Miranda Blu Ray Review (Shout Studios)

Miranda is a 2002 mystery film directed by Marc Munden (The Mark of Cain, Utopia, Black Sails, The Secret Garden, Help, and The Devil’s Mistress). It’s written by Rob Young. It’s produced by Robert Jones (47 Meters Down franchise, Escape Plan franchise, Dragged Across Concrete, The Usual Suspects, Creep, The Proposition, The Strangers: Prey at Night, and Hard Eight). It was originally distributed by First Look Studios in the United States. Frank (played by: John Simm from 24 Hour Party People, Grace, Doctor Who, Human Traffic, and Life on Mars) is a lonely librarian that’s always been romantic. He meets a beautiful stranger named Miranda (played by: Christina Ricci from The Addams Family franchise, Sleepy Hollow, Prozac Nation, Yellowjackets, Monster, Cursed, The Ice Storm, Black Snake Moan, and Casper) and he instantly falls in love with her. They have a great time together but she disappears. The mysterious Miranda has so many different many personalities which includes businesswoman, dancer, and dominatrix. Frank enjoys the chase but things get very complicated when he finally tracks her down!!!! Miranda is a mystery drama with a little international flavor to it. Frank is always looking for love and it finds him when Miranda walks in into his library. They have a strong connection right away but she takes off. He decides to find her and see what happened. He discovers some interesting things about his new fling. The script for Miranda covers a few different sub-genres plus it has some twists. Christina Ricci as Miranda is the reason to watch this kinda forgotten feature. She’s top notch as the stunning stranger that catches Frank’s attention then vanishes. This is one of her best roles because she basically plays a variety of different characters here. Miranda is never herself around people, she’s always pretending to be something else. John Simm is unfortunately miscast as Frank. He’s just okay in Miranda, a higher quality actor would have made this so much better. He isn’t horrible or anything as the hopeless romantic but he’s the weakest link in this especially compared to the talented supporting cast. Kyle MacLachlan (Blue Velvet, Dune, The Hidden, The Doors, Showgirls, and Twin Peaks) as Nailer is the wealthy and perverted other guy in Miranda’s life. He really wants one thing from her but she wants to him to purchase an expensive property. John Hurt (Alien, The Elephant Man, Hellboy franchise, 1984, Harry Potter franchise, Dead Man, and V for Vendetta) as Christian is Miranda’s mentor and he’s known her the longest. He’s the only one that knows the real girl. Both Kyle MacLachlan and John Hurt are excellent here, they really elevated this production. The rest of the cast includes Julian Rhind-Tutt (Stardust), Cavan Clerkin (The Last Kingdom), Matthew Marsh (Spy Game), and Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey). Miranda feels like two different movies combined into one. I really enjoyed the 2nd half with Frank hunting down the real Miranda more than when they both first hook up. It’s decent but I don’t think I would revisit it much in the future. Miranda is really held together by it’s 3 impressive performances from Christina Ricci, Kyle MacLachlan, and John Hurt, it wouldn’t be worth checking out. If you are fans of them, you should definitely add this to your watch list!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from Shout Studios! This 1080p (2.35:1) transfer blows away the original 2003 DVD from First Look Studios. I think it’s a newer restoration but I don’t have any specific information about it. Miranda makes it’s HD debut everywhere with Shout Studios. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track on the disc. The audio is good but it’s nothing that’s going to put your speakers to the test. All of the dialogue is crystal clear, the mystery is elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!