5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A social satire in which a guy realizes he would have a better life if he were to shrink himself.
Starring: Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis, Christoph Waltz, Neil Patrick HarrisComedy | 100% |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Drama | 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
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In Writer/Director Alexander Payne’s (Nebraska) Downsizing, getting small means living large…or maybe not. To be sure, the movie makes a strong case that shrinking size means shrinking bills, that money stretches because one need spend less to get an equivalent small-size portion. But the movie isn’t just about the financial value of miniaturization. It’s also, and more consequentially, about how things really don’t change even when something major does. In the movie, the decision to shrink is based on a slick sales pitch, with Neil Patrick Harris talking up the life of luxury and opportunity to turn pennies into dollars if one essentially gives their life over to science. What he doesn’t mention, amidst the glamorous prospects of living the rich life on a small scale, is the very real and very grim underbelly, the realities behind the just-miniature-scale mansions and millionaire lifestyles. The film explores the contrasting externalities of life at scale and also the notion that the human spirit, and the human condition, don’t change at any size. The film is teeming with good ideas, but the question is whether it can do anything with them, bring them together in a meaningful narrative construct. Short answer: kinda, but not really.
The digitally photographed Downsizing delivers a high yield 1080p image. It's noting particularly spectacular in 2018; the image doesn't stand apart from any other for any reason (textural efficiency, color presentation), but it's efficient and everything one would expect it to be. The opening sequence in the laboratory is very white, as are many of the locations in the Leisurelsnd shrinking labs. Whites are handled professionally; they're bright and clean, enough that other colors can appear a little drained side-by-side, particularly in that scene in the film's opening minutes, but viewers will find, in general throughout the film, a very stable, accurate, punchy palette that offers a neutral presentation where shades are neither faded nor unrealistically saturated. A decently filmic image is the norm. It was digitally shot but enjoys a fair film-like texturing rather than the more typically smooth digital glossy veneer. Textures are stout, featuring well defined essentials with innately complex detailing the norm. Whether clean laboratories, luxurious small homes, or skin details and particularly shaved heads and eyebrows where the finest remnants of stubble still appear, Paramount's transfer offers plenty of impressive textural detailing at every level. Black levels are pleasantly firm and deep. Flesh tones are fine, with the caveat that there are some lighting conditions under which they appear a little washed out. The image is very strong all around.
Downsizing, presented in a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless configuration, begins with impressively immersive crowd applause at a conference at the film's 3-minute mark and a fuller, more robust round a few minutes later. The track is no stranger to healthy, engaged locale-specific surround effects. Bustling din at Leisureland at the 20-minute mark provides a pleasing introduction to the place, and a dining room in chapter 17 delivers a hearty allotment of bustling activity. A few quality discrete effects pepper the film as well, but beyond those quick-shot bursts of immersion the track is largely straightforward. Music plays smoothly, clearly, and with impressive stage width and depth and detail, essentially the usual stock observations for a new film soundtrack. Some party beats heard in chapter 10 yield impressive full-stage engagement and a healthy, balanced low end, while distant bass when Paul is trying to have dinner with a date midway through the film delivers a satisfyingly realistic thump-thump-thump. Dialogue drives the bulk of the film, and it's presented with excellent clarity and firm front-center placement.
Downsizing contains six featurettes. A DVD copy of the film and a UV/iTunes digital copy code are included with purchase.
Downsizing isn't all that funny, isn't all that dark, isn't all that enriching. The movie can't internally agree on a tone, and the outer end product suffers. It's teeming with wonderful ideas, built around a great concept, and it's certainly watchable and interesting (even engaging) in chunks, but as a whole, united entity it's a bit of a mishmash and a bit of a disappointment. Paramount's Blu-ray delivers solid video, more than capable audio, and a handful of featurettes. Worth a look.
2016
2020
1996
2015
2018
2013
1992
2008
2015
2012
2004
2022
2009
2001
2015
2014
2015
2015
2017
2019