Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Rihanna: Good Girl Gone Bad Live Blu-ray Movie Review

I have to confess something to you - I have not followed Rihanna's music career closely. One of my local radio stations plays a few of her hits daily, but I’ve never felt the urge to go out and buy any of her four albums. I’ve seen clips from Rihanna's European tour - a good friend of mine even sent me a few pictures from Rihanna's show in Sofia, Bulgaria - but, again, I wasn’t too impressed. Frankly, I think that the reason why nowadays she seems to be so popular with certain demographic groups is because of all the drama that has been following her.

Having just finished watching Def Jam's Good Girl Gone Bad, I am fairly certain that my attitude toward Rihanna and her music will remain unchanged. I had a pretty clear picture in my head as to what a Rihanna show might look like, and for better or worse, it turned out that the picture was actually quite accurate. I think I understand now why she became so popular.

I hope this does not sound too harsh to Rihanna fans, but I felt that the music was the least important aspect of Good Girl Gone Bad. Sure, there is nothing wrong with Rihanna's singing; she sounds fantastic on "Break it Off", "Kisses Don’t Lie", "Sell Me Candy" and "Umbrella". She also looks great with those sexy leather boots on - which is probably the reason why many would want to see this show - but when you put everything together, the flashiness, the provocative dancing and kinky outfits, the music simply gets lost. In fact, it feels as if the music compliments everything else that Rihanna and her crew do on the stage, when it should have been the other way around.

Rihanna's music blends R&B, Soul, Hip-Hop, Pop, and Rock into a unique mix that works well for the type of image the singer favors. The texts of her songs are edgy and at times surprisingly provocative. In Good Girl Gone Bad, sex also appears to be a constant theme.

Technically, Good Girl Gone Bad is certainly impressive. The massive stage of Manchester's MEN Arena is illuminated by huge headlights while smaller spotlight projectors follow Rihanna and her dancers. A giant screen is placed in the middle of the stage, allowing those at the far corners of the venue to follow the action as well. The entire show was filmed with a variety of different cameras placed in strategic locations on and off the stage.

The bad girl

Rihanna: Good Girl Gone Bad Live Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080i "live" transfer, Good Girl Gone Bad arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Def Jam / Universal Music.

Filmed at the MEN Arena in Manchester, England, on December 6, 2007, Good Girl Gone Bad does not impress. This is not to say that the transfer has some serious technical flaws, but it is definitely not on par with Def Jam's Blu-ray release of The Killers: Live From The Royal Albert Hall. There are quite a few close-ups, for example, that look soft. There is also plenty of motion-judder, ranging from mild to strong. Additionally, the camera positioning during a lot of the key acts is not overly convincing; some close-ups are too dark. During selected scenes, I also noticed a bit of noise (the group act with the chairs at the very end is an excellent example). On a positive side, contrast levels are good. All in all, consistency is definitely an issue with Good Girl Gone Bad; parts of the show look great in high-definition, but there are also certain parts of it that are far from convincing. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Rihanna: Good Girl Gone Bad Live Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0. I opted for the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and later on did a few random comparisons with the LPCM 2.0 track for the purpose of this review.

The audio treatment is certainly very impressive. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is loud, rich and with some excellent surround activity. There are no balance issues that I noticed. On the contrary, if you listen closely to "Hate That I Love You", you would notice that there is terrific balance between Rihanna's voice and the guitar. Furthermore, there is plenty of crowd noise, but it is never overwhelming. It simply gives the presentation that unique "live" feel one would rightfully expect from it. Finally, I did not notice any disturbing audio dropouts to report in this review.

The LPCM 2.0 is also very strong, but it is not as convincing as the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The crowd noise, for example, is pushed back quite a bit when Rihanna sings, yet between the songs, it is as prominent as it is on the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Dynamically, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 also has a lot more depth than the LPCM 2.0 (experiment with "Kisses Don't Lie").

Rihanna: Good Girl Gone Bad Live Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Documentary - this is actually a behind the scenes featurette, with raw footage from different shows and generic comments from Rihanna about her fans, her crew, the show, etc. With optional English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. (17 min, 480/60i).

Rihanna: Good Girl Gone Bad Live Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rihanna fans will surely be impressed with Good Girl Gone Bad, but I doubt it casual music fans would discover anything of substance in it. I personally enjoyed the show's edgy look, and in particular Rihanna's leather outfits, but her singing left me unimpressed. The best I could do is recommend that you RENT it.