Chapter 27 DVD Review
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 09.30.2008
Well, at least there won't be a Chapter 28...
Directed by: J.P. Schaeffer Written by: J.P. Schaeffer
Starring: Jared Leto - Mark David Chapman Lindsay Lohan - Jude Judah Friedlander - Paul Matthew Humphreys - Frederic Seaman Yuuki Hosokawa - Sean Lennon Mark Lindsay Chapman - John Lennon Lauren Milberger - Gilda Radner Brian O'Neill - Patrick Adam Scarimbolo - Clerk Riley Michael Sirow - Joseph Many Victor Verhaeghe - Spiro
Domestic Gross: $56,215 Worldwide Gross: $56,215
DVD Release Date: 7/8/2008 Running Time: 84 minutes
Rated R for language and some sexual content
In every generation, there is at least one “Do you remember when” moment. One of those moments where something happened that shocked the world into going quiet and paying attention, even for a moment. From the Kennedy assassinations to the Challenger explosion, from the Columbine High School shootings to the horrific events of September 11th 2001, these are moments that are etched permanently into the social conscience of not only America, but the world. For the generations that grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s, one of those moments is, undeniably, December 8th, 1980. That night, on a cold New York street just outside the Dakota hotel, John Lennon was shot four times in the back by a mentally unstable man by the name of Mark David Chapman. Lennon was rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead by hypovolemic shock, caused by the loss of more than 80% of blood volume. Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life after pleading guilty against the desires of his attorney, who wanted to plead him not guilty by reason of insanity; he has yet to be granted parole. A near-library of books have been written about the incident, but no major film adaptations, due to Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono holding onto the Lennon legacy as tightly as she has. Finally, in 2007, first-time writer/director J.P. Schaeffer began shooting Chapter 27. Starring Jared Leto and Lindsay Lohan, the film drew harsh criticism from the Lennon family. Ono refused to license music for the film, and Sean Lennon called the entire production, including his friend Lohan’s involvement in the film, tacky. The film opened to a very limited release in March, reaching few theaters and making little money. It receives its wide release on DVD on September 30, but is available in select chains now.
The Movie
Based on the Chapman biography Let Me Take You Down by Jack Jones, Chapter 27 focuses on the life of Chapman himself (played by Leto), specifically from the time he sets down in New York with the intention of killing Lennon. Upon landing, Chapman heads straight for the Dakota Hotel where Lennon and his family lives, waiting outside. While he’s there, he meets a Lennon groupie named Jude (Lohan). On her suggestion, he buys Lennon’s latest album, Double Fantasy, so he can have something for Lennon to sign. The film makes its way briefly through Chapman’s time in New York, featuring narration by Leto as Chapman, telling the story from a point after the murders. As Chapman narrates, we see his obsession with the iconic book The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger, and how Chapman views himself as Holden Caulfield—the title of the film is a reference to an unwritten chapter of the book that Chapman felt he was portraying by killing Lennon. The majority of the focus is on the last two days, December seventh and eighth, where through Jude, he gets to meet and shake hands with young Sean Lennon not that long before he will brutally murder the boy’s father.
There are a lot of problems inherent in the film, and most of them start and finish with J.P. Schaeffer. Rarely has it been so obvious that a writer or director is doing their first feature then with Schaeffer’s script and directing choices, an amateurish effort on both parts that leads the movie nowhere. The script fails to do anything very interesting, nor shed any light on Chapman as a character. It’s a superficial examination at best, the sort of shallow character study that would be better reserved for the latest paparazzi-obsessed flavor of the month instead of a mentally skewed man whose violent act was one of the shaping points of the last thirty years. This would be a more forgivable flaw if the film was an accurate blow-by-blow depiction of the events leading up to the murder, but Schaeffer instead chooses to fictionalize the events by doing nonsensical things like introducing Lohan’s character, who is a fabrication. The end result is a shallow, confused mess of a story that feels as if Schaeffer picked up a beginner’s guide to screenwriting and set himself straight to work. In terms of his directing, he never manages to find a balance for his story, and as a result the film plods along rather aimlessly, trying to find an even tone.
The acting in the film is, at least, good. The only characters really given any screen time are Chapman and Jude, and of course the focus is on the killer. Jared Leto gives an excellent performance, sinking himself into the role completely. Leto gained almost seventy pounds to play the deranged man by methods best not discussed for the sake of those with weaker stomachs, and was confined to a wheelchair at times due to the stress that was put on his body. The result is that he’s nearly unrecognizable, and this gives him the opportunity to commit himself totally to the performance. Underneath all of that weight, one can watch Leto’s performance and be mesmerized by the skillful way the actor portrays Chapman’s socially maladjusted mannerisms, his discomfort with life, and his sharply divided views on Lennon, a man he once idolized but has grown to hate. Chapman believes he will change the world by murdering the former Beatle, and Leto makes us believe that Chapman’s delusions are real. Given a stronger script, this would have been one of the performances of the year; the fact that he makes it watchable at all is a credit to Leto’s acting talents. In the role of Jude, Lohan comes off as natural and likable, a bouncing back from her horrible performances in I Know Who Killed Me and Georgia Rule. Despite the somewhat absurd situation around their weakly-explored friendship, Leto and Lohan carry enough chemistry that it’s at least tolerable to watch them on screen together.
One of the greater handicaps the film has is the musical score. Without Ono’s permission to use any Beatles songs, the film seems completely lacking, and instead has to settle for Anthony Marinelli's sophomoric attempts to create tension with a completely unoriginal, half-hearted and at times totally laughable music. It does the movie no favors at all, and ultimately just distracts from what is already a weak story. It’s just yet another disservice done to a film that could have been so much more, had those not on-screen seemed to care at all about what they were doing—or at least had a clue about it.
Film Rating: 3.0
The Video
Presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen format, the video transfer of Chapter 27 seems more then the film really deserves. It’s a solid video transfer with very few problems; the only thing I was able to notice was a touch of detail loss in some of the blacks during night scenes. The images are sharp beyond that, colors are well-defined, and everything seems solid, particularly for a DVD release of this caliber. If only Peace Arch, the company that distributed the film, had spent as much time ensuring that Schaeffer got the movie right.
Video Rating: 7.5
The Audio
Beyond the weak score, the 2.0 Dolby Audio track is more or less serviceable, though the lack of a 5.1 option is noticeable. The sound has a few leveling problems, though this may be the filmmaker’s choice, as the score can sometimes run over the dialogue. Other than that, it’s pretty much all dialogue, and it comes through clearly. The lack of subtitle or other language options is not particularly a bonus, though.
Audio Rating: 5.5
Special Features
Trailer: (2:09) The only special feature available is the trailer, which is sadly more interesting then the film itself, as it features all the best parts. All two minutes of them. This is especially egregious, as one would think that a film like this would be able to get at least some number of intellectuals and journalists talking about the murder and Chapman as a person, even if the Lennons wouldn’t participate.
Special Features Rating: 1.0
The 411: While Jared Leto and Lindsay Lohan try their damnedest, they're unable to elevate Chapter 27, the debut by J.P. Schaeffer, any level above what it boils down to being; a shallow, bland and fictionalized re-telling of the three days in Mark David Chapman's life. The terrible score, amateurish script, and lazy director's choices leave the two actors with nothing to stand on, and in the end, the result is a hollow, pointless mess of a film that leaves one wondering what could have been. The complete lack of special features only further serves to drag the DVD down from "good try" to "don't bother" territory.
