Line's past track record it looks like they
have gone down a tiny notch. "Thirteen Days" is presented in
1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, the original theatrical aspect
ratio it was presented in. The transfer represents the movie
pretty well. Black levels are deep, detail is pretty
incredible while colors and hues are accurate and really
well saturated. Fleshtones als appear natural. While there
is a lot to like, I noticed that the image was pretty
grainy, sometimes more then other times. The movie is pretty
sharp, but there were points during the movie where it
looked really soft. I also noticed a blemish here and there,
but nothing too distracting. Shimmering also appears
sometimes as well. I guess I was expecting near-perfection
considering how great other New Line transfers were, but,
this is a disappointment. There's a lot to love, and a few
things to dislike. Still, it's a very good transfer.
Though it may not seem like a great film to utilize
audio, but the English 5.1 Dolby Digital track on "Thirteen
Days" is pretty extradoniary. True, most of the film is
talk, but there are quite a few parts that will utilize your
speakers. Dialogue is crisp and easy to hear, it's very
clean and not distorted. The sound has a good balance so
nothing overpowers anything else. What I liked so much about
this track though is that how it builds up tension as the
movie goes on. Things become more and more intense for JFK
and the administration. The surrounds used pack a really
good punch. Despite the thrilling music from Trevor Jones
that sounds great through the speakers and really helps
build things on, this track features high fidelity and some
extensive .1 LFE that is put to some incredible use. When
you hear those jets flying overhead, you'll really feel like
you're there. This is a very healthy mix complete with
action packed surrounds, and as I mentioned, builds things
on to a great deal. All of this and you feel like you're
there. I was expecting a DTS 5.1 track too as in the
original press release, but it is nowhere to be found.
There's no English Dolby Surround track or English subtitles
like usual New Line titles features, which I found a bit
weird. You do have English closed captions through your TV
though.
Here we go... the first official and major Infinifilm
title, New Line Home Entertainment is out to create even
better special editions of their movies. While I was a big
fan of their Platinum Series titles, and I thought they did
good jobs with their standard editions, Infinifilm takes
everything to the next level to give you more insight about
the creation of their films and background subject matter.
The idea seems familiar: during the movie you click on
something and the film stops to take you to a
behind-the-scenes featurette or a cut scene. It may seem
like nothing new, however, I think it's still pretty
revolutionary and offers a lot more then other titles where
you click a logo to see something. New Line really pushes it
by cramming everything from both ends (background history
and making the film). It's really easy to use and works
incredibly well too. You can watch the movie by itself or
with Infinifilm enabled, a menu with options will come up
during portions of the movie and you can stop the movie and
be taken to those features if you so choose. If not, it'll
go away until the next batch of things you can check out
comes up. A lot of the choices you can see do reflect what
happens in the film as you watch. It may be a bit
distracting as you jump back and forth between the
supplements and film, but you really get the most out of it.
You can't pause, rewind or fast forward while the choices
are up either. The DVD box suggests to watch the film first
and then go through with the Infinifilm. I really do agree
with that as far as getting distracted and whatnot. For me,
I mentioned I saw the film in the theater so I was ready to
jump into Infinifilm. And if you're curious, you can toggle
the Infinifilm mode on and off by pressing your subtitle key
to go to another subtitle track (Infinifilm is on stream 2).
While you can go through the supplements during the film,
if you don't have the patience to sit through the film and
watch everything together, you can also access everything
seperatley (a wise and obvious choice on New Line's part).
Features are broken up into two different sections:
Beyond The Movie which deals with the actual history
and true events and All Access Pass has features that
deal with the creation of the film. A lot of the stuff
during Infinifilm is broken up into little pieces as you
watch the movie so you don't go off track for a really long
amount of time, but seperatley you can see things in their
entirety or simply go right to a certain portion as a good
deal of some of the things have chapter stops encoded (a
nice touch if I say so myself).
I'll start with Beyond The Movie. As I said, these
supplements deal with the actual people, Cuban Missle
Crisis, history and the whole deal of real-life events. The
Historical Figures Commentary features President John
F. Kennedy, Special Assitant Kenneth O'Donnell, Historian
and son of Mikita Khrushchev Seregi Krushchev, authors and
historians Ernest R. May (who wrote the book for some of the
movie's source material) and Philip D. Zelikov, press
secretary Pierre Salinger and secretary of defense of Robert
McMazara. This track is obviously edited (hmm, you think?)
and some of the stuff is scratchy, and each participant is
introduced (there are also some other people on the track
who I did not mention). Things don't always relate to on
screen, and I think this track will bore many, but it is
rather interesting with the information and getting a
perspective from so many different people. History buffs are
going to eat this up, and I think students who are
interested in this matter will get a lot out of this too.
There's a lot of information to absorb here as far as
history and other factors, so enjoy it. It's quite a nice
reference to have and hear.
The Historical Information Track is a subtitle
stream track that as the movie plays, you'll get bits of
information about the film and actual events as well as
people. This is nice, but there's quite a few time lapses as
you wait for the next bit of information. I found this to be
annoying. Still, what's presented on screen provides some
good tidbits that I really enjoyed.
Now, here's something that I really liked and got a lot
out of. The Historical Figures Biographical Gallery
presents short filmed biographies about particular people
involved with the events. I think students as well as all
sorts of people will get a lot out of this as they can now
have more background on the people and learn more about them
(extra knowledge always helps) in a more detailed,
thoughtful manner. These aren't standard history facts, but
rather, a lot focus on thoughts and how the people dealt
with things. All of these are in anamorphic widescreen,
feature interviews and newsreel clips. The bios are divided
into five sections: "Leaders" (John F. Kennedy, Nikita
Khrushchev and Fidel Castro), "Advisors" (Robert Kennedy,
Kenneth O' Donnell, Dean Acheson, McGeorge Bundy, Rbert
McNamara, John McCono, Theodore Sorensen, Dean Rusk),
"Military" (General Maxwell Taylor and General Curtis
LeMay), "Diplomats" (Adlai Stevenson and Anatoly Dobrynin)
and finally, "Press" ("John Scali and Pierre Salinger). I
highly reccomend everyone give a few of these a spin,
they're short, sweet and most importantly, interesting.
Roots Of The Cuban Missle Crisis is a fascinating,
forty-eight documentary that has old news clips, stills and
a slew of interviews that include Sam Donaldson, Ernest R.
May, Marv Kalb, Philip Zelikow and a few others. This is
broken up in chapter stops, and I mentioned, is broken up
when you play "Infinifilm". Like so much of the other
hisotrical stuff, this is a nice thing that should be played
in classrooms for students to learn from. This is nicely
editied, focuses on good points and has a well-rounded feel
to it. This is a very serious and documentary. It is a bit
dry, but like so many of the extras on this release, there's
a lot to gain out of this and if you're the least bit
interested in the Cuban Missle Crisis or related topics, go
watch this. It goes by quick.
Now, the All Access Pass features. The
Filmmakers Commentary has director Roger Donaldson,
Kevin Costner, writer David Self, executive and former New
Line honco Michael De Luca, producer Arayan Bernstein and
visual effects supervisor Michael McAlister. This audio
commentary is obviously edited and not always screen
specific, as some of the filmmakers are recorded together
and others aren't. Still, the editing of the people is
fantastic and flows really well like everyone is there
together. Everyone brings their own bits of information as
they talk about making the actual film, stories, their
thoughts and having the actual history of it all. If you
liked the movie and were interested about the filmmakers'
thoughts as well as the production, don't miss this. I liked
it a lot. It's dry, but it didn't feel that way.
Bringing History To The Silver Screen is a
featurette that lasts eleven minutes that has clips from the
movie, some old reference footage, stills and a slew of
interviews with the filmmakers such as David Self, Kevin
Costner, Roger Donaldson, producer Peter O. Almond,
executive producer, Ilona Herzberg, Bruce Greenwood some of
the historical guys and quite a few others. This felt a
little promotional, but it's pretty open and has some
interesting behind-the-scenes stuff as well that didn't make
it too fluffy. It's chapter encoded plus is in anamorphic
widescreen. I liked this a lot, and I think fans of the film
will too.
Visual Effects is an angle feature, complete with
an intro from visual effects supervisor Michael McAllister
where he talks about the evolution of an effect and what he
does. This scene is of a plane flight. You have five angles
to choose from: plane without animation, rough
animation/greenscreen, flat color animation, composite and
of course, the final film. You view all angles seperatley as
they go in a row (the scene is around thirty seconds).
Nothing new, but nicely done and presented.
I earlier mentioned in the review of the movie how each
scene is needed and key to the film. Despite the movie's
running time, I felt the movie did not drag and everything
was important. However, cuts were made as you can see in the
Deleted Scenes section of the DVD. There are nine of
them, each an incredibly short length. Personally, I liked
all of these scenes and I felt they could have fit into the
film nicely (you can watch them at the appropriate moments
with Infinifilm turned on). They are in anamorphic
widescreen, and have optional commentary from Roger
Donaldson. He explains his choices and thoughts, but still,
there's good stuff here.
Rounding the disc out are Cast and Crew
Filmographies, the Theatrical Trailer in Dolby
Digital 5.1 and anamorphic widescreen, plus some
DVD-ROM features that include Script-To-Screen
Acess to the Film, a Weblink to the original site
and other exclusive features.
While the features may not seem like an overwhelming
much, trust me, there is a lot to learn and go through. I
think New Line has done an oustanding job with the
supplements and with this Infinifilm title, it really feels
interactive and is not hard to use, it blends perfectly.
They were also kind enough to include question marks on
nearly every menu so if you're curious or don't understand
something, you can click on the question mark and it will
provide a brief summary. It's nice to see they include the
question marks for standard DVD terms, so newbies to the
format won't get confused and learn. Also, the movie comes
in a nice case (no more annoying snappers for New Line, I'm
guessing). On another note, I really did like the menus as
they did represent the film without going over the top.
While I mentioned this is a movie that should be shown in
classrooms, I really think this DVD should be shown in
classrooms as well. Teachers usual visuals to teach their
students (of course) by showing documentaries, movies and
all sorts of things. The history supplements included on
this disc are quite educational, and feature some great
biographies of those involved in the actual Cuban Missle
Crisis, interviews and a whole lot more that will really
help students learn and experience. It'd probably initate
discussion and really help get more out of the topic. As the
DVD format has really taken off, I expect to see schools get
a few DVD players for their classrooms to show things on...
"Thirteen Days" would be a fabulous addition to a school's
DVD library. I can see future Infinifilm titles having their
benefits for learning too... the upcoming "15 Minutes" is an
Infinifilm title, and that movie deals with the media, so I
could really see media classes and journalism classes
putting that movie to good use.
New Line has once again raised the benchmark on the DVD
front. First they brought up some sweet Platinum Series
discs complete with incredible presentations and great bonus
material, now with their new Infinifilm series, they go
beyond that with a presentation that will make every jaw
drop complete with some thorough, in-depth supplementary
material. There is no doubt Infinifilm is the next step in
the DVD industry, as it is quite revolutionary and really,
really shows what DVD can do as well as how beneficial it
can be for so many people. But beyond the whole new
Infinifilm logo and series, "Thirteen Days" is an incredible
historical drama that sadly tanked at the box office and
with awards last year, and now with the Infinifilm logo on
the box (as well as the buzz behind it), it's sure to
attract quite an audience, as it rightfully deserves. Why
some people may only be curious for this movie for the
supplements and to see everything in action, they'll be
treated to one fine damn film. "Thirteen Days" is truly one
of the best DVD releases this year, if not, one of the best
ever. Great movie, great disc... what more can I say? Buy
it! Well, actually, there is more...
I really think this movie deserves a spot in everyone's
collection far beyond the actual disc. Yes it's everything a
DVD should be (that's a reason so many people will check it
out and they should), but for me, "Thirteen Days" is a movie
that will be remembered generations for now, as it captures
the intensity of an incredible time in American history. I
feel it's important to know history. And while we can't
experience everything first hand, movies tend to create a
great job of getting us as close as we can, even with some
liberties here and there. The Cuban Missle Crisis was an
important point in Kennedy's adminstration and a really
important time in American history, it's something we should
take the time to learn about, and watching this movie as
well as going into the supplements will give you a
mind-boggling sense about that. I really think everyone
should realize (well, everyone in the U.S. at the very
least) how close the United States came at starting a
nuclear war and that people should learn about very
important times in history, so they have some kind of sense
about their country and possibly themselves. This movie
perfectly paints the portrait of the Cuban Missle Crisis,
complete with phenomenal acting, writing, editing, effects
and directing. Get it or rent it for your reasons, but if
you haven't already, keep my reasons in mind. While it's all
opinion, I hope some of you out there agree with me.
 (4.5/5 - NOT included in
final score)
 (4/5)
(4.5/5)
(4.5/5)
(4.5/5, NOT an average)
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