7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Set in Hollywood during the transition from silent films to talkies, focusing on a mixture of historical & fictional characters.
Starring: Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Jean Smart, Jovan AdepoDrama | 100% |
Period | 41% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Cantonese, Danish, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish, Thai
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Writer/Director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land) turns the camera on Hollywood and the moviemaking landscape, and turns back time by about a century, for Babylon, a film of shameless excess, loose characters, and a looser structure that chronicles both the transition from silent to sound film era and the path of various people on both sides of the camera as they navigate the changing workspace and the evolving lifestyles and life events that define them both on camera and off of it. The film is bloated and struggles to hold direction and find purpose, but it nevertheless proves to be a somewhat engaging blend of true-life chronicling and fictional characterization. The film is not for audiences unprepared for its visual and aural excesses, but those prepared to indulge in everything Hollywood in the 1920s had to offer should find the picture a satisfying venture of sight and, indeed, sound.
Babylon was shot on film and looks satisfyingly grounded on Blu-ray. The picture holds some softer corners but is otherwise in very fine shape, capturing nicely defined details and textures with film-quality ease and efficiency. To be sure the picture is not the most abundantly sharp at every stop, but consider the overall clarity within the picture's stylistic choices and the image satisfies, especially in close-up where facial textures and clothing lines and fabric definition excel. Likewise, the picture thrives in some of its larger-scale settings, especially outdoors, but also on various interior movie sets as well where vintage products and props enjoy hearty definition. Color rendition is fine, presenting with excellent depth and tonal variance. Color vividness is impressive as situations warrant, but the film can also look slightly washed out and murky by design. Black levels are deep and accurate, flesh tones are good within any given lighting condition, and white balance is strong. The image shows no major print anomalies or encode artifacts. This is a good-looking Blu-ray from Paramount.
The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is an exceptional example of modern audio engineering, even as the film takes place about 100 years ago. The sense of sheer scale in the opening sequence is nearly unrivaled for the orgy of audio that pours into the listening area. Between the raucous partygoers and the intense blasts of the era big band music, the sense of immersion is real, and the clarity and surround content are a match. Add in the wonderful subwoofer balance and altogether these elements make the sequence hard to beat for distinction and definition. The track holds to a balance between extreme audio aggression and intimate balance throughout. Listeners will be repeatedly awestruck by the engineering at work to sort everything out while also mixing it all together to audio perfection. Whether effects, atmosphere, or action, the track delivers in perfect working order. Dialogue is always clear and center positioned for the duration as well.
This Blu-ray release of Babylon contains all of its extras on a second Blu-ray disc; the feature film disc contains only the film. No DVD copy is
included, but Paramount has bundled in a digital copy code.
Many film aficionados are going to have a good time with Babylon, flaws and all. The film's excesses stretch throughout, and while the core narrative is coherently linear, the larger purpose beyond painting a vivid picture of lust-for-life extremes seems scattered. The Blu-ray is quite good, with solid video and excellent audio in addition to an entire bonus disc's worth of supplements, even if they are on a second disc for feature film spacing purposes, not breadth and length of supplemental content. Fans will love this package.
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Extended Director's Cut
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75th Anniversary Edition
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