Blu-ray Movie Reviews

In the film, a renowned scientist finds herself face to face with an alien called Klaatu, who has traveled across the universe to warn of an impending global crisis. She quickly discovers the deadly ramifications of Klaatu's claim that he is "a friend to the Earth." Now she must find a way to convince the entity who was sent to destroy us that mankind is worth saving - but it may be too late.

Fox delivered two films last year with an environmental message. The Happening, which was an embarrassment of a film by the otherwise great M. Night, and this one. The film is a remake of the classic sci-fi film of the same name but instead of a warning to stop our wars and fighting, this time the aliens have come to save Earth from our pollution and consumption. Despite the talented cast the film is almost a bore and never grabbed me at all. Some of the special effects sequences were good, but some were embarrassingly bad. Overall, a major disappointment.

While I wasn’t a big fan of the film there is no denying how great the image looks on this Blu-ray. Fox has delivered a spectacular transfer with rich contrast and deep, deep blacks. The imagery has plenty of depth and razor sharp detail. Colors are a tad muted but only add to the stark image. Compression is outstanding and I didn’t notice any banding or artifacts in the difficult fog sequences that I thought would show obvious artifacts.

The DTS-HD Master Audio mix is very engrossing and features a very powerful sound design. Low bass extension is room threatening and I loved the nuances in the low end mix. Surround use is very aggressive and there are quite a few sequences here that I’m sure will be used for demo purposes a lot this year. The balance between channels is exceptional and the spatial design is very convincing and what I would expect from a tent pole film like this.

Fox delivers a pretty compelling 3-disc edition for this one. Not only do you get a digital copy of the film, you get the Blu-ray of the original The Day the Earth Stood Still as well, which was also released last year in time for this film’s theatrical premiere. Disc one also has plenty of production features that look into the creation of the film including its reimagination, and the special effects. A picture-in-picture Bonus View experience lets you look at the production design and design your own robot. Some trailers and still galleries are also included.

This one ended up being a pretty big disappointment despite the huge budget and compelling cast. While I can’t say much for the film the A/V presentation is outstanding and I love that Fox included the original film in here too.