Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video:

Audio:

Disc 2

Blu-ray Exclusive
•"The Path of Illumination" (interactive - travel to St Peter's Square, Piazza Del Popolo, Saint Maria Della Vittoria, Piazza Navona or the Pantheon)
• Cinechat
• MovieIQ - choose with either theatrical or extended cut play
• Digital Copy
• BD-Live

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Description: Tom Hanks reprises his role from the 2006 film 'The Da Vinci Code' as Harvard symbologist and religious expert Robert Langdon, who works alongside Vittoria (Ayelet Zurer), the beautiful daughter of a murdered Italian physicist, to unravel the clues behind her father's murder and prevent a terrorist act against the Vatican by resurgents of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati, the most powerful underground organisation in history.

After the murder of Italian physicist Leonardo Vetra, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon's (Tom Hanks) investigation with Vetra's daughter (Ayelet Zurer) leads to a secret society, the Illuminati, and a quest for the world's most potent -- and deadly -- energy source. Ron Howard directed the crime thriller, which is based on The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown's novel and co-stars Ewan McGregor and Stellan Skarsgård.

 

 

The Film:

Excerpt from Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times located HERE

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

This first Blu-ray disc has both the Theatrical and, 7.5 minute longer, Extended cut of the film seamlessly branched.

The image quality of Angels & Demons on Blu-ray from Sony is pretty much perfect. There is some consistent background grain - it's a thick, heavy appearance - popular in many 1080P transfers these days. Colors look a shade overly vibrant (it's hard to believe Armin Mueller-Stahl's eyes are that blue - but, heck, maybe they are). If there is manipulation - this would be the only area that would be notable.  The image has a pristine quality probably evolving right from the immaculate art direction with religious objects looking noble, graceful and sometimes textured.  Close-ups are tight and controlled but depth is minimal. This Blu-ray has a very solid theatrical feel and I cannot pinpoint any definite flaws. It looks very impressive. 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aside from a lossless French DUB, the only track available is a robust DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3774 kbps. Hans Zimmer gives us a Bernard Herrmann-esque offering with plenty of rich bass power. Like the video there is nothing to complain about - the raging track doesn't drown out dialogue and effects are crisp and very well separated. The Gregorian Chant sounded wonderful. There are English and French subtitles optional and my Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

 

BOTTOM LINE:
I was expecting to hate this - but I didn't. I enjoyed the pace and let myself get swept up by the dizzying factoids spilling over like an industrial strength popcorn machine. I think the only way to enjoy this is to give over to it - to some degree. Howard is an old hand now at crafting and pacing a film and his competence borders on impressiveness. This is an entertaining film - no question - and the Blu-ray is a grand achievement with exceptional A/V and an abundance of supplements for those who may wish to indulge. There is much here to enjoy and in a year of too-many poor films - surprisingly, this is one of the highlights.   

Gary Tooze

November 21st, 2009