The Life Of David Gale (tbc)

Sometimes a director's political convictions can get in the way of decent drama. So it proves with Alan Parker's The Life Of David Gale, a taut death-row thriller with excellent performances that can't resist ramming its message down our throats.

Kevin Spacey plays a death-penalty activist sent to the big house for the murder of fellow campaigner Laura Linney. Kate Winslet is the sceptical reporter investigating his story. Did Gale do it? Will he swing for it? Or can Winslet prove his innocence in the four days he has left? Parker cranks up the tension with ruthless efficiency, right down to the inevitable race against time (run, Kate, run!), but it's not enough to dispel the feeling we're not so much being entertained as preached at.

DVD Extras:

A wry commentary from Parker is the chief attraction, with the director laconically recalling the tornado that hit the set, how his fake demonstration outside a prison in Huntsville ("the execution capital of the world") was mistaken for a real one, and how his sons, hired to score the film, managed to do so without arguing. The three docs are standard guff, while the deleted scenes will only appeal to those who just can't get enough of Kevin Spacey.

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