6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.6 |
The adventures of young William Adama in the First Cylon War.
Starring: Luke Pasqualino, Ben Cotton, Jill Teed, Lili Bordán, John Pyper-FergusonAction | 100% |
Sci-Fi | 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 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
BD-Live
D-Box
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Blood & Chrome isn't the first time Battlestar Galactica has given fans a glimpse at the First Cylon War, or even the first time the series reboot has trained its crosshairs on a young William Adama. Lest ye forget, in October and November of 2007, executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick unleashed a string of weekly Razor Flashbacks webisodes; together a seven-part prequel within a prequel (to Razor, which detailed what the crewman of the Battlestar Pegasus were up to before the Cylons' initial attack on the Twelve Colonies). As a prequel or as edited into the extended home video release of the movie itself, the Flashbacks stole the show and offered a well-cast, smartly penned preview of what a successful BSG series starring a young Adama might look like. Fast forward to 2013 and the highly anticipated release of Blood & Chrome, a series pilot that should have worked; that should have given us the next great entry in the BSG universe. Instead, B&C reveals itself to be a less-than-stimulating version of what could have been. Though most certainly a visually striking action spectacle that deploys scope-and-scale-bolstering CG to the series' benefit, the new movie falls short of Moore and Eick's 2007 webisodes where it counts: casting, performances and scripting. Worse, you don't even have to be familiar with the Razor Flashbacks to feel the profound sense of disappointment that begins to settle in long before Blood & Chrome reaches its wobbly, semi-climactic endgame.
"Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash." Oh, sorry. Wrong movie...
Most of the issues that bring Blood & Chrome's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation down a notch are inherent to the source. Uneven grain and noise (a trademark of the BSG series proper), a few mangled CG elements (a handful of shots almost look unfinished), aliasing where CG seams have been left a bit raw (another side effect of the movie's truncated production timetable), a computer overlay that's so clean and shiny it feels completely out of place (as if someone forgot to add in the aforementioned grain and noise) and seemingly random eyesores pop up from time to time. Other issues are a bit more suspect. Slight macroblocking, intermittent banding, occasionally muted black levels and various negligible oddities don't exactly line up with CG effects or Moore and Eick's patented BSG aesthetics. It's difficult to differentiate between the two, though, making for a tricky video evaluation. Fortunately, the good far outweighs the not-so-good. Colors are bold, skintones are nicely saturated, primaries pop, contrast is on point, black levels are generally deep and satisfying, and detail is quite striking, particularly when it comes to suitably lit midrange shots and closeups, fighter dogfights and cruiser showdowns, and other action highlights. Wider shots that show off the hangars, Viper bays, space battles and other set pieces look great as well, and most of the scenes boast reasonably well-integrated live-action elements and CG backgrounds and enhancements. The high definition image only makes it look that much better, even if those who've long lamented the intended grit and grain of BSG will still have plenty to complain about. All in all, a fine presentation free of debilitating issues.
Universal's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is thankfully more refined, with hard-hitting LFE output and blistering rear speaker activity, all of which does more to bring Blood & Chrome to life than the video presentation or the whole of the movie itself. Dialogue is clean and clear, barring a small selection of misprioritized lines that got buried beneath the action (none crucial, so far as I could tell). The soundfield is quite immersive too, albeit not consistently so. Vipers and Raiders rocket past and swoop round the listener. Missiles whiz from channel to channel. Explosions rock the ground and echo across the room. Winds howl, ships collide, nukes thoom and bloom, toasters clank and clomp down narrow corridors, gunfire fills the air, Bear McCreary's percussion-laced score erupts with power and precision, and the entire sonic experience is an engrossing one. Granted, directionality isn't as exacting as it is in the main series, and the movie's sound design isn't as nuanced. Still, Blood & Chrome doesn't sound like a failed pilot or a series originally released, episode by episode, on the web; it sounds like a full-fledged series launch, and an action-packed, pulse-pounding one at that.
Blood & Chrome obviously failed to impress the powers that be, and I suspect it will fail to impress the majority of the BSG fanbase. It has its share of thrills and standout sequences, each loaded with potential, but time and time again it all falls short of greatness, drifting too far from the safety of the Battlestar fleet into the outer reaches of videogame-y space. Of course, a better script, a more convincing Adama and more interesting characters would have gone a long, long way. Blood & Chrome's Blu-ray release is more rewarding, with a faithful video presentation, a strong DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, and an hour of HD extras. All things considered, it isn't going to satiate the BSG appetite most of us share, but it's a decent enough snack. Hopefully, Eick and his cohorts can put together something more filling in the future. Perhaps something capable of luring Moore back to the table...
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