Antwone Fisher on DVD

When you see that a movie is about a young black man who had to endure many hardships to get where he is today, you might be forgiven for expecting an anti-white, politically correct piece of trash.

So it’s a very pleasant surprise when it actually turns out to be a good movie, devoid of the usual anti-white crap that often plagues this kind of movie.

Antwone Fisher (Derek Luke) is a sailor with a bad attitude. He seems like a nice enough guy, but the slightest comment taken the wrong way could make him punch your lights out. After one too many incidents, he’s ordered to see a naval psychiatrist, Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington), who tries his hardest to help Antwone, at first to no avail.

But after the two start to get close, they become like father and son. Once their sessions end, Jerome suggests that Antwone find his real family, so he sets out on a journey to find them.

It starts out pretty much like Good Will Hunting. The kid with the bad attitude goes to see the psychiatrist and refuses to talk. The psychiatrist plays hardball, the kid finally talks, and the two build up quite a rapport. The difference between the two movies, of course, being that Antwone Fisher is enjoyable. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, but it’s still worth watching.

Derek Luke (in one of his first film roles) portrays Antwone as an all-around decent guy who just happens to have a quick temper. Based on his past (Antwone’s, not Derek’s), it’s not hard to understand why he is the way he is.

Luke’s performance is believable and worthy of recognition. Denzel Washington, who also directs, plays the psychiatrist as a genuinely caring individual who seems to have had to deal with one too many bad seeds.

Antwone Fisher doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s an entertaining movie with some great performances. The two-hour running time flies by faster than most action movies, so you won’t even realize it’s over (until the end credits start rolling, of course).

If you’re looking for an entertaining film that will effectively kill two hours, look no further.

Having been a success for Fox Searchlight Pictures, Antwone Fisher is provided with a very nice DVD. It features a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer (16x9 TV compatible) that looks pretty sharp overall, though a bit soft in many places. The 5.1 Dolby Digital is mostly front-restricted, but a bit of the score and a few sound effects do manage to make their way from the rear. Both transfers are as good as the movie needs them to be.

Extras include an audio commentary by Denzel Washington and producer Todd Black, a 15-minute featurette that lets us meet the real Antwone Fisher (who does actually seem like a decent guy), a 22-minute making-of featurette, and a third featurette on “Hollywood and the Navy.”

Antwone Fisher, from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
120 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) 16X9 enhanced, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Starring Derek Luke, Joy Bryant and Denzel Washington
Produced by Todd Black, Randa Haines, Denzel Washington
Written by Antwone Fisher
Directed by Denzel Washington

Tell us at TechnoFile what YOU think