7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.1 |
Documentary | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.43:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Hell On Wheels: The Complete Fifth Season is due relatively soon on Blu-ray, the first volume in what supposedly brings the long simmering AMC drama to a close. Shows like Hell on Wheels and older series like the little remembered Dale Robertson outing The Iron Horse celebrated America’s love with train travel and perhaps more saliently the development of the whole rail industry. As I mentioned in the Hell On Wheels: The Complete First Season Blu-ray review, growing up in Utah meant that knowledge of the transcontinental railway was a regular part of one’s school life, including regular field trips to Promontory Point, where the so-called Golden Spike was pounded into the tracks, completing the link between the east and west coasts. The “romance” of the American rail system’s fascinating history may dull us to the fact that other continent spanning nations, like our neighbors to the north, had their own adventures in creating rail lines meant to link distant cities. Rocky Mountain Express, one of two Shout! Factory releases of IMAX offerings (the other being Flight of the Butterflies 4K +3D), chronicles just one “small” piece of Canada’s rail “puzzle”, albeit an extremely treacherous if simultaneously gorgeously scenic one. The United States’ own rail history plays into the story at one point, since a perilous decision to route Canada’s own tracks further south than some argued for was made to directly challenge any American attempts to usurp Canadian rail passengers.
Rocky Mountain Express is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This "large format" IMAX offering looks stupendous on Blu-ray, with stunning depth of field and crystal clarity running through virtually all of its (brief) running time. Detail levels are generally very strong, though it needs to be understood that much of the film consists of relatively wide shots of the train traversing through perilous locales, or elements like old archival black and white stills. Occasional aerial shots look just slightly soft at times, perhaps due to filming conditions. Contrast is strong, offering great delineation of tones throughout the variant landscapes.
Rocky Mountain Express features a great sounding Dolby Atmos track (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 core), one which supports the front and center proclivities of the voice over narration, while also providing an extremely wide spread for elements like the enjoyable score and effects like the click-a-clack of the train riding the rails. There are a number of nicely done effects, all of which receive great spatial placement due to the engagement of the Atmos speakers. Especially redolent are several moments when the train either enters or exits various tunnels, where there's a really appealing "whoosh" that clearly pans over the listener, and is so forceful it almost changes the air pressure in the room.
Rocky Mountain Express is gloriously scenic and it contains a lot of admittedly interesting information, but it's a surface deep experience and is therefore best seen as an introduction to its subject rather than an encyclopedic overview. Director Stephen Low's self confessed obsession with railroads infuses this piece with a certain sense of wonder, but the documentary probably would have been better served by a longer running time and a bit more of an examination about both the engineering challenges as well as what was evidently a gaggle of extremely eccentric characters involved in the construction. Technical merits are first rate, and Rocky Mountain Express comes Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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Director's Cut
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