6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.1 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.1 |
In just a few short years, Notorious B.I.G. rose from the streets of Brooklyn to become one of the most influential hip hop artists of all time. B.I.G. was a gifted storyteller; his narratives about violent life on the streets were told with a gritty, objective realism that won him enormous respect and credibility. His stories were universal and gave a voice to his generation.
Starring: Angela Bassett, Derek Luke, Jamal Woolard, Anthony Mackie, Antonique SmithBiography | 100% |
Music | 73% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy (on disc)
Bonus View (PiP)
BD-Live
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In the beginning, God gave me a clean slate.
The East Coast-West Coast Hip-Hop War of the 1990s cost the lives of two of the genre's most
talented artists -- the West's Tupac Shakur and the East's Notorious B.I.G. Christopher Wallace,
A.K.A. "Biggie Smalls," A.K.A. "Notorious B.I.G.," has left a lasting impression on his fans through
both his impressive vocal talent and his lyrics that express his life, his thoughts, and his dreams.
His life and times now captured on film in a sometimes riveting, sometimes bland, but always
intriguing 2009 film aptly titled Notorious, longtime fans have the opportunity to relive
their hero's rise to the top and untimely demise, while newcomers to the artist's music, life, and
death just might come out of the experience with a new respect for the frailty of life, the meaning
behind the lyrics, and an appreciation for the musical style that both took Biggie to the top and,
ultimately, cost him his life.
Biggie living the high life.
Notorious comes to Blu-ray with a high quality 1080p transfer, framed inside a 2.40:1 window. The imagery as presented is consistently sharp and crisp, accompanied by well-above-average levels of detail in most every scene. Colors, too, are bold. The many shades of blue, green, red, orange, and others seen throughout, particularly in the bright and bold clothing, offer strong clarity and vibrancy, with a natural flair that lends to the movie a good, realistic appearance. The urban jungle that is 1980s Brooklyn looks fantastic, too, cinematically pure and revealing all the texture and detail of the bricks, pavement, and other objects seen scattered about the streets. The film sees several dark, smoky interior shots, and these, too, hold up well under the scrutiny of 1080p. Film grain spikes, deliberately so, here and there, but is generally minimal in appearance throughout the course of the movie at normal viewing distances. Finally, flesh tones remain stable and natural throughout. Notorious offers a fine representation of how a movie with plenty of varied looks can excel on Blu-ray.
Notorious pumps out the beats on Blu-ray with an often stellar DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. One might expect a film chronicling the life of one of the world's most famed Hip-Hop artists to offer tremendous levels of bass, and that assumption is proven correct here. Notorious packs quite the punch on the low end, and in every scene where bass accompanies the visuals, the track shines. From the many Hip-Hop beats to the rumbling of an idle car engine, this track manages to shake the foundation, rattle the windows, and roll the rib cage in every one of its intense sequences. The track features decent environmental ambience, too; the sounds of the city at street level or the background ambience in a club or concert hall generally create a noticeable atmosphere. Dialogue reproduction is also superb. While the track excels in most every area, there is no doubt that the highlight remains its music and bass. Beats thump out of the speakers with a great deal of authority and the many concert scenes engulf the listener with sounds that often "Hypnotize." No doubt about it, Notorious makes for another winning lossless soundtrack from the potent Fox/Blu-ray combination.
This Blu-ray edition of Notorious features both the theatrical and extended cuts of the
film,
not to mention a long list of bonus materials. First up is a pair of commentary tracks, the first
featuring Director George Tillman, Jr., Co-Screenwriters Reggie Bythewood and Cheo Hodari
Coker,
and Editor Dirk Westervelt. This quartet delivers a passionate track that discusses plenty of
technical details, including the film's accuracy to real-life events. Mixing film-speak and
discussions
of the real-life events, cinephiles and B.I.G. fans alike should enjoy this track. The second track
features Producer/Biggie's Mom Voletta Wallace, Producer/Biggie's Co-Manager Wayne Barrow,
and
Producer/Biggie's Co-Manager Mark Pitts. A more personal track, Ms. Wallace provides an
insightful
and heartfelt commentary while the other two participants discuss more in the way of technical
background on the film and the characters and events depicted therein. The Music is a
pop-up track that displays trivia during each song
heard in the film and even allows users to create a playlist to purchase through iTunes.
Life After Death: The Making of 'Notorious' is a BonusView (Blu-ray profile 1.1)
picture-in-picture feature that takes viewers behind-the-scenes of the story, its characters, and
the film. The segments are also available separate from the movie via a "play all" menu option
(1080p, 26:45). Behind the Scenes: The Making of 'Notorious' (1080p, 27:22) features
an interesting look at the process of assembling the film, beginning with the casting of the title
character and moving
through to how the film came together to find the very essence of the life and times of
Christopher Wallace. I Got a
Story to Tell: The Lyrics of Biggie Smalls (1080i, 9:32) looks at the meaning behind the
words and the man who wrote them. Notorious Thugs: Casting the Film (1080i, 9:05)
examines the casting of the film's additional characters.
Next up, Biggie Boot Camp (1080p, 6:48) looks at the several-month-long program
that prepared the actors for portraying their real-life counterparts. Anatomy of a B.I.G.
Performance (1080p, 5:15) examines how the team brought accuracy to the film through
the study of concert footage. Party & Bulls**t (480p, 3:43) is a recorded performance of
the song as
performed by B.I.G. The B.I.G. Three-Sixty (1080p) allows viewers to more closely
examine the locations and the making of the scenes leading up to Biggie's death. Concluding the
supplements on disc one is a series of ten deleted scenes (1080p, 12:15). Disc two features a
digital copy of Notorious. Replayed on a second-generation iPod touch, the video appears
adequate for a portable presentation, featuring good colors and detail but, again, with heavy
blocking in many scenes. On the audio side, the track pales compared to the lossless soundtrack
and lacks the range and clarity of the Blu-ray, but thumps well enough with strong dialogue
reproduction.
If nothing else, Notorious is likely to leave filmgoers with a desire to learn more about its title character, though the film also manages to use Biggie's life as a theme on the importance of understanding and working through differences, living one's dreams, and the frailty of human life. The film is played out with plenty of explicit language and adult situations, and is definitely for mature audiences only. That said, those with an appreciation for the artist depicted in the film, the Hip-Hop culture, or the history of the East-Coast-West Coast rivalry will get plenty out of the movie, but it also delivers well enough for newcomers looking for material that may expand their musical (not to mention cinematic) horizons. Notorious debuts on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox with, as expected of the studio, well above-average results. Featuring near-reference quality video and audio, not to mention a plethora of bonus materials, Notorious is at least worth a rental for the curious, and the disc is a must-buy for fans.
Unrated Director's Cut
2015
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