7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
Cop test pilot who is chosen to test run Blue Thunder, a high-tech experimental attack helicopter learns the sinister plans for the new vehicle.
Starring: Roy Scheider, Warren Oates, Candy Clark, Daniel Stern, Paul RoeblingThriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
French: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English, English SDH, French
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
This mother hears through walls, fires 4,000 rounds a minute, and peaks down dresses at
1,000 feet.
Ah, John Badham. 1980s filmmaker extraordinaire. No, really. Though he's worked steadily
since, nothing on his resumé has quite matched the heart and soul of his career, the triumvirate
of Blue Thunder, Wargames, and Short Circuit. These
films encapsulate the decade through and through; not only does each film follow one of the
decade's most widely-adopted themes -- highly advanced and in some way out-of-control
technology -- but they also serve as wonderful ambassadors of the era, every frame oozing 80s
culture, style, and music, the latter a Badham trademark shared with fellow Director John
Carpenter (Starman). Though
not the best of the three (that distinction going to Wargames) or the cheesiest
(Short Circuit), Blue Thunder represents a picture that's delivered on a fairly
even keel, offering steady doses of action, good characterization, and a plot that's strong enough
to hold audience interest through to the end. Sporting a 1984 Oscar nomination for Best Editing,
Blue Thunder was also something of a trend-setter; both the short-lived "Blue Thunder"
television show and the longer-lasting "Airwolf" -- a show about a highly advanced attack
helicopter -- premiered
on television a year later and, in 1989, the United States unleashed the deadly Apache attack
helicopter into
combat for the first time during the invasion of Panama.
Blue Thunder and the sunrise.
Blue Thunder finally arrives, appropriately enough, on Blu-ray, with a quality 1080p, 2.40:1-framed transfer. Neither fine details nor colors ever jump off the screen, but there's nothing here that's unsatisfactory, either. Blue Thunder isn't the sort of film that offers either eye-popping colors or breathtaking detail; it looks as it should, with a color palette that's the slightest bit drab but otherwise steady. Close-up shots reveal sufficient detail, for instance the seams and lines in Blue Thunder's fuselage. Blacks look fairly good; several nighttime shots, particularly early in the film, provide stable and mostly inky blacks that are generally dotted by a fair level of grain but don't drown out too much detail. Speaking of grain, the transfer reveals a rather heavy amount; there's absolutely no sign of any sort of noticeable scrubbing here. The print exhibits only extremely minor speckles; it's mostly clean and pleasing to the eye. The image can go a little soft on some of the exterior distance shots of the chopper against the cityscape, but the transfer is otherwise consistently sharp and strong. This Blu-ray release of Blue Thunder should more than satisfy first-time viewers, and the film's longtime fans will be ecstatic with how good it looks.
Blue Thunder rumbles onto Blu-ray with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This mix offers an active sound field; the film's opening jumble of radio chatter may be heard emanating from every corner of the soundstage, and there's never a lack of back-channel information. Throughout the film, the sounds of helicopters may be heard buzzing about the soundstage, the rotors sweeping across the listening area with fair level of volume and clarity. Minor ambience also finds its way into the mix, offering a fairly realistic sense of space in the less aggressive sequences. A chase sequence near the end of he film makes for a fantastic listen; choppers maneuver through the soundstage, gunfire erupts with authority, and it's all accompanied by a powerful low end that completes an engaging aural sequence. Dialogue delivery is smooth and intelligible throughout. Blue Thunder makes for another high quality lossless soundtrack from Sony.
Blue Thunder delivers a solid array of bonus materials. First up is a commentary track with Director John Badham, Editor Frank Morriss, and Motion Control Supervisor Hoyt Yeatman. They discuss the film's basis in reality and the technology on display throughout the picture, filming locations, the cast and their performances, shooting techniques, and more. The track remains solidly focused on the technical tidbits surrounding the process of bringing this picture to life, as well as some discussions on the real-world operations of helicopters. Though not a terribly fascinating track, it's worth a listen for those interested in helicopters or how movies were made back in the 1980s. 'The Special:' Building Blue Thunder (480p, 8:23) takes a rather fascinating look at the origins, design, and construction of the film's centerpiece prop, the helicopter. Ride with the Angels: Making 'Blue Thunder' (480p) is a three-part documentary that takes viewers deep into the work that went into bringing Blue Thunder to the screen, delving into the three most crucial segments of the filmmaking process: Pre-Production (16:10), Production (18:44) and Post-Production (10:21). Next up is the vintage 1983 Promotional Featurette (480p, 8:36), a rather cheesy, none-too-substantive piece meant to introduce viewers to the world of Blue Thunder. Also included is the original Blue Thunder trailer (480p, 3:21) and 1080p previews for Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, The Da Vinci Code, Casino Royale, The Sky Crawlers, and Blood: The Last Vampire. This disc is also BD-Live (Blu-ray profile 2.0) enabled.
John Badham knows how to make an entertaining picture, and Blue Thunder delivers a fun and engaging ride from start to finish. Just as good as the movie is the fact that it's here on Blu-ray so relatively early on in the format's existence. Movie fans should be positively ecstatic with Sony Pictures' commitment to releasing a broad array of movies in something of a bulk quantity on a month-by-month basis and, for the most part, delivering high quality video and audio presentations along with a fair collection of bonus materials. With their recent wave of 1980s catalogue releases, the studio has breathed new life into some old favorites, a few forgotten gems, and some films that perhaps time hasn't looked too kindly upon. Blue Thunder falls into the middle grouping, a fair picture that's never mentioned on any sort of "best of" lists but makes for a fun watch that never slows down and still impresses, not particularly with its technology, but in the way it handles the material. As expected, Blue Thunder looks and sounds just fine on Blu-ray, and the disc offers viewers a fair collection of extras. Recommended.
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