Production: 20th Century Fox
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, DUB: Japanese:
DTS, Commentaries are in English 2.0
Subtitles: Japanese, English, Japanese for both
commentaries, none
Disc: Dual-Layered Blu-Ray (50GBs)
Runtime: 2:24:46
Extras:
• 2 Audio Commentaries - one with Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin, the other with Volker Engel and Doug Smith
Disc: 25GB Blu-ray Disc
Release Date: October 24th, 2007
Standard Blu-Ray case
Synopsis:
One of the biggest box office hits of all time delivers
the ultimate encounter when mysterious and powerful
aliens launch an all-out invasion against the human
race. The spectacle begins when massive spaceships
appear in Earth's skies. But wonder turns to terror as
the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities
all over the planet. Now the world's only hope lies with
a determined band of survivors, uniting for one last
strike against the invaders - before it's the end of all
mankind.
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The Film:
Act I is an Anarchists' Ball. Massive metal spaceships loom over the cities of the world. The destruction of the White House is just for starters. Annihilation of the human race is on the agenda. US President Pullman, a wimp ex-fighter jock, listens to communications expert Goldblum (only in a Rupert Murdoch film could a TV exec save the world!). Act II, the survivors regroup at a secret military base in New Mexico to organise Act III, the fightback. Emmerich's globe-buster is an index of American populist fantasy. Forget subtext. This scrappy, spectacular, juvenile remake of War of the Worlds and 101 other sci-fi movies can be taken at face value. It's not about Them, it's about US: At least this America is strongly pluralist; it's black (Smith as the heroic top gun); it's Jewish (Goldblum and Hirsch as comic relief); it's even a little bit feminine - though Fierstein, Margaret Colin, et al, are really just emotional punctuation marks. The politics cut both ways, balancing pro- and anti-government impulses with Pullman as a vaguely Clinton-esque figure in the middle, pacifist by inclination, warrior by experience. Everything feels anti-climactic after the fireworks, but the moral is clear: it's the end of the world as we know it. And we feel fine.
The Video:
Firstly - to clear things up - this DVD is 'region A' which includes North America, Central America, South America, Japan (where this DVD is from), Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. So it plays on North American Blu-ray plays. This film is coming to Blu-ray in the US on March 11th, 2008, for less money than the one selling in Japan (not, of course, including shipping as well). The only drawbacks would be that the menus are in Japanese... but the commentaries are in English and all subtitle options are removable. This is the theatrical cut of the film - running 2:24:48.
The image is quite impressive especially in daylight scenes. Detail, contrast and color are all at very high levels. There is minor digital noise in background monochromatic sequences - colors don't appear dramatically boosted (perhaps a shade of red). Overall a fairly perfect image transfer that I expect will be the exact same as the US Blu-ray edition. It looks excellent.
Screen Captures
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Audio:
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track sounded quite buoyant - delineating much of the explosive subtleties to the rear channels. It sounded quite strong to my ears and, like the image, is immensely impressive. There is a Japanese DTS DUB and subtitle options in English or Japanese.
Extras:
This includes the previous (from SD versions) commentaries - one from
director Emmerich and producer Devlin, the other covering the award
winning special effects, by designers Volker Engel and Doug Smith. There
are a few more extras but I wasn't into deciphering them from the
Japanese menu and frankly, for this film, I really don't care to indulge
in them. They appeared to be some trailers and such.
Menus
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BOTTOM LINE: I suppose with Bush still in the White House some may get a perverse thrill over seeing that residence blown to kingdom-come in 1080P resolution. But seriously, this film doesn't wear well with age - it's kind of a throw away although the action sequences are strong and it visually has some amazing scenes. Our real point of this review is to inform people that - yes, we have the same region coding for Blu-ray as Japan and you can get stuff there that is not out here. My suggestion would be wait to get 2 or 3 titles at the same time to save on shipping if you can discover so me things not slated for releases in North America. We hope to review other JP BRD titles like Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid or Face/Off and more in the near future. Of course Luiz has already covered many Japanese anime BRD's as well. So stay tuned as we explore, and possibly exploit, this hidden niche.
Gary Tooze
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4,343.00 YEN = $40.48 USD
The one coming out March 11th in the US is $27.95 USD
But the Japanese Blu-ray is currently available, but also extensively overpriced, at YesAsia below:
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