7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A chronicle of the rise and fall of Michael Collins, one of the most important and controversial figures in the Irish fight for independence. Collins's Irish Volunteers used a combination of terrorist violence and guerilla warfare to combat the British, but Collins could not contain the violence he had unleashed.
Starring: Liam Neeson, Julia Roberts, Alan Rickman, Ian Hart, Aidan QuinnHistory | 100% |
War | 84% |
Biography | 66% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
German: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Japanese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish=Latin & Castillian; Japanese is hidden
English SDH, French, German SDH, Japanese, Spanish, Czech, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Polish, Thai, Turkish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
After the international success of Interview with the Vampire in 1994, Warner Brothers offered
director Neil Jordan his choice of projects. Jordan seized the opportunity to retrieve his script for
Michael Collins from the studio vault and get a meaningful (if not lavish) budget for a project
he'd been contemplating for more than a decade. Jordan's account of the short, eventful life of
the charismatic Collins—Irish country lad turned politician, statesman and military leader—has
only gained in stature since it was first released in 1996 to critical acclaim and (in Ireland)
record-setting box office. As complex and multi-layered as its title character, Michael Collins is
part historical epic, part intimate character drama and part meditation on the use and perils of
violence for political ends. It is also, quite consciously on Jordan's part, a gangster picture.
This year marks both the twentieth anniversary of the film and the 100th anniversary of the so-called Easter Rebellion that is generally
considered the beginning of the end for British rule in
Ireland (although the British departure would last more than eighty years). For the occasion,
Warner has remastered Michael Collins on Blu-ray with the participation of director Jordan, who
has supplied a new commentary (among other extras). The disc is being released overseas by
Warner's foreign affiliates and, in the U.S., by the Warner Archive Collection.
Michael Collins was shot on film by two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Chris Menges
(The Killing Fields, The Mission), who was nominated again for his work on this
film. In Neil
Jordan's new Blu-ray commentary, he discusses Menges' approach at length, noting his
preference for natural light and praising the DP's talent for lighting practical locations in a
manner that allowed the actors to move freely and the director to point the camera in any
direction. The negative was processed in post-production to desaturate the colors, and by design
the frame rarely contains any shade that is bright or rich. A notable exception (deliberate, as
Jordan confirms) is the bouquet of red roses in the hotel room where Collins waits with Kitty for
assassins to report that they have accomplished their mission.
For its Blu-ray debut, Warner has newly scanned an interpositive at 2K, which was then color-corrected using an answer print as a reference.
Although Neil Jordan did not supervise the
transfer, I have been advised by a reliable source that he has viewed the final product and
vouched for its accuracy. The Warner Archive Collection's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray sports
a detailed and film-like image that does equal justice to the film's massive crowd scenes (staged
with thousands of volunteer extras from the Dublin populace, and no CGI) and its many stylized
shots in which both detail and color are deliberately reduced, e.g., the frequent use of silhouetted
figures against a contrasting background of brightness, rain or smoke —an intentional call-back
to gangster movies and film noir. Blacks are solid and dark, and Menges often composes a frame
with a deliberate contrast between warm and cool colors to create depth. The desaturated palette
contributes to the sense of Dublin as a worn and shabby locale (another deliberate choice on
Jordan's part), and it also contrasts sharply with the greenery of the occasional park or country
location, including Collins' home turf of County Cork, to which he returns in the film's final act.
WAC has mastered the 132-minute film with an average bitrate of 30.99 Mbps, which is below
its usual target of 35 Mbps but has still allowed plenty of room for the compressionist to achieve
an image free of artifacts.
Scenes of urban warfare are the standout in Michael Collins' 5.1 sound mix, encoded on Blu-ray
in lossless DTS-HD MA. Jordan has repeatedly expressed his appreciation (and astonishment) at
the extent of cooperation he received from local authorities, which allowed him to "blow up"
Dublin several times. The film's opening, at the conclusion of the Easter Rebellion, plunges the
viewer into a war zone, with the thunder of the British artillery drowning out the gunfire of the
fading Irish rebels. Sound effects of similar impact accompany the Irish Civil War later in the
film, as well as numerous scenes of confrontation with the Royal Irish Constabulary and the
British units known as "black and tans". In scenes of crowded debate, such as Collins addressing
the public or the parliamentary conflict over the proposed treaty with the British, the cries and
murmurs of the crowd expand into the surround array. Quieter scenes are dominated by dialogue
and environmental ambiance.
The dialogue is always clear, although anyone whose ear is not accustomed to Irish inflection
may want to consult the optional English SDH subtitles. The dynamic score, alternately heroic
and mournful, was composed by Elliot Goldenthal, with whom Jordan previously worked on
Interview with the Vampire.
Several traditional Irish ballads are heard, sung by Frank Patterson
and Sinead O'Connor.
Warner first released Michael Collins on DVD in 1997 on one of its infamous "flipper" discs that
split the film between two sides. The only extras were a trailer and the episode of The South Bank
Show described below. WAC subsequently remastered the film for continuous play on a dual-layer DVD. For the film's Blu-ray debut, WAC
has ported over the DVD extras, added new ones
and remastered the film's trailer in 1080p:
Jordan first achieved international fame with The Crying Game,
whose protagonist was an IRA
foot soldier drawn into an unlikely confluence of private lives and factional machinations.
Although the earlier film is more an intimate drama than a historical epic on the scale of Michael
Collins, both share Jordan's distinctive ability to infuse headline events with a personal,
emotional core. As Jordan repeatedly notes in the extras, Michael Collins drew urgency from the
stubborn continuance of the conflicts depicted in the film, which remained raw and unresolved at
the time. Production began during a ceasefire declared by the IRA in 1994, while post-production
was marked by the resumption of hostilities with the deadly Canary Wharf bombing on February
9, 1996. Not until Good Friday, April 10, 1998, did the parties sign agreements that ended both
"the Troubles" and British control of Ireland. That outcome was by no means certain while
Jordan was making the film, and twenty years after Michael Collins's release, it still conveys the
peculiar mix of hope and fury, of determination and sorrow, that fueled its titular hero's crusade.
Highly recommended.
Shout Select | Collector's Edition
1989
1970
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1993
2004
2010
1984
2016
2020
2016
1956
2014
2008
50th Anniversary Edition
1959
2010
2008
Der Untergang | Collector's Edition
2004
1997
2017
Remastered
1970
2008