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Horrible Bosses (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - United Kingdom - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (7th October 2013). |
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The Film
 ***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** For Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day), the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con, the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers... permanently. There's only one problem: even the best laid plans are only as foolproof as the brains behind them.
Video
Warner present both the "Theatrical" and "Unrated" versions of the movie on a single blu-ray in the original aspect ratio of 2.40:1, using an AVC MPEG-4 codec. The film is naturally quite dark, and for the majority, this has made a welcome transition to blu-ray. Shot on digital video, Horrible Bosses features light film grain throughout, though during a couple of the night time scenes it is a little more noticeable. Some of these dark scenes also feature a lack of detail in background items, but facial details and close-ups remain strong for the most part. The vast array of blacks and use of shadows look fine, with no real problems apart from some barely noticeable crush. I noticed no banding, aliasing, edge enhancement or incompetent digital noise reduction. Horrible Bosses is far from reference quality material, but it is a solid enough transfer free from major flaws. The extended version runs 105:36, whilst the theatrical version runs 97:43.
Audio
As per usual with Warner Home Video, it appears they have pressed a single release to cover several European localities, resulting in a plethora of audio tracks to become available. They are: - English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (both versions) - French Dolby Digital 5.1 (theatrical only) - Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (theatrical only) - Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (theatrical only) - Thai Dolby Digital 5.1 (theatrical only) - English Audio Descriptive Dolby Digital 5.1 (theatrical only) I viewed the extended version of the movie using the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Although this a wholly adequate track, it did feel a little underwhelming during the more action led sequences, with the rears being a little underused. However, directionality was consistently good, and the score suited the tone of the film throughout and added the required atmosphere, even if it was nothing new. Dialog was always clear, and there were no signs of any damage to the track. Subtitles are available in English HoH, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Italian HoH, Korean, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish and Thai.
Extras
The first of four featurettes is "My Least Favourite Career" (5:01), in which cast members Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Jason Bateman, Jason Sideikis, Charlie Day and Julie Bowen, as well as director Seth Gordon, recall their own horrible previous jobs and bosses. I'd like to say that the thinking of actors working in the restaurant/waiting industry is nothing but a stereotype, but apparently not. The second featurette is "Surviving a Horrible Boss" (6:29), where Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day and Seth Gordon discuss what it is that makes a boss horrible. They also discuss how to deal with their behaviour and what they would like to do to these people. "Being Mean is So Much Fun" (7:07) features cast members Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Spacey reflecting on what it was like to play mean characters. All three obviously relished the roles, especially Jennifer Aniston who usually plays rather sweet and wholesome characters. Interestingly, Spacey mentions how he feels his character here could be the brother of his character in Swimming With Sharks. The final featurette is "The Making of the Horrible Bosses Soundtrack" (6:22) which goes into a little more depth about the score which was put together by keyboard player Money Mark (Beastie Boys), guitarist Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) and bass player Stefan Lessard (The Dave Matthews Band). With this talent coming together, it comes as a surprise the score is so formulaic. The next extra is a selection of deleted scenes, including two alternate openings. They are not available individually, and run a total of ten minutes and 22 seconds. It's clear why the scenes in this section have been removed for pacing, or why they were shortened. Nothing exciting here. There is also a start-up trailer: - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" (1:51)
Overall
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