Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

Borg vs McEnroe Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 21, 2018

Janus Metz's film "Borg vs McEnroe" (2017) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Cuzon/Artificial Eye. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer; numerous cast and crew interviews; featurette with actor Sverrir Gudnason; and more. In English and Swedish, with English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Under pressure

Whether Borg vs McEnroe works for you will depend almost entirely on whether you can embrace Shia LaBeouf as John McEnroe. It is really this simple. LaBeouf is like a big wrecking ball and he has a seemingly endless arsenal of f-bombs that you will not be able to brush aside. Yes, McEnroe was a wild rebel who also did not give a damn about proper manners and routinely used offensive language, but there is plenty in this film where LaBeouf basically behaves like the troublemaker LaBeouf that frequently pops up in news reports.

The two rivals are at Wimbledon’s 1980 Championship. Having won the prestigious event four times, Bjorn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) is already a living legend. A fifth title, however, will cement his legacy and he will be in a category of his own. This is the moment that all great athletes dream of – win and make history.

But Borg is beginning to crack. The realization that he is this close and that he can lose to the rising American star has pushed him on the verge of a serious nervous breakdown. The pressure that he feels isn’t new and he knows all the proper steps that he needs to take in order to overcome it, it is just that this time it is a lot stronger than before. It is suffocating, borderline maddening pressure that has even started eroding his relationship with his future wife (Tuva Novotny). Could this be the beginning of the end?

The American rival is in a completely different state of mind. He has not won in Wimbledon yet, but he feels that his time is coming. He already knows his path to the final and after carefully observing ‘the gentleman from the North’ he believes that he has him all figured out. McEnroe also realizes that there is a lot of pressure on Borg to win, so as long as he overpowers him early he knows that he has a great chance of beating him.

Before the two men meet in the final the film repeatedly goes back in time and reveals important bits of Borg’s past. His ever-evolving relationship with his personal trainer Lennart Bergelin (Stellan Skarsgard) is used to reveal how he was taught to manage his emotions and actually transform them into a powerful element of his game. During his childhood years he is almost like an early version of the rebellious McEnroe.

The airy feeling that permeates the film makes the time overlappings look very smooth and everything comes together very nicely. The tennis games are also shot with a precision that can easily fool you to believe that they are legit. The film’s Achilles’ heel is the artificiality of LaBeouf’s wild outbursts as more often than not they look completely out of sync. A bit of a shame really as this could have been a very special film.

Borg vs McEnroe Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Janus Metz's Borg vs McEnroe arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Curzon/Artificial Eye.

The film was shot with the Arri Alexa camera and has that very familiar clean and sharp appearance. Rather predictably, depth and detail are outstanding while fluidity is about as good as one can expect from a project of this nature. Colors are stable and vibrant, but the entire film has a unique warmer font that also affects the balance between different ranges of nuances. Image stability is excellent. Lastly, there are no encoding anomalies to report. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Borg vs McEnroe Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. There are large portions of the film where Swedish and some French are spoken. For these exchanges there are imposed English subtitles.

The film has a very carefully constructed soundtrack that greatly enhances its ambience. I viewed it with the 5.1 track and thought that it was essentially of reference quality. The manner in which the sound effects and the music interact is quite impressive. The dialog is always crystal clear and easy to follow.

Borg vs McEnroe Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original theatrical trailer for Borg vs McEnroe. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Interviews - a collection of interviews with variety of different comments about the production of the film and the events that it chronicles. (67 min).
  
  1. Director Janus Metz
  2. Shia LaBeouf
  3. Tuva Novotny
  4. Producer Fredrik Wikstrom Nicastro
  5. Stellan Skarsgard
  6. Sverrir Gudnason
  7. Leo Borg
  8. Screenwriter Ronnie Sandahl
  9. Producer Jon Nohrstedt

• Wimbledon Featurette - actor Sverrir Gudnason visits Wimbledon and comments on some of the events that are recreated in Borg vs McEnroe. In English, not subtitled. (18 min).

• Q&A - presented here is an exclusive Curzon/Artificial Eye Q&A session with dierctor Janus Metz, Stellan Skarsgard, and Sverrir Gudnason in which the three gentleman discuss their involvement with Borg vs McEnroe. The event was recorded live at the UK premiere of the film at Curzon Mayfair. In English, not subtitled. (30 min).

Borg vs McEnroe Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The memories that most of us have of Björn Borg and John McEnroe and their legendary clash at Wimbledon in 1980 are shaped up by mainstream media and are full of glamorous images, headlines and commentaries that basically profile them as the perfect rival stars. Janus Metz's film Borg vs McEnroe brings them down to earth and dares to see them as vulnerable human beings that share an almost identical desire to be winners. I enjoyed the film a lot, but I felt that Shia LaBeouf was not the right choice to play the American rebel. Regardless, I urge you to see the film as it is certainly quite unique and has a wonderful style. RECOMMENDED.