HEAVEN'S BURNING (1997)
Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: MA 15+
Duration: 99 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0, 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080P HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Craig Lahiff
Cast: Russell Crowe, Youki Kudoh, Kenji Isomura, Ray Barrett, Robert Mammone, Petru Gheorghiu
Heaven's Burning is a real gem of an Australian crime film, a post-Tarantino slice of stylish 90s movie-making starring the not-yet-huge Russell Crow as a getaway driver named Colin O'Brien who is recruited by Afghani criminal Mahood (Robert Mammone, The Matrix Reloaded) to be the driver in a planned bank robbery.
The robbery doesn't go as well as planned, and in the aftermath Colin ends up killing Mahood's younger brother when he tries to kill a Japanese woman they've take hostage from the bank. Colin escapes with the woman, but things take an odd turn when the woman, Midori (Youki Kudoh, Memoirs of a Geisha), decides to stay on with Colin, abandoning her newlywed husband, and embarking on a trip to see his estranged father in rural Australia. Along the way the pair robbing banks to fund their road trip, and begin to fall in love.
Meanwhile Mahood and his torture-loving father Boorjan (Petru Gheorghiu) are out for blood, and Midori's ditched-husband Yukio (Kenji Isomura) has a psychotic break, and is on his wife's trail to make her pay for indiscretions and betrayal.
This is a film I had never even heard of until Umbrella announced their release a few months back, how it has eluded me for so long is a bit puzzling, the film is just so damn good I would have thought it'd be mentioned more often in discussions of the actor's earlier career, this coming out the same year as Crowe's breakout role in the neo-noir classic L.A. Confidential (1997). The film is stylish and well-paced with moments of both humor and brutality peppered throughout, plus it has a fatalistic ending that brings it all home with a gorgeously tragic gut-punch.
Audio/Video: Heaven's Burning arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment with a new 4K scan, framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. The film looks fantastic, grain looks natural and even-keeled throughout, colors are robust and pop when called upon, and the blacks levels are deep and inky.
Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 with optional English subtitles, the surround was active and immersive throughout, everything crisp and clean, action sequences are very lively in the surrounds.
As extras go, we get a bunch, beginning with an Audio Commentary with writer Louis Nowra and Producer Helen Leake, 23-min of archival interviews with the main cast, 9-min of deleted scenes with optional commentary, a script to screen storyboard comparison with optional commentary that runs about 6-min, 35-min of behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the film, a 3-min trailer, plus a selection of short films and trailer from director adding up to about 40-minutes.
The single-disc Blu-ray is region-free and comes in an oversized Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork featuring the same artwork on both sides, one side without the Australian ratings logo, the disc also features an excerpt from the same artwork.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with writer Louis Nowra and Producer Helen Leake
- Cast &: Crew Interviews w/ Russell Crowe, Yuki Kudoh, Craig Lahiff, Al Clark and Helen Leake (23 min)
- Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary from director Craig Lahiff (9 min)
- Script To Screen Storyboards with Optional Commentary from director Craig Lahiff (6 min)
- Behind-The-Scenes (35 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
- Craig Lahiff Shorts & Trailers: Labryth (1979)(19 min), The Jogger (1980) (10 min), Coda (Trailer, 1987)(2 min), Fever (Trailer, 1988) (2 min), Black & White (Trailer, 2002) (2 min), Swerve (Trailer, 2011)(2 min)
- Easter Egg (3 min)
Heaven's Burning (1997) has quickly risen to the upper half of my favorite Russell Crowe films, a fun and stylish cult-classic crime film well worth discovering, or rediscovering as the case may be. This region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella looks fantastic and is loaded with extras, very highly recommended.