Blu-ray Movie Reviews

As darkness descends over the flatlands of West Texas every Friday from September through December, a dazzling, disorienting glow, visible on the stark horizon for miles around, ignites the blackened sky. Looming over the landscape, Ratliff Stadium, the country's biggest high school football field, overflows with 20,000 spectators, their voices raised in the trademark chant: "MO-JO! MO-JO! MO-JO!" Since their first season in 1959, the Panthers established themselves as the most successful football program not only in Texas, but in the entire country. Now, in the last days of summer of 1988, the Permian High School Panthers of Odessa, Texas begin the season with one thing on their minds...winning their fifth state championship in their 30-year history.

This film gives an almost disturbing look at how serious high school football is taken in certain areas of the country. Last time I checked kids were suppose to have fun in high school athletics but in this league you may as well be a pro. The film does a great job of conveying different points of view and keeping an intensity about it that is both gripping and unsettling at the same time. By far one of the better sports films I’ve seen in some time and it’s easy to see why they spawned a TV series from it.

I didn’t see much difference between this new Blu-ray release and the original HD DVD encode in picture quality. This is a very contrasty image with deep, deep blacks and slightly overblown whites. This adds a lot to the depth of the image and the mood of the film. Colors are on the desaturated side, which only lends to the contrast. Detail is good and fine detail can be superb at times. The image has a slightly amplified film grain to it but this just goes along with the look of the film.

The Blu-ray features a DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack that is excellent. Plenty of rich dynamics and hard hitting low end put you right into the intense football games and make you feel the impact of the hits. The scoring and soundtrack selections do a great job with the mood of the film and the soundstage has a very rich and open quality.

Extras including a look at the production of the film along with a retrospective on the real 1988 Panthers the film covers. A feature commentary and deleted scenes are also included along with some behind the scenes footage and production featurettes. This title is also BD-Live enabled allowing you to send your favorite clips to friends or access promo stuff from Universal.

This is a disturbing look at the obsession some have with high school sports but there is no denying the great blend of drama and tension. The A/V presentation is great making this one an easy recommendation.