Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Oliver Stone's powerful film about the shots heard round the world and the mystery enshrouding them is one of the most provocative movies of our time. Aside from its box-office success, critical acclaim and awards, it played a major role in the national debate leading to passage of the 1992 Assassination Materials Disclosure Act.

JFK has always been one of my favorite Oliver Stone films and is also, in my opinion, one of the highlights of Kevin Costner’s career. The film is done extremely well taking the viewer through scenes of tension and superb drama. Stone put together one of the best ensemble casts I have ever seen for this effort and it doesn’t seem like any punches were pulled at all, making this a rather disturbing if not shocking look at one of the most controversial events in the history of the United States. The director’s cut goes even farther into areas providing a more satisfying picture overall. Most of the new additions deal with details and character development, but they serve the overall film very well. For anyone who hasn’t seen this film yet, don’t pass this one up.

This film has always had an interesting look to it. The photography always seems to be a bit soft and had that “glow” of the older films. The HD presentation preserves that well and the image comes off a bit desaturated in color. Close ups reveal a decent amount of fine detail but I wouldn’t call any of the imagery razor sharp. Depth of image is strong and non-stylized shots have a nice amount of dimension to them. Overall this looks very faithful to every presentation I’ve seen of the film before and a nice step up in detail from the previous DVD.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is VERY good with excellent dynamics and presence. Stone did a superb job of using the score and sound design to heighten the mood of the film and add punctuation to the tragic events it deals with. The soundstage has a very open quality to it and I was impressed with the seamless blend of front and surround channels. Dialogue is very natural in tonal balance and timbre and blends perfectly with the rest of the mix. A solid audio presentation.

Warner delivers JFK as a digi-book release that includes cast bios and film facts along with information about the film and its production in a fully illustrated bookcase. The disc also features a audio commentary with director Oliver Stone and a great full length documentary on the film and the questions it raises. Some deleted scenes and the trailer are also included.

This has always been such a tremendous film and Warner has done a great job with the Blu-ray release. The soundtrack is exceptional and the HD transfer is faithful to the source. Highly recommended for fans of the film.