Reversal of Fortune as a whole has its moments and features some prominent performances, particularly Jeremy Irons who won the Best Actor award, though the script and story could’ve been better.
Reversal of Fortune
— Warner Archive Collection —
(1990)
Genre(s): Drama, Crime
Warner Archive | R – 112 min. – $21.99 | October 6, 2020
Date Published: 09/29/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE – 3½/5 |
| Plot Synopsis: When socialite Sunny von Bülow (GLENN CLOSE) inexplicably slips into an irreversible coma, police suspect foul play – and the obvious suspect is her urbane husband, Claus (JEREMY IRONS). After being found guilty of murder, Claus is granted a retrial and hires showboat Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz (RON SILVER) to represent him. Though unconvinced of Claus’s innocence, Dershowitz enjoys a challenge and – along with a group of his students – fights to have the verdict overturned.
Quick Hit Review: Reversal of Fortune is a decent if not underwhelming legal drama that at least does feature some great performances from its core cast with Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons and Ron Silver, and for his part, Irons did take home a Best Actor Academy Award in 1991. And deservedly so, easily the more compelling character, and delightfully slimy as well, which is probably why his Claus von Bülow was named on the AFI villain’s list. Besides the performances, however, the film does feel a bit, and oddly, disjointed at times (and not just because flashbacks were utilized) and the courtroom aspects, are pretty minimal taking up maybe only 10-minutes of screen time. In addition, the movie is based on the book by famed, and media-hound, Alan Dershowitz and so it is centered on him, as portrayed fairly well by the late Ron Silver, and shown to be principled despite representing a sleaze ball, though there is one scene to explain his decision and derision of Claus von Bülow. So I can’t really say this ranks all that as a courtroom drama yet still worth checking out (at the time of this writing, it’s apparently available on HBO Max or you can purchase the Blu-ray). |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2/5 |
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This release includes an Audio Commentary with Director Barbet Schroeder and Screenwriter Nicholas Kazan as well as the Theatrical Trailer (1:57). |
VIDEO – 4½/5, AUDIO – 4/5 |
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Warner Bros. releases Reversal of Fortune onto Blu-ray through their Archive Collection, presented in the original theatrical 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and has been given a new 1080p high-definition transfer. This is another beautiful looking picture from Warner, detail is sharp and very nicely defined throughout, with the natural film grain left intact while colors are well balanced. The movie includes a DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo track. This is a perfectly suitable lossless track for a movie that is strictly dialogue driven. Dialogue comes across with good clarity and there is some okay depth with the score and some ambient noises. |
OVERALL – 3¼/5 |
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Reversal of Fortune as a whole has its moments and features some prominent performances, particularly Jeremy Irons who won the Best Actor award, though the script and story could’ve been better; still worth checking out at some point. The Blu-ray from Warner has very good video and audio transfers and while features are thin, nice the commentary track was ported over. |