LBJ Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

LBJ Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 6, 2018

"In America's darkest hour came an unlikely hero," promotional materials for LBJ claim. While Johnson's signature legislation made him a champion of the civil rights movement, the film that bears his name, directed by Rob Reiner (A Few Good Men), shows a darker side of the man, an ambitious, brash, and crude man of "enormous ego" as President Kennedy says of him in the film. But he's also depicted as focused and determined. He's a man who isn't particularly pleasant or agreeable for the entirety of the movie, and despite his political calculations and successes, "hero" seems a misleading label for him, perhaps not politically at the nuts-and-bolts level of his civil rights accomplishments but in every way other way...it's a mislabeling, particularly as he's portrayed in the film.

"I Swear."

With a subject who is one of the most important figures in one of the most tumultuously fascinating periods in American, and even world, history; with a top-flight cast; and with a director boasting a quality filmography to his name and a well-known political acumen away from the silver screen, it’s startling to find that LBJ is a laborious, piecemeal film rather than a gripping, compelling biopic. The film clocks in at well under 100 minutes yet never finds an agreeable pace or rhythm. It hits a number of highlights from Johnson's career, as U.S. Senator, Vice President, and President, interwoven around the Kennedy assassination in Dallas and his ascendancy to the highest office in the land. While his journey and this history around him go hand-in-hand, Reiner and Writer Joey Hartstone struggle to build a compelling narrative, never mind a case to call him a "hero," delivering scattershot highlight moments that define the man and tell the story but cannot do so with any sense of history, urgency, or scope.

The film's best moments are indeed its "moments," one-off battles with and derogatory comments to his staffers; his fellow Senator from Texas, Ralph Yarborough (portrayed by Bill Pullman); and his tussles with the President and Bobby Kennedy. Reiner strives to present Johnson as a complex man, perhaps one even drunk with the power he wields, steady and sure and battling to maintain his lofty position, both politically and in his own mind, as he fails to secure the Democratic nomination for president, wrestles with the decision to accept the offer to serve as Kennedy's running mate or remain in the senate, or fight tooth and nail to see his civil rights bill passed. Perhaps most telling of the film's shortcomings is its lengthy postscript, offering literally paragraphs of text at film's close that do more to shape the story of who LBJ was as a man and a political leader as anything depicted in the film.

Woody Harrelson plays the lead part well, absorbing the character and, while not offering a perfect recreation if one goes by vintage clips of the President in action and in life, he more than adequately fills the shoes in presentation, with the look, cadence, and characteristics coming across as genuine enough to identify the character even in a vacuum, at least for those sufficiently versed in quasi-modern American politics. Harrelson commands the character's ebbs and flows with steely precision and enough gruff and force behind the verbal assaults and enough gravitas in the posture to sell the character as Reiner and Hartstone wish to present him. The film boasts a wonderful cross-section of talent filling in various roles, including C. Thomas Howell, Richard Jenkins, and the aforementioned Bill Pullman. The Kennedy brothers feel forced, and Bobby's portrayal seems particularly inorganic, but the surrounding players do well enough to carry the load.

LBJ Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

LBJ's digital source photography translates to a crisp and efficient 1080p Blu-ray transfer. The image produces pinpoint detailing across the board. Suit jackets, dress shirts, and neckties stand as the ever-present wardrobe elements, and all of them reveal precision intricacy and intimacy even at modest distance; up-close shots deliver the most intensively complex textures with practically touch-them quality. Likewise, facial definition is firm, showcasing every wrinkle and freckle with commendable ease and clarity. Environments, particularly the lush appointments in the Oval Office, deliver steadily intense and complex detailing with ease. Colors are pleasantly neutral, revealing enough intensity to please, never appearing grossly filtered in any way, remaining largely neutral in presentation. Black levels are deep and flesh tones accurate. Modest amounts of noise interfere with lower light shots, but all is well otherwise in terms of source and encode stability.

LBJ Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

LBJ features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The film's sonic needs are modest to minimal. Music plays with effective spacing and agreeable clarity. Light environmental support details flutter in as scenes demand, such as background workplace din at an airplane hangar partway through the film. Dialogue commands the majority of the listening experience, and beyond the radio broadcast clips heard at the beginning, which struggle to compete with the surrounding elements, the spoken word plays with effortless clarity and natural storage positioning. Light reverberation pleasantly filters through the stage when President Johnson's arrival is announced to congress near the end of the movie.

LBJ Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Sony's Blu-ray release of LBJ contains no supplemental content, and no DVD or digital versions are included, either.

LBJ Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

LBJ lags behind superior political biopics like Lincoln and even W. It's a halfhearted film, one that highlights some of Johnson's key moments while banking on Harrelson's performance to sell the character. That the lengthy postscript sheds more light on the figure than the film is a problem. Political and history junkies may find the film appealing enough, though this one didn't find much value in it. Sony's featureless Blu-ray does come with very strong 1080p video and an audio track that delivers the film's modest sound requirements with precision and ease. Worth a rental.