Shattered Glass DVD: Review By Brian

The real life story of journalist Stephen Glass who at 24 years old, wrote for The New Republic, one of the most prestigious political magazines in the world, not only fooled his co-workers with his charming personality, but managed to completely fabricate over 70% of the articles he had written for the publication.

Finally caught for his misinformation after years of made up stories, Stephen Glass was fired from the publication and the news made worldwide history. The film follows Glass' story through his confrontations, and deceit with co-workers and his editors, through his days at the publication.

It would be unfair to give away the entire shock value of the film in this review, but I will say that there is a ton of quality packed within. The story keeps you intrigued from the opening through the finale. The ups and downs of a protagonist you know needs to get caught, but somehow pulls off a demeanor that not only has you hoping he won't be discovered, but actually makes the people trying to find out the truth out to be the bad guys.

In his first major film role since Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones, Hayden Christensen takes on the role of Stephen Glass, and does a fairly impressive job. After the first few minutes you'll sink right into the film without many comparisons to his acting skills in the Star Wars flick, yet during certain scenes you might just feel that whiny adolescence he portrayed as 'Anakin Skywalker'.

Peter Sarsgaard also comes through with a solid performance as magazine editor Chuck Lane. Although the task of seeing through Glass' lies was probably indescribably daunting as co-workers turned their backs on his quest for the truth, Sarsgaard pulls off a very stern, responsible, yet caring role which as you flip flopping between seeing him as a protagonist and the antagonist.

Overall the film left me wanting to know more about the Stephen Glass story, which is why the supplements on the disc compliment the film so well...

Though not jammed packed with extras, which isn't always a plus, the film does receive a high special features rating because of the first rate content contained within...

Audio Commentary with writer/director Billy Ray and the real Chuck Lane

A wonderfully masterful commentary by both Ray and Lane. Ray relates to the film and the production elements while Lane compares and contrasts the film to the actual events that took place. You don't get any closer to the real story here.

"60 Minutes" Interview with the real Stephen Glass

A absolutely intriguing doc*mentary piece and interview with the real Stephen Glass from the "60 Minutes" TV show. Glass brags about his lies and shamelessly promotes his book.

This is exactly the sort of feature I want in a "true to life" DVD. A piece that takes you beyond the film's story, past the events that made this story special, and into a sort of "where are they now" type of current status update. Brilliant!

Presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ration the film's colors act themselves out on screen nicely, yet I have to say this isn't the cleanest transfer I've ever seen. Elements of dirt and other particals are present throughout it's duration.

Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, the film is on par with any other high quality dialog driven film.

In these days of corporations raping every red cent from our all consuming pockets, rigged presidential campaigns, and wars being fought over complete false pretenses, did we really think the media was safe? Has it ever been? I don't think so.

We live in a world full of deceit, the people feeding us the lies, and the morons who believe it all.

The story of Stephen Glass portrayed inShattered Glass is just proof of it all. No more, no less...but in comparison to the lies blanketing us every day, this is just a small insignificant dose.