Marco Polo: The Complete Miniseries Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		1.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.5

Marco Polo: The Complete Miniseries Blu-ray Movie Review

Marco? BRIAN?

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 21, 2017

The name "Marco Polo" may today be synonymous with a children's swimming pool game, but the man behind the name is actually one of the more interesting figures from both European and Asian history, an adventurer who went to China many centuries before Richard Nixon, who may be that nation's most notable visitor since. Polo's adventures make for rousing storytelling and the filmed medium has certainly not failed to depict his life and times on the screen. Perhaps most famously, and most recently, is the freshly cancelled Netflix Series titled after the character or, of more antique vintage, the 1938 Gary Cooper film The Adventures of Marco Polo. But perhaps Polo's story is best suited to the TV miniseries format, a three-some-hour runtime resulting in a less sprawling and more focused approach than the Netflix show but capable of breathing a bit more life into the tale than a standard-length feature. Unfortunately, Director Kevin Connor's Marco Polo doesn't take advantage of the allotted time or the opportunity for character study and world spectacle. It's instead a plodding, poorly acted, and severely miscast film with good intentions but that would practically need a do-over to approach the excellence Polo's story demands.

Marco Polo.

Venice, 1324. Marco Polo lays on his deathbed, but before he passes he recounts his grand journey halfway around the world from Italy to China. Flash back 1298. A younger and imprisoned Polo (Ian Somerhalder) recounts of his time at the "center of the world" where he had "seen the future." He recalls when he first learned of the vast Chinese dynasty and the reign of the nation's emperor, Kublai Khan (Brian Dennehy). On his journey, Polo comes to companionship with a man (BD Wong) who devotes his life to him. Polo, who completes the journey with his father, finds favor with Khan who invites -- demands -- that Polo remain with him in China and dedicate his life to China's culture and ways.

Marco Polo is, mostly, a mess of a miniseries. At its best, it offers a passably entertaining and engaging telling of the basic Polo story, of his travels to China and finding favor with the Emperor. At its worst, it's a miserable example of the ministries medium, failing to find its footing, any sort of reliable pacing, or good performances. The film is hopelessly miscast at the top. Ian Somerhalder, best known as one of the leads in the popular TV series The Vampire Diaries, is certainly a serviceable actor and brings a pretty face to the proceedings as Polo, but he brings nothing more, no vitality or sense of purpose to the role. He's often left gazing into nothing, a classic, emotionless thousand-yard stare that renders the character more an empty vessel than a fascinating explorer. Somerhalder doesn't seem to know what to do with the part. It's not particularly well fleshed out, not upon his introduction, not on his journey to China, and not as he becomes a key figure in Kublai Khan's empire.

Casting issues continue. Brian Dennehy, easily the best actor in the movie, plays the legendary Kublai Khan. But really? Brian Dennehy? It's a classic example of "whitewashing" (though, oddly, the role doesn't appear on Wikipedia's Whitewashing page). Dennehy does what he can with the part, largely through a little makeup, but he's so helplessly stiff in costume and character execution alike that the character can't evolve with any sort of dramatic weight. Interactions with Somerhalder's Polo are hopelessly inorganic (as much a problem with cinematic composition and editing as anything else) and it always seems as if Dennehy was cast not because he was a good fit for the part but because he was an available body to step in front of the camera and a recognizable name to slap onto promotional materials. Conversely, BD Wong isn't miscast in his role. He is, like Somerhalder, simply detached, uninvolved, disinterested. The eyes tell the story, and like his co-star there's zero passion, no sense of purpose or that he "gets" the character and the material. It's the old chicken-and-egg scenario, though: do these disinterested performances sell the movie short, or is the cast simply playing off a vapid script that doesn't challenge anyone anymore than, say, eating breakfast?

Marco Polo finds a few fun moments in the first half when the Venetian enjoys his first samples of Chinese life and society. He comments on the relative worthlessness of paper money instead of gold and silver, he enjoys his first acupuncture treatment, and samples new foods. But the film's charms are few and its great moments fewer. The entire production feels stale, propped up by decent practical production values -- various non-digital environments and wardrobe look fine -- but that is otherwise a largely disappointing bit of on-the-cheap filmmaking. Digital environments stick out like a sore thumb. Technical composition is lacking; few shots prove in the least bit dynamic or interesting, appearing as tired as the actors in them. Editing is choppy, themes aren't particularly well defined or explored. The movie feels as if it was made in haste, from the scripting and casting all the way to production and post-production, leaving a shell of a better picture in what turns out to be an overlong and seriously underwhelming film.

Marco Polo: The Complete Miniseries Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Marco Polo: The Complete Miniseries arrives on Blu-ray from Mill Creek Entertainment with an underwhelming 1080p transfer. The image is frequently noisy and prone to excessive macroblocking. Detailing disappoints in practically every regard. Desert and rocky terrain lacks textural character, never mind any nuance. Woods and stone work are disappointingly smooth. Clothing, even heavyset and frayed robes or, on the other end of the spectrum, regal attire, lack any tangible, tactile clarity of significance. Even faces are hopelessly smooth, devoid of all but the most rudimentary detailing of heavy-set wrinkles or thick facial hair. Color saturation is extremely poor, yielding a washed-out appearance and removing any sort of vibrance from the equation, even when considering the most colorfully adorned or ornate attire. Flesh tones are pasty and pale and even earthy terrains lack any sort of serious color distinction or nuance. Black levels are prone to snowy noise and push pale. The image is fundamentally well-served by the raw resolution boost 1080p affords it, but it's otherwise an entirely disappointing watch.

Marco Polo: The Complete Miniseries Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Marco Polo: The Complete Miniseries stutters onto Blu-ray with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack that's both underwhelming and technically flawed. Of chief note and concern is that practically every supportive sound effect in the movie sounds like it's submerged: tinny, hollow, clunky. It's obvious from the opening seconds. Boats rock in the water and a barrel rolls down the street with the same muffled sensation. Most every other supportive effect in the movie is equally unkempt, be it physical scuffles between characters, simple footsteps, or general environmental ambience. A few effects prove halfway passable, including distant rolling thunder that manages to find a simple but well conveyed sonic signature. There's also fair front-side dialogue reverberation when Polo first enters Khan's chambers in part one. Unfortunately, dialogue struggles to find front-center balance and positioning, and the track in general fails to produce much appreciable balance between the front ends. Music suffers from many of the same flaws. Clarity is only passable and it lacks any distinction beyond its crudest delivery points.

Marco Polo: The Complete Miniseries Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Marco Polo: The Complete Miniseries contains no supplemental content. The main menu screen offers only options to play either Part One (1:28:45 runtime) or Part Two (1:28:15 runtime).

Marco Polo: The Complete Miniseries Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Marco Polo is poorly cast. It's also badly written, lazily performed, choppily edited, blandly composed...the entire production feels second-rate, but it's certainly the vapid performances that stand apart and seal the deal. Marco Polo: The Complete Miniseries' Blu-ray release is no better. It's featureless, video is bland at best, and audio is problematic. Skip it.