I saw this movie for the first time earlier this year on DVD and was prepared for the worst.  I suppose low expectations helped.  My response was lukewarm but didn't find it an utter waste of time.  I also never expected to see it again.  When this blu-ray arrived for screening I gritted my teeth at the prospect.  What I could not – and still cannot explain is that I found the movie much more entertaining than on the first go around.  Could it be the Blu-ray experience?  Not entirely, I am guessing, though it certainly played a role.  I suspect I simply was able to put my various complaints in perspective and began to see the movie more as a filmed comic book than a romantic comedy.  That worked.  Prizzi's Honor this ain't, and no mistake.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith ~ The Score Card

The Movie : 7

John & Jane Smith (Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie) have been married for 5 or 6 years and find that the spark that got them together in the first place has sort of gone out of their lives.  Jane complains to their marriage counselor that the space between them is filled with things unsaid.  "What's that called?" she asks.  "Marriage," he replies.  Well, if nothing else, this couple has more than their share of secrets.  With carefully worked out covers, they are unaware that they are both professional high-tech assassins.  The inevitable finally happens when each is assigned the same target, but on opposite sides of the question.  Both being pretty good at their jobs, they manage to avoid getting killed by one another in the process, and it isn't long before they figure out just whom they have been shooting at.  Most of the rest of the film consists of noisy, but amusing set-pieces that place them at the end of each other's sights, but somehow fail to do accomplish their new missions.  Will they finally annihilate each other or join forces to go after their respective employers?  Is the pope a bear that falls in the forest?

Image : 8.5 (8~9/9)

The score of 8.5 indicates a relative level of excellence compared to other Blu-ray DVDs.  The score in parentheses represents: first, a value for the image in absolute terms; and, second, how that image compares to what I believe is the current best we can expect in the theatre.

Since I never saw this movie in the theatre I can only speculate as to this BRD's probable resemblance to same.  I keep coming back to the question of enlargement and how it affects contrast.  This Blu-ray image, especially in the opening scenes in Colombia, sports a very saturated high-contrast image. Elsewhere the blacks tend to block up so that shadow detail is sometimes lost.  But I can't help but feel that these effects are made all the more apparent because the image is reduced when we watch it on video.

Audio & Music : 9/7

The audio track is pretty good here, with lots of lively noises of various ordinance, and walls and doors banging and burst through, outrageously outsized and more or less in place in the audio field.

Operations : 8

I am growing quite fond of Fox's chapter search on the menu, which allows quick scanning with titles for each scene.

Extras : 6