5.7 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
Romantic drama following the story of David Axelrod and Jade Butterfield, a young couple who begin a passionate and heady relationship much to the chagrin of Jade's wealthy mother and father. Determined to find some dirt on his daughter's new squeeze, Hugh Butterfield investigates the young man's past and it isn't long before he finds out that he has a less than admirable background. Can the young lovers' relationship bear the concerted attempts to split them up?
Starring: Alex Pettyfer, Gabriella Wilde, Bruce Greenwood, Joely Richardson, Robert PatrickRomance | 100% |
Drama | 18% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
BD-Live
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The 2014 version of “Endless Love” has taken some drastic steps to avoid comparison to other incarnations of the same story. Originating from a 1979 novel by author Scott Spencer and adapted into a popular 1981 picture starring Brooke Shields (featuring an omnipresent theme song that ruined roller skating for everyone in the early eighties), “Endless Love” is a tale of dark obsession and manipulation, powered by a bittersweet quality that reinforces the dangerous games of affection played by the characters. The New “Endless Love” is defanged claptrap for 13-year-olds with no sense of how the world actually works, drained of any threat, heat, or logic as it manufactures a love story where idiocy is celebrated as laudable passion. If you’re familiar with the book or the earlier feature, this “Endless Love” won’t be recognizable. Imagine if “Star Wars” was the cinematic adaptation of “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” and that’s as close as co-writer/director Shana Feste gets to the source material here.
The AVC encoded image (2.35:1 aspect ratio) presentation truly captures the mix of soft and sharp that makes up the "Endless Love" viewing experience. It's a fresh image with boosted colors, offering rich primaries explored through varied costuming, while naturalistic hues are preserved for outdoor sequences. Skintones are true, with a pinkish quality that brings out the sensuality the production is aiming for. Blacks are communicative and stable. Fine detail is excellent, capturing nuance and texture from everything, including exposed skin to set dressing, permitting the viewer full access to frame particulars.
Carrying a rather robust presence for a romantic picture, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA around mix on "Endless Love" isn't afraid to explore the surrounds. With party environments, a speeding car sequence, and a climatic inferno, the track brings pleasing movement and activity, pushing out the action instead of keeping everything rigidly frontal. Dialogue exchanges are crisp and easy to follow, and group activity is managed to satisfaction. Scoring is supportive and sharp, presenting warm instrumentation. Soundtrack cuts are equally gentle, never steamrolling over the onscreen action. Low-end perks up with scenes of catastrophe, also encouraging a rumble with bass-heavy tunes.
The fire incident that opens Spencer's novel is moved to the climax here, with its intention and resolution dramatically changed to once again make David the greatest catch on Earth. There's no sense of danger to "Endless Love" to combat its sweetness, and Feste's command of tragedy is akin to the discovery of an unused loaf of bread with some mold on it. Screwing up "Endless Love" isn't quite like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa, but Spencer had few provocative ideas on the body-quaking consummation of young love. This picture wants nothing to do such anxiety, relying on tiresome formula and fantasy to appeal to its target audience.
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