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Eastern Promises (Blu-ray)
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Pathe! Distribution Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (11th February 2014). |
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The Film
 ***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** After a young teenage mother dies during childbirth, midwife Anna resolves to try to trace the baby's relatives. Guided by the girl's personal diary she meets Semyon, the charming proprietor of a plush Trans-Siberian restaurant who impeccably masks his cold and brutal acts as the head of one of London's most notorious Eastern European crime families. Semyon's volatile son Kirill, who is also part of the Vory V Zakone criminal brotherhood, and the family's mysterious driver, Nikolai, soon cross her path as Anna accidentally unleashes the full fury of the Vory... Eastern Promises reteams acclaimed director David Cronenberg with his "A History of Violence" leading man Viggo Mortensen.
Video
Pathe! Distribution have released David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises" onto Blu-ray in the United Kingdom using the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Although both the front and back of the case declare a 1080i transfer, it is actually 1080p, and uses a VC-1 codec. It looks very nice indeed. The film uses quite a grimy palette in fitting with the dark underworld tones, and the colours look natural throughout. The blacks are deep with no noticeable crushing, and there is plenty of clarity between slight shade differences, with no colour bleeding. Detail is also very strong for the full run time, with every skin blemish and bit of stubble showing pin point sharpness without any signs of digital noise reduction. Even shadows show consistently high levels of detail. Some minor noise can be seen in some of the darker scenes, but it's barely boticeable and 98% of people won't even notice. There are no signs of any damage to the transfer such as scratches or dirt, and I noticed no edge enhancement and only very slight aliasing during a couple of brief moments. The feature runs 100:49.
Audio
The following audio options are available: - English DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1 - English Dolby Digital 5.1 The case states the inclusion of a lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio track, but guess what? It isn't there. Instead, I had to listen to the lossy English DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1 option, and it's a bloody travesty. Pathe!, one of the biggest distributor's around, obviously allowed this mess to pass through what is seemingly a lacklustre quality control procedure. The problem? The surround channels are reversed! The effects from the left come from the right speaker, and the effects from the right, come through the left speaker. At times, this isn't too noticeable, but once you twig on, you'll not be able to ignore it. One of the most obvious moments is when Naomi Watts is attempting to start her motorbike at the 26 minute mark, but it's essentially the tip of the iceberg. Very disappointing, considering I would class this as an "A" title in Pathe's catalogue. At least there is no damage to the track, and the audio shows great clarity, but the directionality problem almost makes the movie impossible to watch. Optional subtitles are available in English for the hard of hearing.
Extras
We start with a featurette entitled "Secrets and Stories" (10:32). It talks a little about how London has a rather large Russian community these days and how with that, also comes the Russian Mafia. The 'honour among thieves' ideal is also touched upon by the various cast and crew members. Although this is an annoyingly short featurette, it brings some interesting tidbits of information about how crimes such as traffiking are dealt with and how the story revolves around a Londoner with a Russian background who ends up becoming unintentionally involved with some rather savoury Russian characters. The only other extras is the "Marked for Life" featurette (6:42). This talks about the stories that tattoos on the characters tell. Russian gangsters have tattoos for different reasons, such as for murder, or robbery, or to show their old rank in the armed forces. The crucifix on Viggo Mortensen for example, is nothing to with religion, but to say he goes by 'honour among thieves'.
Overall
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