7 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The crown jewel of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Agent Lorraine Broughton is equal parts spycraft, sensuality and savagery, willing to deploy any of her skills to stay alive on her impossible mission. Sent alone into Berlin to deliver a priceless dossier out of the destabilized city, she partners with embedded station chief David Percival to navigate her way through the deadliest game of spies.
Starring: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Eddie Marsan, John Goodman, Toby JonesAction | 100% |
Comic book | 51% |
Thriller | 30% |
Period | 2% |
Mystery | 1% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS:X
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: DTS 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French (Canada): DTS 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
BD-Live
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Ah, the 1980s. Great music, cool culture, and the Cold War. Fun times. Scary times. The world is a drastically different place now, just some three decades later, radically altered by the fall of the wall and the exponential, meteoric rise in technological progress. It almost makes the spy story of Atomic Blonde seem quaint, in which secret rendezvous, good old-fashioned pursuits based on human intelligence, and coded messages transmitted in crude but effective ways were the means of silently fighting the Cold War at its hottest flashpoint in Germany. Of course, there's also plenty of raw action in one of the most gritty and cool Action flicks in some time. Director David Leitch's (making his "official" feature film debut following uncredited work on the highly regraded John Wick) is a time capsule of sight and sound, a Spy film fully embedded in and defined by its time. Rather than Bond tuxedos and martinis, Blonde makes hardcore blood-and-guts action and infectious 80s beats its lifeblood. The film certainly maneuvers through genre tropes, but it's defined by its period, not its narrative, by its muscle, not its brain, resulting in a movie that's more or less empty in the center but engaging on the surface.
Atomic Blonde was digitally photographed. While it never visually explodes off the screen, the film, shot by DP Jonathan Sela (Transformers: The Last Knight), does present the film's stylized timeframe visuals with plenty of flair that the Blu-ray captures with relative ease. Textural complexity is not as strong as the best discs on the market (or the film's companion UHD release, for that matter) but there's a pleasing finesse to skin close-ups; clothing textures; and Berlin environments in various states of luxury, lived-in mess, or decay. The movie's somewhat darker and bleaker stylings don't allow for a totally robust image, holding the somewhat flat and ever-so-slightly glossy image without an explosion of excess color. Shades of gray and blue dominate much of the film with only the occasional burst of color -- graffiti on the wall, neon lights, that sort of thing -- that offers sufficiently saturated punch and depth. Black levels are firm and pleasing, and flesh tones are reflective of the movie's structural stylings and scene environment constraints. Moderate noise does intrude on a number of occasions, particularly where expected in lower light. Otherwise, the transfer is very strong and satisfies across the board.
Atomic Blonde's DTS:X Master Audio soundtrack carries the film's high-energy sound requirements with ease, accuracy, and aggression. Music is notably large and spacious with pinpoint clarity to everything from sharp guitar riffs to spirited and spunky 80s pop songs, supported by effortless stage envelopment and crisp, tight bass. The track offers a sense of expansive spaciousness to both music and environments. The overhead component doesn't often offer any discrete effects but does help create a compelling sound field that opens up various environments with startling accuracy. Action scenes are made much more riveting by the intense engagement and aggression of gunfire, which pops and zips with plenty of power. The most startlingly detailed action scene comes in chapter 15 when music entirely gives way to shots and crashes, and the sole focus on action only allows the track to amplify the raw power on display. Additional effects, such as pressure underwater at the 82 minute mark or simple dialogue and music in more cavernous locations where reverberation and spacing are much more naturally pronounced, make a number of scenes practically reference quality. Indeed, the track's ability to find the perfect sense of space in all directions is its greatest asset. Crisp, clean, well prioritized and positioned dialogue round out a superb listening experience.
Atomic Blonde contains a few supplements, including an audio commentary track, deleted scenes, and some featurettes. A DVD copy of the
film and a UV/iTunes digital copy code
are included with purchase.
In Atomic Blonde, there's a scarcity of compelling narrative content and thematic purpose, but the film is teeming with raw and intense action and era-specific and expertly integrated sights and sounds. The movie is, really, an empty shell when it comes right down to it, recycling basic genre tropes and maneuvers, but it's in the flash, the style, that allows it to easily overcome the dearth of substance, particularly as it relates to the basic storyline. The action is cool, the actors are committed, and the film is one of the more uniquely enjoyable takes on the spy genre in some time. Sick of Bond? Go Blonde. Universal's Blu-ray delivers solid video, excellent audio, and a fair allotment of bonus content. Recommended.
2017
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with collectible packaging and art cards
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