A TRIPLE FEATURE OF FORGOTTEN THRILLERS

BODY OF LIES, EDGE OF DARKNESS & PRIDE AND GLORY Triple Feature (Blu-ray)

2008-2010 / 370 min (3 movies)

From Warner Bros

Available at www.MovieZyng.com

Review by Mr. Bonnie, the Bingewatcher😼

Does anyone recall these movies? And if so, who honestly gave them another thought since they were first released? Despite impressive names above the titles (and a few behind the camera), none of them made much of a splash and arguably aren’t worth worth purchasing individually. But bundled together, this is a decent triple feature package, since all three films are pretty good.

Ridley Scott’s 2008 thriller, Body of Lies, doesn’t rank among the director’s classics, but it’s well-constructed, fast-paced and features an earnest performance by Leonardo DiCaprio. He plays CIA operative Roger Ferris, who uses any means necessary to try and nab the leader of a notorious terrorist group. He’s simultaneously aided and hampered by his boss, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), who directs most of the operation from the safety of his phone. While I could have done without the superfluous romantic subplot, the overall story is fairly interesting, with some tension filled moments. This disc comes with a plenty of bonus features, including a 90 minute multi-part documentary, audio commentary, deleted scenes and an alternate ending.

Fresh out of Cocoa Puffs

2010’s Edge of Darkness has the distinction of being Mel Gibson’s last half-decent starring vehicle before his depressing descent into direct-to-video mediocrity. Yet another revenge thriller (and he did a lot of ‘em), Gibson plays Thomas Craven, a Boston cop obsessed with finding those who murdered his daughter right in front of him. His search leads him to shady operations at a nuclear research facility spearheaded by a psychotic CEO and corrupt senator. Structured as a mystery, the plot is fairly interesting, though the film is a ultimately a real Debbie Downer. Ray Winstone steals the movie right from under Gibson’s nose. This disc includes several promotional featurettes and deleted scenes.

When the missus suggests a fun trip to Hobby Lobby.

2007’s Pride and Glory is the best film in this collection. By-far the most character driven, this one focuses on a family of New York cops. Detective Ray Tierney (Edward Norton) is coerced by police chief dad Francis (Jon Voigt) into investigating the deaths of four fellow cops during a botched raid. But Ray has a moral quandary when the investigation uncovers corruption within the department, which includes his brother, Francis Jr. (Noah Emmerich), and hot-headed brother-in-law Jimmy Egan (a scenery-chewing Colin Ferrell). Not the most original thing ever made, but it boasts good performances and well-rounded characters to counter an overall lack of narrative surprises. This disc includes a 67-minute making-of documentary.

None of these films set the box office on fire, nor were any of them critical darlings. But while nearly everyone on both sides of the camera have done better work, each movie has a quality or two that make them worth checking out…maybe even revisiting on occasion. 

This is a re-issue of a Blu-ray collection originally released in 2012.