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Chicago
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Sam Scott (9th April 2007). |
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The Film
 I love films, but like everyone, I have a couple of genres I do prefer to leave behind. One of these genres is the musical, of which very few have made their way into my collection, and for good reason. I tend to dislike the showtunes and the type of music that is involved and as a trend I notice that the storylines very rarely have a lot to give. Sure, I love some of the classics like "Bugsy Malone", "The Sound of Music", "Mary Poppins" and "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", but films like "West Side Story"? "Annie"? "Cats"? They make me sick! Well, "Chicago" is another very well known story, this time being adapted to the big screen by director Rob Marshall who had previously given us, ummm.... an adaptation of "Annie" and what looks to be some sort of rubbish about a celebration of performing arts. Will I enjoy "Chicago"? Well, "Chicago" is a story about Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger), who longs to be a successful cabaret singer. Roxie shoots and murders Fred Casely (Dominic West) who she is lead to believe is 'talent scout' of sorts, only to find he has just as many showbiz connections as she does. In jail, she meets Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), put in prison for the murder of her husband and sister who she found having an affair. Whilst in prison, the pair get Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) for their lawyer, a man who likes to make legends of the people he defends. Which singer will get the success they so greatly desire though? I'm going to start off my thoughts by asking how in hells name did this film managed to win six oscars? Sure, it managed a rare feat for a musical and certainly kept my attention but the standard of the singing, the acting and overall feel to the film gave it an extremely average unpolished feel. Whilst the showtunes are certainly what you would expect from the genre, they are instantly forgettable in my eyes, and Zellweger continues to be one of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood at this present time. I would generally say the same about Zeta-Jones as well, however she actually puts in one of the best performances of her career (an average one). At the end of the day, if you like the genre, you'll like the film, but for me it's an average film that has been ridiculously overhyped.
Video
Presented in the films theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with a 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer, the film looks pretty good although not the best I've seen on Blu-ray. The film is one you would expect to use high definition to it's full potential with the majority of the scenes being very dark, yet with the bright lights you would expect in a stage show, but sometimes this mammoth BD-50 dual layer disc struggles to define the dark colors mixed in with the light colors as much as I would have liked.
Audio
As with any musical, the big pulling point other than the feature itself, must be the sound. With a choice between English PCM and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks as well as a dubbed French Dolby Digital 5.1 track and a dubbed Spanish PCM 2.0 Surround track the sound department is pretty much covered. I opted for PCM 5.1 and it was excellent. The clarity is amazing and the channel seperation and volumes have been done to perfection. One of the best I have heard on a high definition format.
Extras
We start off with an audio commentary by director Rob Marshall and screenwriter Bill Condon which I am sure will interest people who loved the film but for me, whilst I found it informative, I also found it to be a bit on the boring side and had it not been for the fact I had to review the disc I wouldn't have made it past the twenty minute mark. Next up we have a deleted scene, which is the song 'Class' performed by Queen Latifah and Ms Jones. Unfortunately, rather than being the type of song I enjoy hearing from Latifah, it was obviously a very jazzy piece which was more of the same for me. Next is the featurette entitled "Behind-The-Scenes Special" which feels like one of those made for TV featurettes that are generally purely made pap that features the best scenes from the film intertwined with interviews with various cast and crew and behind the scenes footage. Boring. Then we get another extra feature called "From Stage to Screen: The History of Chicago" which is pretty self explanatory and tells us about the beginnings of where the story came from. Probably the best extra on the disc, but still lacking as it stops short of the film in question. Next up is a load of musical rehearsals as well as complete and extended musical numbers. They are as follows: Extended Musical Performances: -And All That Jazz Extended Performance (6:05 min) -When You're Good to Mama Extended Performance (3:32 min) -Cell Block Tango Extended Performance (7:59 min) -We Both Reached for the Gun Extended Performance (6:35 min) -Mister Cellophane Extended Performance (3:58 min) -All I Care About Extended Performance (4:41 min) Complete Musical Performances: -Richard Gere & All I Care About - From Start to Finish (3:29 min) -Renee Zellweger & Nowadays - From Start to Finish (2:06 min) -Catherine Zeta-Jones & And All That Jazz - From Start to Finish (3:03 min) Musical Performance Rehearsals: -Can't Do It Alone Rehearsal (3:45 min) -Hot Honey Rag Rehearsal (3:30 min) -We Both Reached for the Gun Rehearsal (3:56 min) -Cell Block Tango Rehearsal (3:09 min Unfortunately, they did nothing to enhance an already average experience though it would've been nice to have the option to insert the 'complete' and 'extended' sections into the film itself. Again, a fan of the songs will love these extras, but for me, they prolonged a poor experience. We end the extras with another four featurettes: "An Intimate Look at Director Rob Marshall" -featurette (20 min) "When Liza Minnelli Became Roxie Hart" -featurette (16 min) "Academy Award-Winning Production Designer John Myhre" -featurette (6 min) "Academy Award-Winning Costume Designer Colleen Atwood" -featurette (6 min) Unfortunately all four of them did little to keep my eyes open and despite having notes in front of me, I struggle to remember much about them other than the fact they are self explanatory, boring and commercial fluff.
Overall
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