Image Courtesy of Amazon.com
Director:
Peter Weir
Cast:
Robin Williams……….John Keating
Robert Sean Leonard……….Neil Perry
Ethan Hawke……….Todd Anderson
Josh Charles……….Knox Overstreet
Gale Hansen……….Charlie Dalton
Dylan Kussman……….Richard Cameron
Allelon Ruggiero……….Steven Meeks
James Waterston……….Gerard Pitts
Norman Lloyd……….Mr. Nolan
Kurtwood Smith……….Mr. Perry
Carla Belver……….Mrs. Perry
Leon Pownall……….McAllister
George Martin……….Dr. Hager
Matt Carey……….Hopkins
The Movie
When all is said and done, Robert Williams will be remembered for being one of the greatest comedians to have lighted up the silver screen. But what often gets overlooked is just how amazing of a dramatic actor he could be when put up to the task. With four Academy Award nominations and one win for Good Will Hunting, the role he’s always going to be remember for is John Keating in Dead Poets Society.
In what would also be the big screen breakthrough for Ethan Hawke, Dead Poets Society has Keating as an English teacher at a New England Prep School. Keating isn’t any ordinary sort of teacher; he’s the kind that encourages the students to think in ways outside of the box their 1950s era New England Boarding School doesn’t teach them to.
His students are at the point in their lives where they on the end of their secondary education and not quite ready for higher education as of yet. the main focus is on Neil (Robert Sean Leonard), a man whose father (Kurtwood Smith) wants him to be a doctor despite his son’s yearning to be an actor. Together with Todd (Hawke) and several other students (most prominent being Josh Charles of Sports Night fame) join together to read poetry in a cave in a secret society.
And all these years later, it’s still the same sort of uninspiring film that’s chock-full of moments deliberately meant to elicit a certain emotional reaction. It has all the sort of cliché moments that are all too convenient, with the same sort of trite dialogue that doesn’t do much. This is like watching Mr. Holland’s Opus without any sort of emotional connection to anyone besides Keating. The characters are fleshed out and given purpose, but aren’t really drawn out enough to give us a fuller glimpse of who they are.
There are good moments and sequences, but Williams’ performance is what drives the film. While the focus of the film is on the students, Keating is a wonder to behold in the limited screen time he’s given.
Score : 5 / 10
The Video
Twenty years later, the film has been re-mastered and cleaned up for another release. Presented in a widescreen format with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the film still has some grainy moments to it but has been cleaned up considerably. It looks great for the most part.
The Audio
Presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, the film sounds good. The dialogue, which fuels the film, comes through loud and clear.
The Extras
Raw Takes are a collection of raw scenes deleted from the film. Nothing special.
Dead Poets – A Look Back is a look back at the making of the film with Peter Weir and features interview footage with Hawke, Leonard, Smith and others as they talk about the film. Running around 26 minutes, it’s a revealing look at the film 16 years later with some amusing anecdotes from the principles (excluding Robin Williams).
Master of Sound is a look at Alan Splet, the film’s composer. It’s pretty interesting to hear his peers talk about his work and how his score was meticulously crafted for the film.
Cinematography Master Class is a 14 minute excerpt from an Australian TV Show with cinematographer John Seale as he conducts a workshop on how he filmed, shot and lit some scenes from Dead Poets Society.
Audio commentary from Director Peter Weier, Cinematographer John Seale and Writer Tom Schulman
Theatrical trailer
Score : 7.5 / 10
