Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: Andell Entertainment/Bevin-Fellner
Video: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Disc:
Region: ALL
(as verified by the
Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)
Runtime: 2:07:08.136
Disc Size: 32,937,699,441 bytess
Feature Size: 29,373,247,488 bytes
Average Bitrate: 22.471 Mbps
Chapters: 20
Case: Standard Blu-ray case
Release date: September 1st, 2009
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.4:1
Resolution: 1080p
Video codec: VC-1 Video
Bitrate:
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio English 3603 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3603
kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 /
48 kHz / 1536 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS Audio French 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit
DTS Audio Spanish 768 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit
DTS Express English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps /
24-bit
Subtitles:
English (SDH), English, French, Spanish, none
Extras (Hi-Def):
• The Making of State of
Play – in HD (18:45)
• 2 Deleted Scenes – in SD (3:39)
• U-Control: Picture-in-Picture cast & crew interviews &
behind-the-scenes footage
• U-Control:
Washington
D.C. Locations
Exclusive to Blu-ray:
• BD-Live 2.0
Comment:
The Movie:
5
The movie opens like a blast from a shotgun: A man races on foot
through streets and stores at night. He gets hit by a car
but careens on to happen on a hideout among the trash bins.
Alas, to no avail - his pursuer appears the moment our
hapless victim sticks his head out. Death is just two shots
away. The same fate is in store for a passing cyclist.
Seemingly unrelated, a young woman meets her death at a
subway platform. As news of the woman’s death reaches
Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck), he is overcome
with unexpected grief just as the media has him on camera.
While scruffy veteran journalist Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe)
chases down the story of the shootings he begins to make
connections to the woman by way of Collins, his erstwhile
college roommate. The tabloid implications of Stephens’
tears – he now admitting to having had an affair with her –
is being blogged to kingdom come by the newspaper’s young
Internet bloggy reporter, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams). An
uneasy alliance between Cal and Della eventually
materializes (erasing no memories of Cary Grant & Rosalind
Russell or Dustin Hoffman & Robert Redford – but we like
them anyhow), while she eyes him as the dinosaur he is and
he tries to teach her something about the value of pens and
investigative depth.
Meanwhile their editor (Helen Mirren) impresses
Cal with pressures of her own from the paper’s owners:
sagging sales at the top of the list, which, in turn, leads
to dictates that would never would have entered her mind ten
years ago, let alone escape her lips. We worry that the
only way a newspaper can stay alive is to become the New
York Post – or worse.
State of Play
gets an able assist from Jeff Daniels as a senior
Congressman, whose every utterance leads us to suspect there
is more to this guy than political posturing – and not in a
good way. Better still is Jason Bateman as a PR man for the
Blackwater-like firm that Collins is investigating, and who
is the likely culprit behind the killings. I like the way
Macdonald lets Bateman devolve over a series of brief
interviews. No pressure, just scare the piss out of the
poor guy.
Image: 7/8
NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the
Blu-ray disc.
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.
Lots of shadowless blacks throughout the film support its secretive
dramatic intentions. Don't take these scenes too literally
– I couldn't imagine working in such lighting conditions,
whether the newsroom, the congressman's office or the
hearing rooms – my eyes would fall out. The lighting style
is most effective, drawing us into the mystery: the
principal actors in each scene is carefully, differently,
yet artlessly lit. Flesh tones are spot on when not
filtered. I ran into no distracting artifacts, enhancements
or noise reduction. The print was spotless, as expected.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music: 7/7
Huge bass implosions at quasi-climactic moments in the film are
powerful enough, though I was not always convinced by their
appropriateness given the context. Otherwise, ambient
environmentals are convincing and effective; the dialogue,
which takes up a good deal of our attention, is properly and
cleanly presented stereo front. I felt that some of Russell
Crowe's mumblings were comparatively more subdued than I
wished for.
Operations: 6
The menu is laid out like other Universal Blu-rays. Arrows tell you
which way to direct your remote, and the bonus feature
instructions are intuitive. The chapter menu includes
buttons for U-Control in case you want to approach those
functions from that point. U-Control opportunities appear
now and then for PIP and pop-ups re D.C. locations.
I might as well lodge a complaint that is likely to be of long
duration: Universal seems to have given up on unique
title-related art work for their discs: they're all the same
lately – and, as such, are neither interesting nor all that
easy to read.
Extras: 5
In place of an audio commentary Universal offers a scene specific
PIP on U-Control. That works. It’s certainly far less
uncritical than the back-slapping EPK we endure in the
Making-Of featurette that extols the
BBC original and then decides to remake the series into a
movie for the American market anyhow. I liked the
Washington Locations pop-up data and Google Earth graphics
on U-Control: The two deleted scenes, presented in
widescreen SD, deserve their place on the cutting room
floor.
Recommendation: 6
Is there a remotely plausible plot or popular culture trend
connection unexploited from the collective plotting of this
screenplay? I think not. More complex does not necessarily
add depth, and State of
Play
is a good case in point – on its own terms or compared with
Paul Abbott's original series. In this case, it simply
becomes less substantial, less believable. The amazing
thing is that Kevin Macdonald managed to make something
resembling a gripping thriller despite the script. He
certainly has a feel for locations and the way his
characters inhabit them. I admit to a restrained tear as
the entire newsroom staff gathers to attend Cal’s typing out
his story at the movie’s end. That scene had BIG Hollywood
Movie written all over it. It was iconic in a way that much
of the rest of the movie was simply clichéd.
Leonard Norwitz
August 19th, 2009
