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The Deep [Blu-ray]
(Peter Yates, 1977)
NOTE: This Sony Blu-ray of The Deep is compared to the superior 101 Films Blu-ray HERE
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: Columbia Tri-Star Video: Sony Home Video
Disc: Region: FREE! (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player) Runtime: 2:04:30.463 Disc Size: 45,829,039,888 bytes Feature Size: 32,952,483,840 bytes Video Bitrate: 25.07 Mbps Chapters: 33 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: July 7th, 2009
Video: Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 Resolution: 1080p Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: Dolby TrueHD Audio English 1367 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1367 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps) Dolby TrueHD Audio French 1313 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1313 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps) Dolby TrueHD Audio Portuguese 1300 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1300 kbps / 16-bit (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps) Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Subtitles: English, English (SDH), French, Portuguese, Spanish, none
Extras:
• The Making of 'The Deep' (48:40 in SD)
Bitrate:
Description: This visually stunning action-adventure film, based on the best-selling novel by 'Jaws' author Peter Benchley, stars Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bissett as a couple on a romantic holiday in Bermuda. New Yorkers, David Sanders (Nolte) and Gail Berke (Bissett) are enjoying a much-needed vacation; while diving one day they discover the sunken wreck of a WWII freighter and unearth a gold coin as well as a mysterious glass ampule. Excited, they believe their discovery could be a long lost treasure, but they soon learn that their most valuable discovery is actually an ampule of morphine, one of thousands left behind on the medical supply ship. This discovery leads them into the hands of Henry Cloche (Louis Gossett Jr.), an extremely dangerous and powerful Haitian drug dealer who will stop at nothing to unearth the dangerous treasure. With the help of Romer Treece (Robert Shaw), an old treasure hunter, David and Gail soon realize that they have made a much more important discovery than the morphine and set out to keep their actual treasure a secret. Suspenseful death-defying dives and exquisite underwater photography. The poster of Bissett underwater in a T-shirt adorned many a dorm wall in the late 1970s.
The Film: An obvious attempt to cash in on the success of Jaws, this 1977 thriller was also based on a bestseller by Peter Benchley, and it features a memorable performance by Robert Shaw (the doomed shark hunter in Jaws) in one of the last roles of his career. Looking very tanned and healthy, Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset play a young couple enjoying a tropical vacation who discover a glass ampoule while scuba diving off the coast of Bermuda. It takes a seasoned treasure hunter (Shaw) to identify the ampoule as part of a valuable shipment of World War II morphine lost at sea, coincidentally, atop the even greater treasure of a sunken Spanish galleon. Thus begins a race for drugs and treasure pitting Nolte, Bisset, and Shaw against a ruthless drug lord (Louis Gossett Jr.) who'll do anything--even resort to Haitian voodoo--to get what he wants. It's all rather contrived and exploitative (after all, the movie's best known for Bisset's wet T-shirt scuba-dive), but as escapist entertainment goes it's got some exciting highlights including a moray eel that attacks on cue and... well, uh, Jacqueline Bisset in a wet T-shirt. Excerpt of Jeff Shannon's review at Amazon located HERE
NOTE: This Sony Blu-ray of The Deep is compared to the superior 101 Films Blu-ray HERE The Deep shows some of its age on Blu-ray appearing quite moderate in terms of 'Wow' factor. There are a few scenes that show some healthy depth and colors seem strong - if, possibly, boosted. Underwater sequences are not up to today's standard of remarkable brilliance but do seem consistent. This is dual-layered with almost 33 Gig given to the 2-hour feature. Colors may be somewhat washed - skin tones seem quite warm - contrast exhibits decent, if not, piercing black levels. Daylight scenes are more impressive and some scenes are exceptionally dark with, what looks looks, grain/noise. This Blu-ray is probably representing the film accurately but its, over 30-year, age is the most determining factor for its lack of pristine brilliance. It's clean and reasonably free of artifacts - undoubtedly the best the film can presently look for your home theater.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :Nothing is really demonstrative or overly notable in the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix at 1367 kbps. It suits the film with an underlying moody soundtrack but never reports heavy bass response. It seems very appropriate for the film supporting John Barry's adept score but nothing here will knock your socks off. There are optional subtitles and my Momitsu tells me this disc is region FREE! Extras :Supplements carry a 48-minute The Making of 'The Deep' narrated by Robert Shaw that gives evidence on how this was so groundbreaking for its time. The SD quality is quite weak and appears to have been made around the same time as the film. I wasn't aware that there was a 3 Hour Special Edition of The Deep - but there you go - there are 6 scenes included (in HD!) from that mysterious version - about 20-minutes worth. There are also 7 HD trailers - Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Secret Window, The Dark Crystal, The Da Vinci Code, and Rocky Balboa. This disc is ready for those of you wish to indulge in BD-Live (profile 2.0).
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze June 30th, 2009
NOTE: This Sony Blu-ray of The Deep is compared to the superior 101 Films Blu-ray HERE
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About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 7500 DVDs and have reviewed over 3000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. So be
it, but film will always be my first love and I list my
favorites on the old YMdb site now accessible
HERE.
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