Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Reds Blu-ray Movie Review

Paramount has re-released the awards season darling 'Reds,' arguably Director Warren Beatty's best-known picture, to Blu-ray, replacing a severely aged and low-tech MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack disc from the 2006 release. This new release includes newly restored and remastered 1080p video and a newly restored Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Unfortunately, this release contains no new supplemental content (it's curious as to why neither this film nor 'Heaven Can Wait' were released to the 'Paramount Presents' line; both seem like obvious candidates).

Reds Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Many other 40-year-old films will be green with envy after watching Reds on Blu-ray. Paramount has done another world-class job with this restoration, resulting in a sumptuous 1080p transfer that is amongst the best of its kind on Blu-ray (terminology that is righty being bandied about quite a bit of late with Paramount releases). The picture yields a beautifully supple grain structure. It's consistent in visible density and appears very organic and complimentary. Reds boasts a beautiful film-like look about it, then, and the grain pattern is one of the many benefits of the full restoration work. Likewise, fine detail and clarity are exceptional. Viewers will appreciate the rich, healthy, complex details evident in practically every shot, bringing life to the period clothes for starters, which yield amazingly dense and detailed fabric definition. Faces are another prominent place of high yield detail, showcasing eyes and wrinkles and pores and hairs with precision clarity and newly infinite complexity. Various environments are steadily and reliably sharp and expertly detailed as well. Colors satisfy within the film's warm color temperature push. Skin tones reflect the warmth as well, but within these constraints every color is exemplary for vividness and depth. Black levels are beautiful, whether true shadow or simply black attire. Whites are usually a bit on the creamy end as they reflect that warmer color temperature. The print is free of any visible scratches, pops, or splotches. The encode is likewise perfect, even as the film runs a weighty 3+ hours in length. Blu-ray doesn't get much better than this!

Reds Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Paramount touts this Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack as "newly restored." I cannot comment on how specifically it compares to the original (I neither reviewed nor have access to a copy of that disc), but this is a solid presentation, front heavy as it may be; the added surround channels do not compromise the track's original intent but rather offer very subtle, if only on occasional, ambient support. The track is largely the property of the fronts, and rightly so. Music is nicely spaced, and clarity is very good, never wanting for more richness or fidelity. Balance is terrific in terms of output detail and subtle low end support. A few light ambient effects help set the scene but do little beyond promoting various sounds within the larger audio framework. One of the key benefits to the 5.1 track here is dialogue, which enjoys fine presentation space in a focused front-center output location. The spoken word is consistently clear and nicely detailed throughout. This is a fine track as it is; listeners looking for a faithful 5.1 remix will find it here. Note that a more traditional 2.0 track is included, albeit in the lossy Dolby Digital category. It is also touted as "restored."

Reds Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

To accommodate the film's epic length, Paramount has included all of the extras on a second Blu-ray disc. See below for a list of what's included and please click here for full coverage; this is the entire suite of legacy Blu-ray content. A digital copy code is included with purchase. A DVD copy is not. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Witness to Reds: The Rising (480i, 6:29).
• Witness to Reds: Comrades (480i, 13:30).
• Witness to Reds: Testimonials (480i, 11:58).
• Witness to Reds: The March (480i, 9:07).
• Witness to Reds: Revolution, Part 1 (480i, 10:18).
• Witness to Reds: Revolution, Part 2 (480i, 6:55).
• Witness to Reds: Propaganda (480i, 9:11).
• Reds Trailer (1080p, 1:21).

Reds Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Reds is something of a labored classic but a classic nevertheless. It's a fascinating treatise on its time and place and politics, the latter of which remains relevant to various conversations still taking place today. Love it or hate it it's an important part of the cinema medium's story and it's not to be missed. The Blu-ray, newly restored by Paramount, features breathtaking 1080p video and a fine, though front heavy, 5.1 lossless soundtrack. All of the legacy extras are included on a second Blu-ray disc. Why this was not part of the "Paramount Presents" line is a mystery, but regardless of packaging and physical presentation parameters this release comes highly recommended.