Audio
SD: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), DUBs: Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1) 

Blu-ray: English: PCM 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, DUBs: French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

SD Subtitles: Optional English, Spanish, French , None
Blu-ray Subtitles: Optional English (and SDH), French or Spanish

Extras

SD: Commentary by director Edward Zwick and a Theatrical trailer 

Blu-ray: Commentary by director Edward Zwick, In-Movie Experience, "Blood on the Stone" documentary (50:19) and Featurettes: Becoming Archer (a profile of Leonardo DiCaprio and how he trained for the war), Journalism on the Front Line (Jennifer Connelly on women journalists at war,) Inside the Siege of Freetown (see how Ed Zwick tackled the pivotal scene - 10:33) and a Music video: "Shine On Em" by rap artist Nas.

SD: March 20th, 2007 vs. Blu-ray Release: July 5th, 2007
Packaging: Standard Keep Case vs. Standard Blu-ray-case
33 chapters

The Film

Set against the backdrop of civil war and chaos in 1990's Sierra Leone, Blood Diamond is the story of Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio) - an ex Mercenary from Zimbabwe - and Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) - a Mende fisherman. Both men are African, but their histories as different as any can be, until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond that can transform their lives. While in prison for smuggling, Archer learns that Solomon - who was taken from his family and forced to work in the diamond fields - has found and hidden the extraordinary rough stone. With the help of Maddy Bowen (Jennifer Connelly), an American journalist whose idealism is tempered by a deepening connection with Archer, the two men embark on a trek through rebel territory, a journey that could save Solomon's family and give Archer the second chance he thought he would never have.

 

***

Who knows what they’d make of it on the veld, but Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘Rhodesian’ (as his character insists) accent isn’t as awful as the trailers might suggest in this well-meaning, well-made action-flick masquerading as a campaigning movie. DiCaprio is Danny Archer, a Zimbabwe-born hard man who flies into war-torn Sierra Leone on the trail of a pink diamond. He enters into a selfish bargain with local Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou), who knows where the gem is hidden and wants help in finding his family. On hand is open-shirted investigative journalist Maddy (Jennifer Connelly), there among the chases and explosions to provide some handy facts and a few gratuitous chest-shots.

 Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HERE

 

 

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 8th, 2006

Reviews    More Reviews    DVD Reviews

Video Image: NOTE: The Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc. Blu-ray images below are linked to their full size by simply clicking on them.

Although the differences in the resized captures below are more subtle - remember that both images will be expanded to suit your viewing system and hence the much larger Blu-ray will appear even more sharp with vastly better detail. We linked to the full resolution (1920X1989) to give a better idea of the superiority of the, marginally brighter, Blu-ray which has better colors (skin tones don't appear orangy-yellow) and overall the visual picture is more homogenous and smoother. Frankly, it just looks much more film-like. The most improved attribute is still detail in my opinion and this is noticeable even at thee smaller sizes if you look closely. Click a few to the larger resolution and you'll see how well it is supported. The SD doesn't have a lot of noise, but what is there is minimized in the dual-layered (50Gig) Blu-ray which is an extremely impressive presentation - Warner really does their Blu-rays right.

NOTE: I read another review stating that they thought this contrast (black levels) were weak but I don't agree. Black levels seemed more than adequate to me. 

 

Burned-in Subtitle Sample (for African dialogue)

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Warner - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Warner Blu-ray (no region or standard coding) BOTTOM

 

 

Screen Captures

 

Warner - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Warner Blu-ray (no region or standard coding) BOTTOM

 

 

Warner - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Warner Blu-ray (no region or standard coding) BOTTOM

 

 

Warner - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Warner Blu-ray (no region or standard coding) BOTTOM

 

 

Screen Captures*

 

Warner - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Warner Blu-ray (no region or standard coding) BOTTOM

 

 

Warner - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Warner Blu-ray (no region or standard coding) BOTTOM

 

 

Warner - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Warner Blu-ray (no region or standard coding) BOTTOM

 

 

Warner - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Warner Blu-ray (no region or standard coding) BOTTOM

 

 

Warner - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Warner Blu-ray (no region or standard coding) BOTTOM

 

 

Warner - Region 1 - NTSC TOP vs. Warner Blu-ray (no region or standard coding) BOTTOM

 

 

 

Audio

I found the Blu-ray's PCM 5.1 track marginally superior to the 5.1 but I didn't overly sample to report a definitive improvement. It did sound great with full separation and plenty of scenes to support the separation to the rear channels. Both offer Spanish or French 5.1 DUBs. Optional English SDH ,English, French or Spanish subtitles are supported on both.
 

Extras

As the commentary is available on both lets talk about that - Director Zwick ("The Last Samurai", "Legends of the Fall" and "Glory" to his credits) talks at a good pace. It's decent - honest and low key - he is able to relate both interesting and not-so-interesting details of the production. For those keen - it is worthwhile but probably not something you will listen to twice. The SD also includes a trailer (and other trailers) and no liner inserts. Now the Blu-ray adds all the supplements available on the Two-Disc SE - a excellent 50 minute "Blood on the Stone" documentary (in Hi-def!) and some featurettes: Becoming Archer (a profile of Leonardo DiCaprio and how he trained for the war), Journalism on the Front Line (Jennifer Connelly on women journalists at war), Inside the Seige of Freetown (see how Ed Zwick tackled the pivotal scene - running 10 minutes) and a Music video: "Shine On Em" by rap artist Nas.

 

DVD Menus

 

Warner - Region 1 - NTSC LEFT vs. Warner (Blu-ray Menus) RIGHT

 

BOTTOM LINE: I really like this film, despite its subtle and occasionally not-subtle preaching. DiCaprio is magnificent and the film is all his. He's definitely one of the best actors of his generation. Well, the Blu-ray is certainly far superior than this SD (image, audio and extras) and is about $5 more. For a film this strong I'd want the best presentation and the Blu-ray is it. Easy recommendation!

 

There is a Two-Disc Special Edition available with a "Blood on the Stone" documentary and Featurettes: Becoming Archer (a profile of Leonardo DiCaprio and how he trained for the war), Journalism on the Front Line (Jennifer Connelly on women journalists at war), Inside the Siege of Freetown (see how Ed Zwick tackled the pivotal scene) and a Music video: "Shine On Em" by rap artist Nas.