6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A young Oxford academic and his attorney girlfriend holiday on Antigua. They bump into a Russian millionaire who owns a peninsula and a diamond watch. He wants a game of tennis. What else he wants propels the lovers on a tortuous journey to the City of London and its unholy alliance with Britain's intelligence establishment, to Paris and the Alps.
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Stellan Skarsgård, Damian Lewis, Naomie Harris, Jeremy NorthamThriller | 100% |
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 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
It’s interesting to contrast the work of Ian Fleming with that of John le Carré, not just because both worked as novelists in the spy genre, but because both worked as spies (more or less, anyway). While Fleming’s experiences in and around what became known as MI6 were relegated largely to the World War II era (and its immediate aftermath), le Carré’s experiences with the organization were more in the Cold War era, something that may provide at least some explanation for the differences in how the two authors approached their subject matters. Fleming tended to romanticize his espionage tale, with a dashing hero whose exploits left villains vanquished and women weak kneed. Le Carré, on the other hand, had a decidedly more jaundiced view of this particular “career” choice, as evidenced by two of his most famous pieces, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (also available in this version). Could there in fact be any two more disparate agents than James Bond and George Smiley? Perhaps oddly, then, le Carré’s 2010 novel Our Kind of Traitor seems less gritty and workaday like than some previous le Carré thrillers, which is not to suggest that the spies or at least operatives in the tale aren’t jaded, world weary types. What’s a bit unusual about Our Kind of Traitor is how it takes an almost Hitchcockian air by thrusting “civilians” into a saga of international intrigue, in somewhat the same manner that Cary Grant’s character of Roger Thornhill suddenly found himself subsumed by all sorts of subterfuge in North by Northwest. That very plot gambit is patently artificial on its face, and as such Our Kind of Traitor struggles at times to achieve the same level of supposed authenticity that other le Carré efforts had in spades. Putting aside levels of believability, however, Our Kind of Traitor offers a genuinely involving story and some standout performances by Ewan McGregor as a hapless professor and (especially) Stellan Skarsgård as a Russian money launderer with some devastating information he wants to pass to British intelligence.
Our Kind of Traitor is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. The IMDb lists this as having been shot with the Arri Alexa XT and finished at a 4K DI. While detail levels are generally extremely strong throughout this presentation, the decision on the part of director Susannah Grant and director of photography Anthony Dod Mantle to offer some patently "arty" shots, as well as a tendency to have some long sequences play out in near darkness, can sometimes work to the detriment of fine detail, as well as giving (what I assume to be an intentional) gauzy and soft appearance. There's also some kind of odd (to my eyes, anyway) color grading going on, where flesh tones almost assume an alien green-yellow tone some of the time. Otherwise, though, this is a stellar looking transfer, one with a really crisp sense of fine detail when things are brightly lit and not excessively graded. Contrast is generally strong and while black levels can look a little milky at times, nothing is overly problematic.
Our Kind of Traitor is a fairly talky affair, and as such anyone expecting its DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix to be a riot of action adventure excess will probably be at least a little disappointed. That said, there's routine immersion here, and even bursts of forceful LFE. With elements like machine gun fire and even an explosion, there are moments at least where the surrounds bristle with activity and sonic adrenaline gets pumped. There is nice placement of ambient environmental effects both in urban soundscapes as well as the more "rural" environment of Marrakech. Fidelity is excellent and there are no problems of any kind to report.
There's no denying that the central plot conceit of Our Kind of Traitor is just kind of flat out ridiculous. Some may find it a deal killer in being able to swallow everything that flows from it, but if it's accepted as a given, the film has a lot of tense moments and offers an eclectic cast the opportunity to strut their stuff. Technical merits are strong and Our Kind of Traitor comes Recommended.
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