6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.2 |
Our story takes place in the U.S. and Canada, countries whose military are frequently called upon to support humanitarian crises. In the U.S., the USAF maintains and operates a large fleet of unusually equipped cargo aircraft, the C-17, originally designed to move troops and huge military assets to remote parts of the battlefield in support of combat troops.
Starring: Matthew Jonkey, Peter R. Crain, Lauren Ann Ross, Steven HeicklenDocumentary | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 MVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Blu-ray 3D
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
It’s become a kind of sadly commonplace cliché to hear the phrase “the first responders were running toward [insert name of catastrophe here] while everyone else was running away.” It’s become such a facile description that many times we don’t stop to actually think about those who regularly risk their own lives in order to save someone else’s. It almost seems easier to easily grasp the sacrifices made by our armed forces in any number of trouble spots around the globe than it is to comprehend the regular dangers that some of our friends and neighbors do in their everyday jobs. When I was a little boy growing up in Salt Lake City, our next door neighbor was a fireman, something I thought was incredibly “cool”, especially when Jack took me down to the firehouse and let me sit in the fire engine and “drive”. But that all changed one day when I was outside in my front yard playing and saw him return from what must have been a four alarm fire. Still in his heavy work gear and covered head to toe with thick black soot, he looked like a man returning from a war zone, and for the young boy that I was, it was an absolutely shocking sight. Suddenly I realized that all was not “glamorous” in a career like that, and that’s perhaps even more obvious to people nowadays, what with the glut of reality programming like Cops that helps (in its own often patently low life way) to show the rigors and trials that those who have sworn to protect us go through on a daily basis. Rescue 3D is a fairly compelling entry in the ever expanding IMAX canon that gets us up close and personal with a handful of these intrepid souls who have answered what many would agree is a higher calling. While this 45 minute or so feature simply doesn’t have the running time to really explore any of the participants’ stories in any great depth, we get enough context and background information to quickly understand the basics about each of them, and then we’re offered an often breathtaking view of them in their work environments.
Rescue 3D is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Image Entertainment with both MVC (3D) and AVC (2D) encoded
1080p transfers in 1.78:1. As is typically the case with these large format IMAX features, the Blu-ray offers stupendously
sharp and clear imagery, with really stellar depth of field in the many, many exterior shots that feature wide vistas. Colors
are extremely well saturated and accurate looking, and even regular bugaboos like heavy foliage or water whipped into a
frenzy by helicopter rotors resolve effortlessly without any stability issues whatsoever. Close-ups provide extremely
crystalline fine detail.
The 3D imagery is, as should be expected, similarly amazing, to the point that it may actually bother some more sensitive
eyes (I am one of those people who was often unable to deal with the older 3D technology, which frequently gave me
massive headaches, and even the "new, improved" 3D sometimes plays havoc with my depth perception and vision). I
personally have some problems when objects are thrust directly out toward the viewer (see screenshot 6, where the tether
holding the basket seems to jump straight out from the screen in the 3D version), and some of those elements actually
made my eyes water they're so vivid. Depth of field is routinely excellent throughout this presentation, even in less
"showy" moments. For example, a scene set inside the cockpit clearly gives us delineated planes of depth, including in one
instance the cockpit windshield obviously well in front of the people inside the cockpit. My setup and display encountered
no crosstalk issues whatsoever, but I am still subtracting half a point due to the extremely aggressive placement of some of
these "foreground" objects which some viewers may have issues with.
Rescue 3D features incredibly aggressive and immersive lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes in English, French and Spanish. From the first moment, when we hear a helicopter rotor clearly panning through the soundfield, this mix offers sterling fidelity and near constant use of the surround channels. Later there's some truly awesome LFE courtesy of the "big guns" aboard the destroyer that plays a central role in the documentary. There are some low rumbling foley effects added to the first scenes of Haiti which may remind some older viewers of that long ago sonic gimmick Sensurround. The only niggling complaint with this mix is that sometimes the mix tends to just slightly bury the onscreen dialogue beneath the onslaught of sound effects and (more occasionally) score, but that's a very minor complaint given the general robustness of this excellently rendered audio.
- Steven Heicklen (1080i; 5:32)
- Major Matthew Jonkey (1080i; 5:05)
- Commander Peter R. Crain (1080i; 10:54)
- Captain Lauren Ross (1080i; 6:45)
Rescue 3D is one of the best IMAX features I've personally seen in quite a while. The "pre-Haiti" footage gives us brief but compelling anecdotal information about the four main participants, so that by the time the earthquake hits, we have a better understanding of what each of them brings to the table. The Haiti footage is simply daunting and breathtaking in equal measure, but it also brings home what incredible heroes people like the rescuers portrayed in this piece really are. As with virtually all Blu-rays of IMAX films, this one features stellar video and audio, and even without copious supplementary material, Rescue 3D comes Highly recommended.
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