{"id":33953,"date":"2026-07-21T22:32:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T05:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=33953"},"modified":"2026-07-21T22:32:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T05:32:02","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-4k-ultra-hd-review-falling-down-1993","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=33953","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! 4K Ultra HD Review: FALLING DOWN (1993)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD disc from Arrow Video\nis currently available for purchase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Back in 1993, the Los Angeles-set drama Falling Down<\/em> generated\na great deal of controversy upon its release. Following a man on a violent\nrampage through the busy city as he cites his grievances (and prejudices), the\nmovie most certainly tapped into a tense and unsettling time in LA. The Rodney\nKing riots had occurred less than a year earlier, and some audience members and\ncritics were disturbed by what they were witnessing onscreen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie was very successful and more than 30 years later,\nstill feels like a remarkably relevant picture. I initially saw the film as a\nteenager. Upon revisiting it, many of the themes and ideas presented make a\nmuch stronger impact. This appears to be the case with many others too, as Falling\nDown<\/em> has developed an even larger following over the years. Now Arrow Video\nis presenting the film with a 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative,\napproved by cinematographer Andrez Bartkowiak (Terms of Endearment, Speed,\nDante\u2019s Peak)<\/em> and presented in Dolby Vision. It\u2019s another striking image\nupgrade that will impress those who admire the movie, adding more striking\ndetail to the presentation than ever seen before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it\u2019s not just the story that is unique about the\npicture. The director, Joel Schumacher, was also an unusual choice to helm it.\nHe was mostly known for features targeting a young demographic like St.\nElmo\u2019s Fire, The Lost Boys, Flatliners<\/em> and Dying Young<\/em>. Falling\nDown<\/em> was a complete left turn and one that ended up suiting the filmmaker\nsurprisingly well.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While trapped in busy LA traffic, a mysterious and clearly frustrated man (Micheal Douglas) shuts his car engine off, opens the door and walks right off the highway. As events progress, officials looking for him only have one clue as to his identity. His license plate, which reads \u201cD-Fens\u201d (who the character will be referred to from this point forward). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

D-Fens walks into a corner store and gets into a very ugly argument with the Korean owner, eventually taking his baseball bat and using it on items. He then wanders into gang territory, walking out of the fracas with an automatic weapon. As the lead character moves from location to location, he lashes out more and more. In the meantime, a cop named Prendergast (Robert Duvall), takes on the challenge of finding D-Fens and stopping him. Over the course of the investigation, he discovers that the man was once an employee of the Defense Department, who was laid off and is trying to cross town to visit his estranged ex-wife and daughter for a birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As noted, the film is tense throughout. While one can relate\nto the character\u2019s initial frustration at being stuck in traffic, his\nincreasingly unhinged and violent behavior becomes wildly unpredictable and\ndistressing. Some of his outbursts, like the one at a fast-food restaurant who\nhave just changed their menu for the day, are darkly amusing, while others are\nsimply unsettling. This includes an encounter with an employee (Frederick\nForrest) at an army surplus store, who turns out to be a Neo-Nazi. D-Fens is\ndisturbed that his actions appear relatable to the fascist, and the anxious\nscene eventually takes a grim turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Everything about the movie seems designed to spur\ncontroversy and conversation, and it is ultimately clear that the behavior of\nD-Fens is not to be admired or emulated. This is a man going through the\nprocess of struggling through a mental breakdown, while the officer chasing him\ndeals with all of the same characters in a more tolerant and low-key manner. In\nfact, the detective has been through his own set of personal trials, but manages\nto maintain his decency throughout.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The movie looks stunning, with the photography capturing a\nsense of claustrophobia and heat in the big city. You can now see every bead of\nsweat pouring down the face of D-Fens (and the cracks in his glasses), and the\nintense temperature\u2019s effect on many of the other characters as well. The\nbackground city details are also much sharper, and overall, this is an\nincredibly impressive disc that adds a lot of new and fine details to the\npresentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new and archival bonuses are also illuminating to watch.\nThe first new extra is a talk with screenwriter Ebb Roe Smith. Smith was a\nworking actor in Hollywood at the time who was also trying his hand at\nscreenwriting. One day, he heard about a truck driver losing his cool and\nplowing through gridlocked vehicles during a news broadcast. While he could\nrelate to being stuck in traffic, it was a horrific story that he altered for\nthe film. Smith instead started his tale with a man leaving his car in traffic,\nand then followed him throughout the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith notes that it took a lot of work to figure out how to\nslowly reveal his backstory, and also mentions that once the script reached\nstudios, it became a hot property. He also discusses the changes that were made\nto his initial draft, and states that they were actually all beneficial to the\nfinal product. You\u2019ll also learn that Smith has a cameo in the picture as the\ndriver behind D-Fens who acts as a witness when the police arrive. The only\nthing the writer laments is that a few fans on the far-right appear to relate\ntoo closely to the main character (presumably missing the point of the movie).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is also a new interview with composer James Newton\nHoward, who goes over how he was enlisted for the project and the approach he\ntook to creating the music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, you will get a featurette that examines the\nlocations used in the film and what they look like today. Like many of these\nkinds of specials, it\u2019s fun, although it is also clear a good portion of the\ncity has radically changed (and been gentrified) over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, the best commentaries are the ones that come from\nthe participants, and so this release includes an archival track from director\nJoel Schumacher, editor Paul Hirsch, screenwriter Ebbe Roe Smith, LA Times\nwriter Shawn Hubler, and actors Michael Douglas, Michael Paul Chan, Vondie\nCurtis-Hall and Frederic Forrest. Schumacher is an excellent speaker here,\ngoing on about his reaction to the script, and how he wanted to present two\nalternate versions of the same kind of character. One is D-Fens, who ultimately\nindulges in his darker instincts and whose life ultimately comes to a quick end\nbecause of his inhumanity. The other is Prendergast, the detective who responds\nto the tension around him with tolerance, resulting in a much healthier\ncharacter whom the audiences should aspire more to be like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Schumacher discusses being passionate about the project and\nconvincing the studio to allow him to helm (during an early extra, the\nscreenwriter claims that the filmmaker agreed to direct the movie on the\ncondition that he also helm Batman Forever<\/em> for them, but that isn\u2019t\nconfirmed by Schumacher). The film\u2019s star, Douglas, notes that he was excited\nat being asked to play a villainous character, which was rare for him at the\ntime. They also go into detail about some of the changes made to the script and\nwhy they chose to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Douglas also appears in an archival set of interviews,\ntalking about how he interpreted the character and how he chose to play him in\nthe film. The bits also include the performer talking about what a powder keg\nthe city was sitting on during production. They were shooting during the Rodney\nKing trial and did have to evacuate quickly when riots started occurring.\nDouglas claims that the tenuous, real situation around them fed into the film\u2019s\natmosphere and that is likely part of why it made such an impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A trailer and an image gallery are also included, detailing\nhow the picture was sold to the public upon its release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, you\u2019ll also receive a booklet with new writing on\nthe movie and how it continues to make an impact on home audiences today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Falling Down<\/em> is a movie that still feels as important today as it did more than thirty years ago. It is likely Schumacher\u2019s best picture. The image quality on the disc is top-notch and the movie has frankly never looked as good as it does here. And the extras are very clear in revealing the moviemaker\u2019s intentions and how it all came together. This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD release from Arrow Video is fantastic and anyone who appreciates the movie should purchase it immediately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d 4K Ultra HD disc from Arrow Video is currently available for purchase. Back in 1993, the Los Angeles-set drama Falling Down generated a great deal of controversy upon its release. Following a man on a violent rampage through the busy city as he cites his grievances (and prejudices), the movie most certainly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":33960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[127,300,1836,2924,2933,5213,6251,7278,7279,7280,7281,7282,10802,12626,13775,17154,23989],"class_list":["post-33953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-127","tag-4k-ultra-hd","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-4k-review-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-dark-comedy","tag-drama","tag-falling-down","tag-falling-down-4k","tag-falling-down-4k-ultra-hd","tag-falling-down-4k-ultra-hd-review","tag-falling-down-review","tag-joel-schumacher","tag-los-angeles","tag-michael-douglas","tag-robert-duvall","tag-warner-bros"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33953\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}