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

Firstly, the Studio Canal Blu-ray is region 'B'-locked. Upon inserting the disc it offers you the choice of German, Spanish, French and then the menus are in that language. It will default to a DUB of that same language but you CAN turn off any subtitles and choose original English audio without enforcement.

The 2002 Paramount DVD was quite strong - dual-layered, anamorphic and progressive with colors that match up well with the new French Blu-ray. Where I noticed a superiority was in the occasional digital noise of the DVD and depth that is present in the 1080P transfer. The Blu-ray bitrate is between 5-6 X that of the DVD and this becomes very apparent in motion. Colors also improve marginally (DVD tends to look a bit green beside the BD) and the dual-layered Blu-ray, with over 43 Gig dedicated to the 2 hour 10-minute feature film shows some good texturizing film grain. It is one of those instances where the screen captures don't bear out the entire story. This Blu-ray looks clean and sweet.

Studio Canal haven't added any false surround bumps and it offers a lossless DTS-Master in 2.0 channel stereo (along with 3 similar DUBs) - all around 1500 Kbps. It has the perception of range and the bass seems to support the inherent depth of the original track. It seems to advance quite handily, depending on the scene, on the DVD. The DVD has optional English subtitles where the European disc offers French, Spanish, or German. My Momitsu has identified it as being a region 'B'-locked.

Supplements are a little slim for the DVD - a Lumet commentary would have been ideal but we only get 4 skimpy featurettes at around 25-minutes in total. In the 5-minute 'Stills Gallery' commentary Lumet actually talks about the film's Mikis Theodorakis score. The Blu-ray has some more substantial featurettes - 2, both in English - almost a 1/2 hour on the director and he is quite wonderful to listen to and another kind of ad-hoc piece on the 'mysterious' Pacino also running 30-minutes. An odd addition are two tests - one for video the other audio - through your player/system - and they appear more thorough than other I have seen in the past. This is kind of a stop-gap calibration that may very well help a few systems out there.

I don't know why but I didn't have high hopes for this Blu-ray but it far exceeded my expectations and I was able to gain a new appreciation for the gritty police drama Serpico and the young actor Pacino. It's a film that carries that wonderful 70's realistic feel with a very dark, grey, New York City and the constant aura of doom and depression. Hollywood hasn't had such success at recreating vérité cinema based on individual stories of less-commercialized legal or political injustice. Serpico is a very important film - expertly directed. This Blu-ray is recommend for those keen on the very best presentation of this gripping expose. I'd be surprised if anyone creates a better transfer. Recommended!

Gary W. Tooze