Burn After Reading Blu Ray review

The Film:

The Coens are coming off an incredible sweep at last year’s Academy Awards, mounting last year’s most dominating film, No Country for Old Men. I don’t know how much personal thought they put into choosing their next project after winning the two biggest Oscars, Best Picture and Best Director, but fans will ponder. It’s too bad most will even question this, as Burn After Reading is a really good film. If No Country for Old Men is like pitching a no-hitter in baseball, anything else is impossible to stand up next to such perfection, but the Coen Brothers come out for their follow-up, and pitched superbly, like a two-hit gem.

The plot is simple enough; two dimwits find a CD that could contain some ’secret FBI shit’, as Chad (Brad Pitt) puts it, but in reality it’s just the working memoirs of an ex-agent (the wonderful John Malkovich), Osborn Cox. But the Coens just run with it, as everyone knows it’s just memoirs except for every character in the film, sans Cox. This the film plays out like a spy film, similar to the films the Cold War era gave us. Everyone’s paranoid, the music is pulsing, and tension runs high. Except that the film follows ‘morons in a league of morons’ as Cox put it.

There are plenty of chances for the Coens to put in dark humor and they do. JK Simmons has a brief part as a head honcho at the FBI, but steals the ending right out from most of the perfectly cast actors. Brad Pitt nearly steals the show with his Chad, who’s a lovable gym instructor but clueless as all hell. Clooney runs with his worm of a character, an internet-love seeker with plenty of quirks. To me though, this film is Malkovich’s show. He owns every scene and is in the film’s funniest and best scene with Chad. It superbly written, as Chad is unknowingly blackmailing Cox into what he thinks should be a just reward for the CD. Cox is not amused at the attempt and can see right through Chad’s naivety. Pitt adds these little eye slants that add to his character Chad, who thinks he’s being smart and is involved with something serious. He isn’t and the comedy plays against Malkovich’s serious tone. It’s pretty hilarious scene.

Like No Country for Old Men, the ending is somewhat of a tangent but reviewing it closer fully adds to the overall film experience. While it isn’t as ambiguous as ‘No Country’s’, it helps the overall theme of the film. The film is a satirical look at the spy genre with multiple characters being unwillingly roped into something beyond them.  Each one is as clueless as the next and it’s ultimately confusion by JK Simmons’s character that sums up the film. A September release seemed odd for a follow-up to an Oscar winning picture but was the right move. It’ll allow Burn After Reading the proper time to be correctly evaluated instead of a late fall release which would have put it into thicker scrutiny.

This is a dark film in terms of where it goes to find its humor, but Burn After Reading is a really good film, worth seeing almost immediately if not for Pitt or Malkovich, but for more Coen goodness.

The Blu Ray:

Audio/Video: This isn’t a flashy film but both the audio and the video sound and look nice in high def. You’ll notice nice detail and a full audio ambiance.

Finding the Burn: Sadly, just a few interviews running six minutes. Lame EPK stuff. In HD.

DC Insiders: This feature is a bit better, with deeper interviews and a little longer running at 15 minutes or so. In HD.

Welcome Back, George: A very brief piece on the Coens and Clooney’s three film together.

Conclusion: A different, darkly comic ride with the Coens. A decent high def disc, although in typical Coen fashion slim, very slim extras. Rent for everyone else except Coen fans, which should buy.

Rating: