NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc. 

ADDITION: MGM - US Blu-ray - February 09': Bad news - unfortunately the US Blu-ray is still single-layered and MPEG-2 and exactly the same image as the Japanese. Audio is exactly the same as well at 4246 kbps. This is still bare-bones and in fact the only differences are in the addition of a French and Spanish DUB and Chinese (traditional), French, Korean, Spanish subtitles. This is kind of a joke - it took MGM over a year to make this available in North American and when they do they don't upgrade one iota.

Although this is better than the DVDs - it is still a weak high-def transfer.

****

ON JAPANESE VERSION: NOTE: Firstly - to clear things up - this is the 2007 Japanese Blu-ray - also 'region A' which includes North America, Central America, South America, Japan (where this Blu-ray is from), Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. So it plays on North American Blu-ray  players.

We expect the upcoming US release will be a different package (ex. English menus instead of Japanese etc.) but the video transfer may be the same. We will compare when we have the US Blu-ray.

This is single-layered with very warm skin tones but improves in detail. It shows grain but far more noise and artifacts, in monochromatic darkness, than is acceptable for high-definition. We can hope the upcoming Blu-ray advances upon this with dual-layering - hence producing better compression. Also this Japanese edition uses only the MPEG-2 encode which leaves plenty of room for demonstratively superior visuals if rendered with MPEG-4. In short, it improves upon the DVDs but it can, and will, look a lot better in my opinion. 

Audio: The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track sounded reasonably buoyant - accentuating much of the explosive action to the rear channels. It sounded rather heavy at times to my ears and, like the image, could show more depth and range. This is till a strong track though and may not be bettered. There is a Japanese DTS 5.1 DUB and subtitle options in English or Japanese.

Extras: I didn't dig too deep getting frustrated by the Japanese menus but there are some trailers (for Ronin) and some, what appears to be (I could be wrong), high-def examples including X-Men 3. There are no commentaries or any of the extensive supplements found on the Collectors edition in SD. This is another area I would expect the upcoming US Blu-ray edition to advance. We will compare here as soon as we receive it.

 - Gary Tooze

 - Gary Tooze

RONIN - This is a remarkable film and the last great work of the always underrated Frankenheimer. Made before the Spy Genre made a full post-Cold War return, the great action sequences, all-time amazing car chases and suspenseful pace are matched by a solid script that is above what the Spy franchises keep offering. It is more realistic than any of the Brosnan Bonds, XXX films, purposely commercial MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE films and except for TAILOR OF PANAMA, is one of the few serious-minded Spy films of the last thirty years. The DVD picture is not bad, but not great. After going through the trouble of creating a double set, you'd think Sony-controlled MGM would have added the still-stunning DTS mix the film continues to offer, but they only offer lesser Dolby Digital.