DVD Review: ‘Nobel Son’

The Movie

This film has an action packed cast, killer soundtrack that was done by Paul Oakenfold, and a plot that keeps you wanting more..but it did horribly everywhere it played, will it still do horribly on DVD? I dont think so..

‘Nobel Son’ was shot and finished in 2005, but just saw its DVD release on June 9th, almost 4 years later. To say the road for this movie has been rough would be an epic understatement. It was initially released in 2007 at the Tribeca Film Festival and met with a rash of negative reviews. It is also currently sitting at 25% of Rotten Tomatoes, so I needed to see what all the fuss was about.

The movie stars Alan Rickman as Eli Michaelson who is your typical sleeze ball professor, one that sleeps with his students and give good grades in return. When it is announced that he has won the Nobel Prize someone takes advange of the situation, kidnaps his son and demands a ransom, which just so happens to be the same amount that comes along with winning the Nobel Prize.

The kidnapper believes the ideas that helped him win the Nobel Prize were stolen from his dad, and he wants to bring some due justice to the memory of his father. When his son learns of the reason for his kidnapping he decides to join in on the whole thing and plays along to get half of the money.

Without revealing the entire plot line I will stop giving it all away, but there are a lot of plot twists and some of it is more difficult to digest than others but its a roller coaster ride that is worth giving a shot. I have no idea why so many people have it out for the film but I thought it was fun, smart and really enjoyable. Looking over the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes I see that some of the really big dogs(Roger Ebert) gave it a positive rating so maybe the great minds(myself) just think alike.

The Features

You would assume that a movie that has had such a wild ride to its eventual direct to dvd release would be action packed with bonus features, well you would be mistaken sir! The only feature that was worthwile was the commentary track featuring Randall Miller (Director, Writer, Producer, Editor), Jody Savin (Writer, Producer and wife of Randall Miller), Bryan Greenberg, Mike Ozier (Cinematographer), and Eliza Dushku (Current “It” girl, and costar of the film)

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5