Sea of Love - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Every star has a career peak and a career low point. If they’re lucky enough and a good enough actor they get to enjoy multiple peaks. While Al Pacino made some damn good movies in the 1980s, his momentum came to a crashing halt with the period war epic Revolution. Taking four years off did him some good because as one of the best (and loudest) actors of his generation, he roared back to box office glory with Harold Becker’s whodunit thriller Sea of Love. 

20 years is a lifetime and a half as a New York detective. For Frank Keller (Pacino), the reward of two decades on the job is an existence as a lonely burnout divorced alcoholic. What gets him up in the morning is the job, the thrill of the hunt. When a serial killer starts offing men who recently placed ads in a lonely-hearts magazine, Frank is partnered with Detective Sherman (John Goodman). In a scheme to ensnare the shooter, Frank meets the beautiful spitfire Helen (Ellen Barkin). Suddenly he’s found love in a sea of death but all of the evidence, every connection to each murder points back to her. 

Growing up, my mother had a weird dichotomy about what movies I was allowed to see. Violent slasher films, I could only see if they’d been edited for television. But thrillers where murder is just as prevalent if not even more graphic and realistic, she didn’t seem to care all that much. That’s how when I was all of seven or eight years old I got to see Sea of Love albeit with some careful fast-forwarding to skip the sexy bits. It’s also because of this film that whenever I see a certain actor who will not be named, I always suspect them as the killer in whatever movie they're in.

Now, because I saw this film quite a bit in my younger years, I don't feel the need to revisit it often. I think I owned it on DVD at one point, definitely didn’t buy the 2012 Blu-ray after the bad reviews came in. So sitting down to this new 4K UHD release from KLSC was a relatively fresh experience. Despite some plot issues with the wrap-up, I’m glad to see Harold Becker’s thriller holds up pretty well. Not perfectly, but it’s got a lot going for it. 

Principally, this is Pacino’s show. After his four-year break, this was his big return and he’s excellent. He’s tapped into his signature high-energy performance style with a world-weary edge. Like his main character, he’d been around the ringer in his career and life and he was ready for something new and exciting. That new and exciting just so happened to be Ellen Barkin who delivers her own brand of allure to the role of a lonely sexually-independent single mother. While he carries a lot of the humor of the film, Goodman delivers as Frank’s new partner with the wit of a goofball but with the shrewd eye of a seasoned detective. For a little extra fun watch out for early appearances from Samuel L. Jackson and The West Wing’s John Spencer.  

Where I have a dodge with Sea of Love as a thriller detective story whodunit is Richard Price’s screenplay and Harold Becker’s execution just doesn’t leave much wiggle room for the identity of the killer. Not enough misdirection. Not enough possible suspects. During this viewing, I really noticed how quickly out of the possible suspects the killer’s identity boils down to whoever was left that the film hadn’t completely stopped paying attention to. And by the time the reveal does happen, even though there’s ample evidence as to who the killer is, it also feels like a cheat.

At the same time, I’d argue Sea of Love is less of an erotic thriller than it is a romantic thriller. It's a slim distinction, but a valid reasoning. Yes, with Barkin there’s plenty of hot-blooded chemistry between her and Pacino, but the sex isn’t the focus like it was with something like Basic Instinct or other erotic thrillers that hit the scene soon after. As often happens after their first coupling, the film wisely just fades to black and lets the insinuation of coitus stand in for redundant T&A. What I like the most about Sea of Love is that it’s a movie about two people who are kind of at the end of their respective ropes connecting and giving each other something to hold on to. It just so happens one of them may or may not be a serial killer! All in all a very entertaining film that holds up well nearly forty years later. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Sea of Love plays out on 4K UHD with a new two-disc release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. The 4K is pressed on a BD100 disc with a Region A BD50 standing in for 1080p and the bulk of the extra features. Both discs are housed in a standard black two-disc case with identical slipcover. The discs load to a static image main menu with standard navigation options.

Reportedly sourced from a fresh new 4K scan of the 35mm negative, Sea of Love makes for a pretty damn good first 4K UHD outing. Right from the jump I felt like the new Dolby Vision grade was right on point for a title of this vintage. Colors are enhanced and dynamic with nice vibrant primaries, but ther doesn't appear to be any kind of revisionist color timing choices. Again I’m kind of working off memory here from past home video experience, but skin tones looked healthy and human, and the array of colors of New York in the ‘80s, the darker creepy places all looked pretty damn fantastic. Fine details like facial features, exposed skin bits, and the 1980s fashions, all came through cleanly. Any kind of speckling or age-related issues are non-existent. Film grain might be a tad thick in some of the darker shadowy spots, but otherwise a natural cinematic veneer. It may not the greatest 4K release ever considering the style of the film, but it’s a healthy welcome addition to the collection.

Sea of Love arrives with two audio options, DTS-HD MA 2.0 and a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. I only ever rented the old 2012 Blu-ray and really wasn’t impressed with that 5.1 track and this one strikes me as the same mix. Maybe that’s why the 2.0 is the default option? As near as I was able to tell flipping between the options, the 2.0 doesn’t sound like a downmix. The 2.0 track sounds a little fuller, a little more natural, especially during some of the dialog exchanges. There’s a moment where Pacino and Barkin meet again at a fruit stand and that dialog has always sounded like the two were recorded in different rooms. In the 5.1 mix, Pacino has this weird tinny echo whereas Barkin sounds a little more flat and out of place. That exchange doesn't stand out as badly in the 2.0 track. Also, I don’t think the 5.1 mix really brings anything to the show, most of the time it just sounds thinly spread through the front/center channels, and the bleeds into the surrounds are more incidental than dynamic. Roll the 2.0.

On the bonus features package, we have the solid Harold Becker audio commentary and a new audio commentary with film historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson. Becker’s track is a holdover as are the included deleted scenes and a making-of featurette. Of the new extras, the Berger, Mitchell, and Thompson track is a fun active conversation between these three guys digging up a bunch of interesting trivia and insights while also discussing what works and doesn’t about the film within the Thriller genre. Definitely well worth the listen. Of the deleted scenes we get some trimmed-down subplot material like Lorraine Bracco as Pacino’s ex-wife, but they’re not really essential pieces since she’s not an ongoing character. Now if you’ve seen the TV cut version, there are even more extra scenes there that are not included here. But again, not missing much other than padding or plot threads that didn't go anywhere. 

4K UHD Disc

• Audio Commentary featuring Harold Becker 
• Audio Commentary featuring Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson

Blu-ray Disc 

• Audio Commentary featuring Harold Becker 
• Audio Commentary featuring Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson
• The Creation of Sea of Love (SD 14:28)
• Deleted Scenes (SD 6:10)
• Theatrical Trailers
• KLSC Trailer Gallery:
• Serpico
• The Big Easy
• No Way Out
• The Onion Field
• The Black Marble

Sea of Love certainly isn’t Pacino’s greatest film, but it’s the one that got him back in the good graces of the box office. His first film in four years made great money in the domestic and foreign markets. As a whodunit-styled detective thriller, it might whiff the ending a bit, but the meat of the film and the great performances from Pacino and Barkin are the main attraction. This is the reason their pairing together in Ocean’s 13 is such much fun. As a 4K release, Sea of Love is a solid release. The new Dolby Vision transfer revitalizes the film for this era of home video, the 2.0 audio is your better bet, and the selection of new and archival extras is worth the time. Recommended

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