In Bruges Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

In Bruges Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 17, 2022

Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges" (2008) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include archival featurettes; deleted scenes; gag reel; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

After screwing up a simple job in London two Irish hitmen arrive in Bruges, Belgium, and get a room in a family-owned hotel. The older one, Ken (Brendan Gleeson), immediately begins working on a plan to get to know the ancient city better, while his younger partner, Ray (Colin Farrell), declares that it would be a struggle to share a room with him and find something meaningful to do amidst the historic buildings and canals. Their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), who is still fuming, occasionally calls to make sure that they are keeping low profiles, as he has instructed them.

Initially, Ken and Ray’s stay in Bruges is as uneventful as desired by Harry, but while wandering around the freezing town Ray bumps into Chloe (Clemence Poesy) and decides to take her out for dinner. Chloe is supposed to be working with a tech crew shooting a movie, but after welcoming Ray to her place confesses that she is the crew’s favorite drug dealer. Ray then meets Chloe's partner and he quickly makes it clear that he isn't fond of his accent and seriously dislikes seeing him touching Chloe.

As Ray tries and fails to remain cool during the disastrous date, Ken receives a call from Harry with new orders, and because they threaten to break the bond he has with his partner, he ignores them. This leaves Harry, an uncompromising professional, with one last option to get what he wants to be done -- hop on a plane to Bruges and do it himself.

Martin McDonagh’s directorial debut probably looked great on paper but in its current form is a hugely underwhelming film that at times even looks flat-out amateurish. There isn’t a shortage of very obvious reasons why the film stutters so badly, either. Here are a few:

The script, which was also produced by McDonagh, is essentially a mosaic of colorful ‘situations’ where the leads are expected to keep rehashing old clichés about the dim-witted but cool British gangsters that now hordes of other crime films have used to appeal to the masses. The only new trick here is that instead of having the fireworks in, say, London, Manchester, or Liverpool, McDonagh relocates them to the peaceful and historic city of Bruges. But this isn’t exactly a new trick either, because there is a whole range of other British crime films that have used exotic locations on the continent to spice up their action. (Sexy Beast and The Business immediately come to mind, and both are already out on Blu-ray).

The glue that is supposed to hold these ‘situations’ together is a heavy dose of the brash humor that usually flourishes in these types of genre films. Unfortunately, McDonagh’s script is far from impressive and there are only a couple of scenes where the jokes that pop up deliver the type of laughs that made the likes of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Layer Cake genre hits. The majority of the time there is simply a whole lot of bad character posturing and random lines missing their targets.

Virtually all of the footage that was shot across Bruges is magnificent and quite easily makes the film look like a much, much bigger project than it was. Unfortunately, McDonagh’s inexperience also shows practically everywhere, and in the end, it is very easy to tell that a good opportunity to deliver an interesting film was in fact wasted.

The soundtrack blends original music by Carter Burwell (No Country for Old Men) and a few original tunes by the likes of Regina Spector (“That Time”), The Pretenders (“2000 Miles”), and The Dubliners (“On Raglan Road”), amongst others.

In Bruges 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, In Bruges arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The comments below were used in our review of the 4K Blu-ray release of In Bruges. They are reposted here because they address specific areas of the 1080p presentation of the film.

4K BLU-RAY DISC

I viewed the entire film with Dolby Vision. I thought that all areas of the film looked excellent, frequently producing the type of visual quality I could easily use as reference material. However, I have to point out right away that my only other experience with this film, which happened with this Region-B Blu-ray release in 2019, was quite impressive as well.

I ran multiple comparisons with the Blu-ray that is included in this release and I have to speculate that there are only a few tiny discrepancies that might be appreciated by casual viewers. Also, I think that these discrepancies become meaningful on a bigger screen. Before I identify them, you need to keep in mind that this film does not have a conventional 4K master, so the 4K presentation has different technical characteristics. What are some of the areas where the discrepancies can be appreciated? If you have a very big screen, you will likely conclude that the superior encode on the 4K Blu-ray produces superior visuals. However, even in some darker areas where I thought that on my system the difference would be easy to spot, the 1080p presentation still looked great. The Dolby Vision grade is quite gentle, but the overall color balance looks slightly more impressive on it. However, even in darker footage, and there is plenty of it in this film, you will not see the type of expanded nuances that usually make the transition to 4K striking. The superior encode probably strengthens the fluidity of the visuals, but the size of your screen will almost certainly determine what type of positive difference your eyes will register. Image stability is outstanding. All in all, I think that the technical presentation is really solid, but the film looks great in 1080p as well.

BLU-RAY DISC

I did not view the entire film in 1080p. After I was done viewing the 4K presentation, I did various comparisons in areas where I thought there would be meaningful discrepancies to address in our review. My general impression is that the film looks great in 1080p, and because of the nature of the 4K presentation, I think that the size of your screen will be crucial in determining what type of visual improvements you will see when moving from 1080p to 4K. Isn't this always the case? With this film, you really are looking at marginal improvements in this transition, and while the Dolby Vision/HDR grade does impact the overall quality of the 4K presentation, the key technical characteristics of the 1080p and 4K presentations are similarly solid. One last thing. While I was performing my comparisons, I noticed a couple of different areas with blockiness in darker spots. You can see examples in screencaptures #1 and 16. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

In Bruges Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

I viewed the entire film with the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. I sounded great on my system. Clarity, sharpness, depth, and balance were excellent. This isn't surprising because it replicates the native qualities of the film's original studio mix. I did not encounter any technical anomalies to report in our review.

In Bruges Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• When in Bruges - this program features interviews with Martin McDonagh and cast members discussing their collaboration on In Bruges and impressions of the historic city. In English, not subtitled. (15 min).

• Strange Bruges - the same group of interviewees addresses the personality of Bruges and its role in the film (as another key character). In English, not subtitled. (8 min).

• A Boat Trip Around Bruges - a lovely featurette with panoramic footage from the historic city. With music. (6 min).

• Fucking Bruges - a collection of clips with f-bombs. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Deleted Scenes - a collection of deleted scenes. In English, not subtitled. (17 min).

• Extended Scenes - a couples of extended scenes. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Gag Reel - a couple of hilarious gags. In English, not subtitled. (7 min).

• EPK B-Roll - in English, not subtitled. (13 min).

• Trailers -
  
  1. U.S. trailer.
  2. German trailer

In Bruges Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Foreign gangsters running wild in the ancient city of Bruges certainly sounds like a terrific idea for a great genre film. But at least as far as I am concerned this isn't what Martin McDonagh's In Bruges is. I found the posturing of its characters quite awful and its sense of humor seriously ineffective, at times even perplexingly random. To be honest, it just feels like too many directors keep using the same formula that made Guy Ritchie successful but there are no more decent tricks left for them to impress with. This is the main reason why I found In Bruges so frustrating -- it could have been unique but it ends up rehashing the same old cliches in a fairly amateurish fashion. If you wish to add In Bruges to your collection, I suggest that you take a look at our review of the 4K Blu-ray release, which offers a better technical presentation of the film.