5.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
A housemaid falls in love with Dr. Jekyll and his darkly mysterious counterpart, Mr. Hyde.
Starring: Julia Roberts, John Malkovich, George Cole (I), Michael Gambon, Kathy StaffThriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Horror | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Mary Reilly tells the story of a housemaid, played by Julia Roberts, who finds herself caught in the middle of Dr. Jekyll's (John Malkovich) transformation into Mr. Hyde. The film aims to create a gothic, moody atmosphere in support of inward turmoil meeting its outward manifestations. The film is gloomy, bleak, deals in depraved acts of violence and disgust, and attempts to make sense of the human condition through its somber structure. It works in a way, to a point. The film, much like the namesake of the Robert Louis Stevenson book on which it is based, is classic "Jekyll and Hyde," on one hand quite adept at driving its narrative and supporting its story with keyed-in storytelling and visual craftsmanship, but on the other it's a terribly bloated, often slow, and waywardly acted bit of melodrama that fails to captivate or reinforce the better qualities these are charged with enhancing. The movie makes for a frustrating watch, a moody, immersive, and deep character study on one hand and a lethargic and often comically performed flatline of a film on the other.
Murky, bland movie, murky, bland Blu-ray. Mary Reilly isn't a looker in the traditional sense, and any Blu-ray release isn't going to make it into something it isn't, but Mill Creek's 1080p MPEG-4 transfer certainly doesn't help the movie's cause. Wobble and some color bleeding are evident on the opening titles. Heavy debris accompanies the beginning as well, and while the latter remains -- even presenting as the occasional static white spot -- the image at least cleans up adequately thereafter. Details are never exciting. The image is flat, textural nuance is largely absent, and only general image definition is present, boosted largely by the 1080p resolution rather than the inherent clarity of its film source. Still, a modest filmic veneer is evident in some of the more brightly lit scenes, but don't expect significant sharpness or more than adequate stability in most any scene. Colors are a bit bland, but some warm woods, more colorful attire, blood, Reilly's hair, and a few other sources beyond the film's drab and earthy appearance are sufficiently saturated. Black levels are't pristine but nor are they consequentially flawed. Ditto flesh tones. Grain is unreliable and clumpy. This is certainly watchable and not often too terribly offensive, but there is much room for improvement.
Mary Reilly's LPCM 2.0 uncompressed soundtrack gets the job done without any flair or flavor. The film's soundtrack has little of interest to offer, anyway. It's primarily composed of music and scattered support sound effects. Music at least finds a fair sense of space about the front half of the stage. While clarity and nuance are never strong points, baseline definition, separation, and push to the outer edges at least compensate for the lack of lifelike transparency. Mild atmospheric effects in various outdoor shots, which are of course limited to the front half of the stage, at least throw the listener a sonic bone to improve the general sense of space and place. A few key, heavier elements, such as some crashes during as struggle near film's end, present with adequate, but hardly revelatory, weight and prominence. Dialogue images nicely enough to the center with little sense of stray. Clarity and prioritization are fine.
This Blu-ray release of Mary Reilly contains no supplemental content.
Mary Reilly was reportedly besieged by problems on the set that no doubt contributed to the film's blank-stare performances and sluggish structure. The film certainly shows flashes of what could have been; Writer Christopher Hampton and Director Stephen Frears have put together a stable and enticing foundation, based, of course, on Stevenson's original classic novel. Fans who wish to wade through the problems will discover a curiosity of a picture that boasts an all-star cast but, like the sports team assembled of nothing more than high-dollar free agents, talent means little if there's no commitment or chemistry. Mill Creek's Blu-ray delivers passable but in no way noteworthy picture and sound. The disc is unsurprisingly absent any special features. Worth a rental for the curiously inclined.
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