Rob Roy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Rob Roy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 19, 2010

Michael Caton-Jones’ "Rob Roy" (1995) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox/MGM-France. There are no supplemental features on this disc. In English, with optional English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hungarian, Polish and Swedish subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Two men with a plan

At the dawn of the 1700s, Scotland. Many people are heading to the Americas looking for a better life, and the centuries-old Clan system is slowly declining.

Rob Roy MacGregor (Liam Neeson, Michael Collins) is a hard-working farmer, who decides to borrow 1000 pounds from the Marquis of Montrose (John Hurt, An Englishman in New York). The money will be used to buy and fatten cattle, which will then be sold on the market for a profit. To secure the loan, MacGregor signs a document with Killearn (Brian Cox, L.I.E.), who serves the Marquis as an accountant.

Killearn tells Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead), a flamboyant and unscrupulous fop, about the loan. Cunningham, who desperately needs money to repay his outstanding debts, kills MacGregor’s most trusted man, Alan MacGregor (Eric Stolz, Killing Zoe), and steals the 1000 pounds – leaving MacGregor on the brink of losing his lands, which he has used as collateral.

Despite being urged by his wife (Jessica Lange, The Postman Always Rings Twice) not to meet the Marquise again, MacGregor goes back and asks for a second loan. This time around the only collateral he offers is his word – which it turns out isn’t good enough. Assuming that MacGregor would agree to any terms to save his lands, the Marquise asks that he sides with him against one of his arch-rivals, the Duke of Argyll (Andrew Keir, Five Million Years to Earth), but he walks away.

Angered and feeling humiliated, the Marquise orders Cunningham to teach MacGregor and his men a lesson - which he carries out with great pleasure.

Roth, one of the finest British actors around, often plays characters that are incredibly easy to remember but impossible to like. In Michael Caton-Jones’ Rob Roy he is once again a terrific villain, who does terrible things for which he absolutely has to be punished.

Neeson, who was born and raised in Northern Ireland, is a surprisingly good Highlander. His commanding presence in front of the camera, gestures, and facial expressions work great for the character he plays. His lines are rough - intentionally so - but very effective.

Lange looks beautiful in the film. She also brings much needed balance to its story. Practically all of her scenes are of crucial importance for the development of a specific side of Neeson’s character – which helps one better understand his decisions throughout the film.

Cox’s presence in front of the camera is limited, but his character is of great importance for the different subplots in the film. However, a selected few of his lines are not terribly convincing. Hurt and Kier, whose characters consistently look for different ways to effectively humiliate each other, are spectacular.

Shot on locations throughout Scotland, Rob Roy looks gorgeous. From start to finish, cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub’s lensing is excellent. Additionally, production designer Assheton Gorton, costume designer Sandy Powell, and set decorator Ann Mollo deserve a lot of credit for the film’s very effective period look. Carter Burwell’s new age/ambient music score is also very good.

Note: In 1996, Tim Roth won BAFTA Film Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. He also won Best Supporting Actor award at the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards.

Rob Roy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Michael Caton-Jones' Rob Roy arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox/MGM-France.

This is a pleasing but also somewhat inconsistent high-definition transfer. Generally speaking, fine object detail is good, but there are some minor contrast fluctuations, mostly during the second half of the film. During a couple of scenes I also spotted traces of extremely mild edge-enhancement. Random minor noise corrections have been applied as well, though the fine film grain has been retained; some of it, however, also appears to be mixed with light digital noise. Still, as mentioned earlier, the image quality is pleasing. Finally, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review, but I did notice a few tiny flecks popping up here and there. To sum it all up, even though this high-definition transfer appears to have been struck from a dated source, it is actually quite pleasing. (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. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu. Additionally, the entire menu system is in English).

Rob Roy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are eight audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, German DTS 5.1, French DTS 5.1, Hungarian Dolby Digital 2.0, Italian DTS 5.1, Japanese DTS 5.1, Portuguese DTS 5.1, and Spanish DTS 5.1. For the record, the French distributors have also provided optional English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hungarian, Polish and Swedish subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is very strong. The bass is potent and punchy, the rear channels surprisingly active and the high-frequencies not overdone. The dialog is crisp, clean and easy to follow. I must admit, however, that I was more than happy to use the optional English subtitles as some of the accents were quite thick. Finally, I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, background hiss, or dropouts to report in this review.

Rob Roy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray disc.

Rob Roy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fitting somewhere between Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and Mel Gibson's Braveheart, Michael Caton-Jones' Rob Roy is a fine period piece that should appeal to a variety of different viewers. The film is yet to be released on Blu-ray in North America, but this French disc is Region-Free and with an English-friendly menu system. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.