5.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The true story of the 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs.
Starring: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Natalie Morales, Sarah SilvermanBiography | 100% |
Sport | 17% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Russian: DTS 5.1
Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1
Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Polish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1
Turkish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
This may sound just a bit on the snarky side, for which I apologize, but I’m a guy and probably one of the last persons I would want to represent my gender in any way, shape or form would be Bobby Riggs. While Riggs’ achievements in tennis are still incredibly impressive, he wasn’t exactly the paradigm of how we tend to think of our athlete superstars, being kind of a nerdy looking guy, pretty short and with a bit of a paunch by the time he “enlisted” in the so-called Battle of the Sexes in 1973. Now to be fair, by 1973 Riggs was already in retirement and probably couldn’t have cared less is he wasn’t exactly a matinee idol (something he probably wasn’t even in his heyday), but the whole attempt to “prove” that women’s tennis playing was inherently inferior to that of males doesn’t exactly posit Riggs as a paradigm of evolved thinking. But here’s the thing about Riggs, especially as he’s portrayed by Steve Carell in the often boisterous Battle of the Sexes — he was in on “the joke”, making male chauvinist pig-ism something along the lines of performance art. In fact, Riggs’ whole approach to skirmishing with women tennis players was a “head fake” (if I may be permitted to mix sports metaphors), one crafted intentionally to put Riggs in the spotlight (and to possibly pay off some gambling debts, though that part of this screenplay’s formulation has been disputed by some). Battle of the Sexes of course revolves around the now infamous matchup between Riggs and Billie Jean King (Emma Stone), but it’s really more of a social critique about attitudes and gender roles, with some broadsides lobbed at our supposed progress over the past few decades.
Battle of the Sexes is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, along with cinematographer Linus Sandgren, gave this production an appropriately "old school" 1970s ambience by shooting on film (with an eventual 2K DI). That gives this transfer a nicely thick, somewhat textured look, with a nicely resolved grain field throughout, but a lot of this presentation tends to be on the soft side, with a kind of odd prevalence of rather dimly lit scenes (even some of the outdoor material doesn't look overly bright). That tends to keep fine detail levels from really popping some of the time, though when lighting conditions allow and close-ups are employed, things perk up considerably, with elements like flyaway hair on Sarah Silverman's bouffant being easily visible. The palette isn't overly vivid a lot of the time, something that actually only helps individual things like Riggs' bright yellow Sugar Daddy jacket pop all the more by contrast. There are no issues with image instability and no compression anomalies of any note.
Battle of the Sexes features a nicely rendered DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track, one that delivers the expected surround activity in the showdown scenes (many of which occur later in the film), but which also provides good immersion in several crowded scenes in places like locker rooms or press conferences. Dialogue, score and effects are all knit together expertly with smart prioritization. Fidelity is excellent throughout, and dynamic range is rather wide for a film that tends to be on the comedic side.
- Unit Photography Gallery (1080p; 2:05)
- Set Design Gallery (1080p; 1:45)
Note: Both galleries offer either Manual Advance or Auto Advance options. The timings are for the Auto Advance options.
This is another kind of almost whimsical treatment of a rather serious subject from Dayton and Faris, who brought much the same sensibility to Little Miss Sunshine. Performances are uniformly wonderful throughout this feature, even if its focus seems unnecessarily split between King's emerging sexuality and the whole anarchic tennis match with Riggs. Technical merits are generally strong, and Battle of the Sexes comes Recommended.
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