One Life Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

One Life Blu-ray Movie Review

Good? Yes. Revelatory? Hardly. It's essentially a BBC Earth Top Twenty list posing as a feature film...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown April 10, 2013

If it comes branded "BBC Earth," it's as safe a blind buy as any could be. The renowned BBC Natural History Unit and its filmmakers have a knack for the extraordinary and astonishing, and capture it all on film with the utmost respect for the integrity of their documentaries and subjects. Above the water or beneath the waves, the fascinating creatures and stunning locales the NHU studies and explores are brought to life and into your living room, time and time again in ways once only imagined and now fully and spectacularly realized. Their reputation proceeds their every production, which is what makes One Life a bit of a disappointment. Quite literally a BBC Earth Greatest Hits reel, the film doesn't feature a single sequence that hasn't been culled from a previously released BBC documentary series; series that are likely already sitting on your shelf. It offers nothing new, save a string of iconic shots stripped of David Attenborough's original narration and replaced with the valiant efforts of 007, Daniel Craig, who does well but sounds as if he's delivering a field report rather than sharing a deep fascination for everything that unfolds.

That said, all is not lost. Written and directed by Michael Gunton and Martha Holmes, with music by Hollywood composer George Fenton, One Life isn't without its flaws, but also isn't without its allure. Condensed into an accessible, single-serve 85-minutes, the stunning NHU shots of yesteryear combine to create a disarming feature documentary with one purpose: to convey the majesty and diversity of life across the globe.

Japanese snow monkeys tend to their young, bathing in hot thermal springs. A strawberry poison arrow frog guards her eggs at all costs. A legion of ants tear through a forest of high grass. A bearded vulture soars above the rocky ground, searching for his next meal. Tufted capuchin monkeys use rocks as tools to crack open difficult nuts. A pair of ibex kids scamper nimbly along a steep rock face. A cheetah enlists the help of his brothers to bring down an ostrich. Bottlenose dolphins stir up a seabed to catch fish. A Komodo dragon closes in on a helpless buffalo. And that's not even half the film. It's all familiar, sure, but it's all powerful too, brought to life on screen through the stunning photography of the BBC NHU.

It strikes me as strange to release a theatrical film in 2013 comprised of footage that has been wowing audiences at home for years (in some cases, a decade or more). Had I never experienced a BBC natural history documentary series, watching One Life -- taking it all in for the first time in one magnificent compilation -- would have been an entirely different experience. As is, it's a gorgeous and engaging introduction to Planet Earth and its ilk. It just won't provide nearly as much to those well acquainted with the documentaries from which it has inherited its finest moments and most unforgettable wildlife encounters.

One Life Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The real disappointment is One Life's 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation, though I'll be the first to point out that some of the issues that plague the film trace back to the segments' various source elements. Macroblocking and banding are prevalent, aliasing and ringing aren't uncommon, and lower resolution shots pop up everywhere, making the image something of a patchwork quilt. Fortunately, none of it is terribly problematic and most of it is easily overlooked. Color and contrast are lifelike and naturally saturated. Black levels are deep and primaries bear their teeth as necessary. Detail runs the gamut, from adequate to revealing and everything in between, typically dependent on a scene's age and the cameras used to film it. On the whole, One Life fares pretty well and should be deemed suitable by videophiles armed with appropriate expectations.

One Life Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

One Life's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is much better and far more consistent from sequence to sequence. Daniel Craig's narration is grounded, nicely centered and well-prioritized, no matter how violent or aggressive the soundscape becomes. LFE output is fairly fierce and commanding, lending welcome power and a good bit of punch to hunts, territory defenses and desperate chases. The rear speakers are convincing and assertive as well, immersing viewers in the jungles, plains and coasts the NHU crew brave to capture footage of the truly incredible sights they commit to film. There are some issues with older segments, as is to be expected, but nothing that spoils the experience.

One Life Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interviews with Cameramen and Filmmakers (HD, 59 minutes): Nearly an hour of interviews await with cameramen Martyn Colbeck, Kevin Flay, Simon King and Gavin Thurston, producers Neil Nightingale and Martin Pope, co-writers/directors Michael Gunton and Martha Holmes, composer George Fenton and editor David Freeman.
• Michael Gunton on One Life (HD, 10 minutes): Gunton continues in this secondary interview.
• Behind the Scenes (HD, 33 minutes): Filming the poison arrow frog, ibex kids, gorillas and Komodo dragons.
• The Making of One Life (HD, 19 minutes): Another featurette, this time with narrator Daniel Craig.
• Directors' Commentary: Gunton and Holmes provide a scene by scene overview of the film.
• At the Music Recording (HD, 4 minutes): A fly-on-the-wall look at Fenton's process and rehearsals.
• Bonus Shots (HD, 3 minutes): Four deleted scenes of sorts.

One Life Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One Life plays like a re-run, with iconic BBC Earth scenes anyone familiar with Planet Earth and its progeny will instantly recognize. As a feature documentary, it works wonders, particularly if you are new to the BBC Earth fold. As a fresh perspective piece, it fails, leaving well enough alone and offering nothing new. Then there's its Blu-ray release, which is a bit uneven courtesy of a somewhat problematic video presentation. Thankfully, a strong DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track and more than four hours of special features more than make up for it.