6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
A look at how a painter and a successful actor spend their last day together before the world comes to an end.
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Natasha Lyonne, Paz de la Huerta, Shanyn LeighDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: LPCM 2.0
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Seeing as how director Abel Ferrara got his start making seedy, violent exploitation movies about figurative worms in the Big Apple—1979's Driller Killer, 1981's rape-revenge shoot-em-up Ms. 45, 1990's druggy King of New York—you'd think his latest film, 4:44 Last Day on Earth, would be a grimy, bloody, coked-up take on the apocalyptic genre that's been so popular lately. Not so. In fact, 4:44 is by far the most prosaic of the recent end-of-it-all dramas. Between Lars Von Trier's Melancholia, Béla Tarr's The Turin Horse, and Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, we've been visually and emotionally overwhelmed this past year by provocative auteurist takes on The End, and Last Day on Earth simply pales in comparison. Granted, Ferrera's is a much smaller-scaled film—a low-budget, theater-like production set almost entirely in one location—but its real failing is how rote it feels, reciting we get it already arguments for the importance of environmental protection and tamely observing its characters going through the expected we're all gonna die emotions. Who knew the utter annihilation of life on Earth could be so boring?
Last goodbyes...
Shot digitally with the capable Red One MX camera, 4:44 Last Day on Earth features a mostly satisfying 1080p/AVC encode, although some of the film's visual effects shots are seriously bad. Let's start with the good; clarity is usually excellent. The texture of Willem Defoe's face, for example— with its iconically angular lines and creases—is finely reproduced, with sharp high definition detail visible in all closeups. Clothing patterns, paint spatters, and props—all are nicely rendered too. Color-wise, the film goes for a very realistic look, and the image has good density, with deep blacks and strong- but-not-too-pushed contrast. Skin tones are natural as well. When confined to the apartment, the picture is great. Out on the green-screened balcony, however? Not so much. The composite blending just doesn't look natural—see the scene where Defoe leans over the ledge, peering down at a dead body below—and worse, there's strong banding in the nighttime sky, the gradient of dark blues turned into a noticeable stair-step pattern. In one or two effects shots, I even spotted some macroblocking. And I'm not even talking about the standard definition stock footage that Ferrara uses to show riots and celebrations and religious ceremonies across the globe. Given that this is a low-budge movie, most of the picture quality quirks are understandable, and while they're rarely distracting, they're certainly there if you're looking for 'em.
IFC gives us two audio options here, a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track—the default, and the one you'll want to stick with if you have a home theater setup—and an uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0 stereo mix. Both more than adequately handle the film's limited aural requirements. This is a dialogue-driven movie, through and through, and the characters' conversations are always clear, balanced, and easy to understand. Rear channel output in the multi-channel mix is limited to extremely quiet ambience—wind, mostly—and the film's minimal use of incidental music is kept low-key. The only time the track gets to really rumble is during the aurora over New York that precipitates The End, quaking with low-end subwoofer pulses. The disc includes optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
The lone extra on the disc is a high definition theatrical trailer.
This is how the world ends: not with a bang, but with a snooze. 4:44 Last Day on Earth is by far the most disappointing of recent apocalyptic dramas—too preachy, too metaphysically wishy-washy, too dramatically undercooked. It's basically a low-budget Melancholia with crap visual effects and an utterly mundane take on the global extinguishing of life. If you're a longtime Abel Ferrara/Willem Defoe fan you may feel obligated to check out the film, but curb your expectations beforehand. A Blu-ray purchase just isn't worth it here; streaming or renting is your best bet.
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