QUANTUM OF SOLACE

 

THE MOVIE-                1.5 stars out of 5

 

While watching this film, I kept asking myself, “What have they done with the real James Bond?” While I appreciated the updating of the Bond character in Casino Royale, the Bond portrayed by Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace lost me completely. Gone is the wit, charm and humor that we associated with ole’ 007 as portrayed by Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan. Instead we get 007 the dispassionate killing machine, a Jason Bourne on steroids if you will. While I would agree that Bond as portrayed by Roger Moore was a little too schmaltzy, there was no need to go totally off the deep end the other way. It seems to me that the Sean Connery Bond got it just right. Let’s hope that some of the wit and charm of the Bond character returns in the next installment. Otherwise, we may finally see the end of this series.

 

As for the film itself, the film picks up where Casino Royale left off with Bond searching for the killer of his girlfriend. As usual, he is off to a trip around the world, meeting the mysterious Camille in South America, a woman who displays the same wit and charm deficit as Craig’s Bond. She puts him on the path of an international business tycoon, Dominic Green, a major force in the mysterious Quantum organization involved in the death of his girlfriend, which is bent on stealing a nation’s water supply. Frankly, there is little in the way of a plot here. The film is a series of one action sequence after another and is filled with anger and death. The killing often appears merely gratuitous and a substitute for quality writing, plot and character development.  I really expected better on the heels of Casino Royale. If you must experience this film, I would suggest you do so on the basis of a rental only. Despite its reference audio and video presentations, I can’t recommend that you purchase this film.

 

THE VIDEO-            5 stars out of 5

Quantum of Solace is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1. In a word, this film looks fantastic on Blu-ray. The film features a very natural looking color palette that features beautifully saturated colors. Image detail is off the charts with the film featuring a level of clarity and detail that is among the best I have yet experienced on Blu-Ray. Blacks are deep and inky, generating an image of incredible depth and three dimensionality. Film grain is well preserved as well. I was able to detect no evidence of any edge enhancement or digital noise reduction. The print, as one would expect with a brand new film, was in perfect condition. All in all, this is one spectacular looking film and encode. I just wish the film was up to the level of the video presentation on this Blu-Ray release.

 

THE AUDIO-            5 stars out of 5

 

The audio on Quantum of Solace is encoded with DTS HD Master Audio in a 5.1 channel configuration and is a match for the video in terms of quality. This encode features a smooth, rich and open sound with tremendous transparency and imaging. Dynamics are excellent as well as is the bass response which is deep and tight with explosions and gun shots having the heft and force that one has come to expect in modern films. Equally impressive is the use of the surround speakers, which are actively engaged throughout, generating a totally immersive sound experience. It really doesn’t get much better than the audio on this release folks. It is that good.

 

EXTRAS

 

As one would expect with a new film, this release is filled with several extras including the Another Way to Die music video and several featurettes including: Bond of Location, Start of Shooting, On Location, Olga Kurylenko and the Boat Chase, Director Marc Forster and The Music. Also included are Drew FIles Behind the Scenes Clips and Theatrical and teaser Trailers. The disc is not BD-LIve enabled and does not include a digital copy.

 

IN CONCLUSION

 

While Quantum of Solace has reference audio and video presentations, it is one of the worst of all the Bond films. Therefore, I would suggest that you take in this film as a rental only.

_______________________________________________

 

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

 

THE MOVIE-                5 out of 5

 

Slumdog Millionaire was one of those films that I did not get to see in the theater. I had several friends who told me that this was a must see film. I am always leery of films that almost seep the Oscars and therefore was not sure what to expect with this film. I kept hearing how this was a feel good film and therefore was surprised by the subject matter of the film, which was often times deep, heavy, shocking and at times depressing. However, the heart of the film is a love story and in the end, love does conquer all. The film starts off after the lead character, Jamal, is being tortured by the Mumbai police after reaching the final level at the TV show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It appears that the host and the producer of the show, doesn’t believe that he could have answered all the questions correctly if he wasn’t cheating somehow and he wants the police to find out how he is doing it before he has to pay Jamal a small fortune. The film then proceeds into a series of flashbacks into the lives of Jamal and his brother, showing how he was able to answer the questions due to his lifetime of truly horrible experiences. Jamal is able to convince the police that he is telling the truth and that he is not cheating. He is released and finds his way to the TV studio to complete his quest to win and find his one and only love. While the film does have a feel good ending, it is full of some truly disturbing images and really isn’t suitable for young children. Slumdog Millionaire is a rarity as it is a film that actually lived up to the hype. It is one of the most original and moving films I have seen in a quite a long time. Very highly recommended.

 

THE VIDEO-                3.75 stars out of 5

 

Slumdog MIllionaire is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1. The film was originally slated for a straight to DVD release and frankly, it shows in the video quality here. The image here is really all over the  map in terms of quality. The scenes during the day in sunlight are fairly crisp and sharp with good detail and deep blacks. Other parts of the film, especially those at night, are quite soft and lacking much in the way of image detail. The color palette is also all over the place, with some scenes having fairly natural looking color and others, blooming and overly hot whites with exaggerated contrast and colors. However, the biggest issue I had with the video was the level of video noise, especially during the night time exterior scenes. The video noise was so excessive that it interfered with my enjoyment of the film. While this is a truly great film, the video is simply not up to the level of the film.

 

THE AUDIO-               4.75 stars out of 5

 

While the video is not a match for the quality of the film, the opposite is true for the audio which is excellent in just about all respects. As is the case with all Fox releases, the audio here is encoded with DTS HD Master Audio in a 5.1 channel configuration. The film has exceptional dynamics with deep and tight bass. Transparency and imaging are spectacular with a sound field of exceptional depth, both side to side and front to back. The musical score on this release sounds fantastic with incredible audio fidelity. The music fills your room with sound so lifelike and involving that it was a thrill to experience. The surround speakers are used throughout the film and very aggressively, creating a totally immersive sound field, placing you right smack dab in the middle of the action. While all these aspects of the audio are fully deserving of a 5 star rating, I was a tad disappointed with the dialogue track here. While the fidelity of the audio track was excellent, I had an issue with the sound level, which resulted in some of the dialogue being difficult to understand. This resulted in my having to rewind the disc several times to better make out the dialogue. While, I didn’t have to do this very often, it was enough of an issue that I had to knock down the audio just a tad from an otherwise perfect score.

 

EXTRAS

 

Slumdog Millionaire comes as a two disc set. Disc one contains the film and over 2 hours of special features. Disc two contains a digital copy of the film that is compatible with Macs and PCs. The release is not BD-Live enabled. The extras on disc one feature a Making of Slumdog MIllionaire Featurette with director Danny Doyle, 12 deleted scenes, a Behind the Scenes featurette on the filming of the disgusting Toilet Scene, a exclusive short film Manjha, a Bombay Liquid Dance music video and an audio commentary with Danny Doyle and actor Dev Patel who plays the adult Jamal.

 

IN CONCLUSION

 

Slumdog Millionaire is a fantastic film and one that was totally deserving of the acclaim and awards it received at this year’s Academy Awards. This a must see film that belongs in the collection of any film fan. Very highly recommended.