Search - Deterrence on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Profanity Movie Release: 2000 DVD Release: 08/29/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 44 mins Studio: Paramount Members Wishing: 2 Genres: Thriller, Political Thriller, Paranoid Thriller

The world finds itself on the brink of nuclear disaster, with the balance point a small diner in Colorado, in the suspenseful political thriller Deterrence. In the year 2008, U.S. President Walter Emerson (Kevin Pollak), who recently took office after the death of the former chief executive, is campaigning for re-election. After winning the Colorado state primary, Emerson finds himself stranded in a roadside diner after a freak snowstorm. Traveling with Emerson are his chief of staff, Marshall Thompson (Timothy Hutton), national security advisor Gayle Redford (Sheryl Lee Ralph) and a network TV crew. While the president exchanges pleasantries with the diner's staff and customers, a new bulletin appears on TV: Udei Hussein, son of the late Saddam Hussein, has invaded Kuwait and butchered several hundred U.S. peace-keeping troops. Outraged, the president announces that if Hussein and his forces do not withdraw and officially surrender, he will begin dropping nuclear weapons on Baghdad. However, Iraq responds that if they are attacked, 23 cities in the United States and allied nations will be immediately destroyed in a counterattack. Emerson, his advisors, and the others trapped in the diner with them debate long and loud about what to do, and what the potential consequences could be. Deterrence was written and directed by former film critic Rod Lurie. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Kevin Pollak - Walter Emerson
Timothy Hutton - Marshall Thompson
Sheryl Lee Ralph - Gayle Redford
Sean Astin - Ralph
Clotilde Courau - Katie

Sometimes a DVD can make up for its lack of extra features by providing commentary. That's the approach the DVD release of Deterrence takes. Writer-director Rod Lurie provides a commentary track as part of the special features, but aside from the original theatrical trailer, that's it. Given that this film already has some unusual aspects to it, this may not necessarily be a detriment. For starters, it is set in what is more or less a one-room location. Second, it deals with a subject that is not only timely but seems almost eerily precognitive with regard to world events. That being said, one would hope that Lurie would be able to expand on some of these traits and ideas as opposed to simply following the film and making asides about a particular actor's performance or offscreen habits. He does raise some interesting issues, such as the casting of Kevin Pollak, not your most dashing or square-jawed actor, as the President of the United States. However, Lurie is in hit-and-miss mode. Running commentary is understandably difficult, particularly if there are several points in the film that do not easily lend themselves to discussion. Straight reviews of Deterrence as a film tend to disagree on how effective the film itself is, but there's no denying that there are moments that provide some genuine interest regardless of whatever flaws there may be. It would be perfectly understandable if Lurie did not want to disrupt a particular scene by speaking over it; however, since there is little else to be gotten from the DVD features, it would have been nice to have him take the reins and really go full gusto on his track. The film itself looks great on DVD and certainly raises some interesting possibilities. ~ Dan Friedman, All Movie Guide