John
Adams [Blu-ray]
(Tom Hooper, 2008)
Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Playtone
Blu-ray: Home Box Office
Disc:
Region: All
Runtime: 500 min
Chapters: 7 p
Size: BD-50
Case: Gatefold Box
Release date: June 16th, 2009
Video:
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: VC-1
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS 2.0
Spanish: DTS 2.0
Subtitles:
English, English SDH, French, Spanish, none
Extras:
• Making John Adams – in HD (29:12)
• David McCullough: Painting with Words – in HD (39:13)
• Facts Are Stubborn Things
• Who's Who in History
The Film:
7
I don’t know about you, but the prospect of Paul Giamatti as
an eighteenth century founding father and president of our
country, a colleague and critic of Thomas Jefferson, a
loving husband and proud father was asking a great deal of
this viewer. It would truly be an interactive experience, a
test I hadn’t enjoined since Bill Murray as Somerset
Maugham’s Larry Darrell. How did you do? I still wince at
the memory of Giamatti’s impersonation, but I certainly
admire the effort and the craft.
I recall the phrase "You're obnoxious and disliked" repeated
to Adams in the musical 1776 and thought that Giamatti might
make for just such an Adams, though I wasn't sure if I
wanted to sit through seven hours of the man. I'm not even
sure that I would have been able to manage William Daniels
for a similar length of time in a role as conceived by
author McCullough and screenwriter Kirk Ellis. "Peevish" is
a characteristic I can tolerate only in small doses, so I
found myself longing for another scene – any scene – with
Tom Wilkinson's Benjamin Franklin, Stephen Dillane's Thomas
Jefferson or, most of all, with Laura Linney's steadfast
Abigail.
Abigail comes off here, as she did in 1776 (with Virginia
Vestoff as Abigail), as her husband's moral and social
compass, though Giamatti's Adams demanded he be permitted to
go off course whenever it suited his sense of
self-importance. Perhaps the casting of Giamatti is meant to
enshrine his obnoxicity and dislikability forever. In any
case, he certainly made other historical figures that much
more readily differentiated, whether it be David Morse's
George Washington, standing tall, always the gentleman; or
Danny Huston's Samuel Adams, always the firebrand, but with
common sense (in the best sense of the phrase) and keen
interest; and my personal favorite, Tom Hollander as King
George III, who could stand short and tall simultaneously, a
feat which seemed to drive Adams crazy.
Ten points for production and for another look at an
important period of history. (If you like such things, look
into the 2004 PBS series "Liberty: The American Revolution"
– a very different sort of documentary on the subject.)
Image:
9/9
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.
The DVD was plagued with frightful amounts of
edge-enhancement – old habits die hard, apparently – and the
Blu-ray corrects almost all of it. Thanks be. I find the
image very cinematic: it's rich, strong, with very good
shadow detail and very little noise or brightening of night
scenes. Interiors of palaces and ornate silky costumes come
off very well in this high definition transfer, as do the
rustic fabics and leathers of the early days of the Adams
farm – we can at last see where all the production money and
effort went to. Bit rates are strong and dynamic, averaging
about 30 Mbps.
Zoomed segment
DVD TOP vs. Blu-ray BOTTOM
Audio & Music:
8/8
As we should expect, this series is not going to be big on
surround effects, though there are some moments during its
few exchanges of gunfire that come alive in this respect.
No, the strength of the audio here is, with few exceptions,
its unerring sense of space. Whether the salons or palatial
halls of France, or the stables of the Adams farm, or in the
streets of Boston or the nearby woods where Adams tastes the
effects of British justice, or at the bar, defending an
unpopular cause, the effect, by way of its uncompressed DTS
HD-MA, is transporting. I should mention that this was not
the case with the DVD, whose audio was sorely lacking in
this respect. Dialogue, which is of prime importance in such
a series, is clear and proportional.
Operations:
7
I found access and withdrawal from the "Facts Are Stubborn
Things" pop-ups to be more easily managed here than on the
DVD, correcting what I felt was a fault previously. They
come on with a small flourish now and are neater and cover
less of the frame, as expected on Blu-ray. Otherwise, the
layout of the menu is similar to the DVD, with the addition
of a pop-up episode summary.
Extras:
5
What's this! "Who's Who in History"? – the sole extra
feature beyond that which accompanied the DVD set of a year
ago – and what an embarrassment it is! Not only are these
nothing more than a few words about each of the major
characters, but the encompass the same number of lines per
character, so that everything is neat and tidy, and
pointless. On the other hand, the two major features are now
presented in very good HD and both are worth visiting and
manage to avoid duplication of coverage.
Bottom line:
7
I suppose the question of purchase depends on how much you
admire the series. There is no question in my mind that both
picture and audio quality, especially the latter, is much
improved in high definition. The Extra Features are much the
same, though now in HD. So, there you are.
Leonard Norwitz
June 14th, 2009
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