DVD Reviews

Stone - Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Feb 4, 2011, 22:07 GMT

Academy Award winner Robert De Niro and Oscar nominee Edward Norton deliver powerful performances as a seasoned corrections official and a scheming inmate whose lives become dangerously intertwined in this “gritty and engrossing thriller” (Steve O’Brien, WCBS-FM). Jack Mabry (De Niro), a parole officer days away from retirement, is asked to review the case of Gerald “Stone” Creeson (Norton), in prison for arson. Now eligible for early release, Stone needs ...more

You’d expect much from a film with a cast such as this and that might just be what works against Stone. That being said, the resulting film isn’t too bad, but it just seems to not go anywhere.

Parole officer Jack Mabry (Robert DeNiro) is rapidly approaching his retirement, but he wants to finish out his last round of cases before the day arrives. One of those cases is Gerald “Stone” Creeson (Edward Norton) who was involved in a murder, of his grandparents no less, but that charge was leveled against his friend and he only got time for arson.

“Stone” wants out and enlists his wife Lucetta (Milla Jovovich) to get to Mabry and help him decide to recommend parole. Jack and his wife Madeline (Frances Conroy) attend church but Jack has been having doubts about his faith. When the younger woman starts paying attention to Jack, he begins a headlong plunge into darkness.

Stone isn’t particularly a bad film. You go into it with certain expectations. Especially when you see the cast, all of them come with their own expectations. The problem may be that the film never lives up to them.

Norton has been in a similar crime film before and we expect the big twist that the other film offered. There are twists and turns in Stone, but it never makes your draw drop or surprises you all that much.

There is an intriguing religious undertone that in some ways makes the criminal Stone the only character that is redeemed. His wife seems loving but we discover that she’s a godless, but nice, nymphomaniac who is more than happy to bed Jack to satisfy her desires and help our her husband.

DeNiro actually is pretty good as the doubtful and seething Jack, who is supposed to be the upstanding law officer but is so full of flaws that he should be on the other side of the bars. In the end, there are some good moments in Stone, but they don’t seem to gel into anything that gets the film into memorable territory.

Stone is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1). Special features are presented in high definition. Not that there’s much here. You get a 6 minute making of, the 2 minute theatrical trailer, and previews for other Anchor Bay products.

Stone is a film that you’ll want to see for its billed cast. However, you’ll be expecting something different and more suspenseful. Those performances aren’t exactly terrible, but the path the film slowly leads you down is not the beaten one for these types of film.

That will appeal to some, but I’d imagine the majority of the audience will want to take a quick peek under the Stone and then put it back down again.