A Harsh Beginning Before Triumph
Antwone Fisher was born in a prison, two months after his father was murdered. He was a scolded, neglected child, who barely new his family by the time he decided to join the Navy as a young adult. Fisher’s anger, quick temper, and eagerness to fight routinely got him into trouble, and led to him being forced to visit Dr. Jerome Davenport, Denzel’s character, a psychiatrist. After much reluctance and battling within himself and dealing with trust issues, Antwone begins to unfold his difficult past to Dr. Davenport and over the course of the two hour film we’re witness to various stages of Antwone’s troubled childhood.
Dr. Davenport urges young Antwone to locate his family and forgive them, so that he might move on to a better life. Joy Bryant’s character, Cheryl Smolley, becomes Antwone’s love interest during these times as well and helps him get through this chapter in his life. Together, Antwone’s dark past begins to recede and he finds himself renewed, happy, and moving in a very positive direction in life.
His life, much like this film which the real Antwone Fisher himself wrote, is a powerful drama. A lot of Antwone’s life is sad, but more so inspiring than not. As a film, the direction, writing, and acting are all very well executed which only helps in bringing the dramatic point across. At the same time, while this is a great film, it’s not likely one you’ll want to revisit very often, so its replay value is questionable.
Antwone Fisher On Blu-ray
The original DVD release came out several years ago, and now Antwone Fisher arrives on Blu-ray. Fox did a great job in the presentation department on this one, as the film looks sharp and vibrant; there are a handful of scenes that aren’t as impressive, but these are brief and there aren’t many. The DTS-HD 5.1 track also does a great job with the dialogue, which is the most important audio aspect of this particular film. At the same time, the moving instrumental score comes through loud and clear.
For extra features, there aren’t that many and none of them are new. Let’s check them out:
-Meeting Antwone Fisher – This is a fifteen minute SD feature with interviews including Fisher, Denzel, and Joy Bryant talking about Fisher and the movie.
-Hollywood And the Navy – A four minute, forty-second SD piece with a Navy representative talking about how the Navy does enjoy helping Hollywood produce movies that involve the Navy. The Navy assists in fact checking and accuracy, although working with the military became much harder after 9-11, which the Producer and Production Designer also talk about too in this short feature. Denzel and Antwone Fisher also chime in.
-Making of Antwone Fisher – A twenty-two minute SD feature about the making of the film; interviews and production footage included.
-Trailer – The original theatrical trailer is presented in HD.
-Audio Commentary – Director Denzel Washington and Producer Todd Black provide the audio commentary.
To the summary…