Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Safe House Blu-ray Movie Review

Mill Creek has released the 2012 Action film 'Safe House,' directed by Daniél Espinosa and starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds, to Blu-ray. The film was originally released to Blu-ray in 2012 by Universal. I did not review, nor do I have access to, that disc, but the Mill Creek edition appears to compare favorably with the Universal counterpart, likely boasting very similar, if not identical, video and audio based on specs, screenshots, and reading through the original Blu-ray.com review. That said, this review will treat the A/V presentation on its own merits without making any direct comparisons to the Universal disc. The big difference is that the Universal disc included a number of special features, but this Mill Creek disc is featureless.

Safe House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: the included screenshots are lifted from the Blu-ray.com review of the Universal disc. I encountered numerous playback problems with this Mill Creek disc. It would not play on any player in my home outside of various Xbox consoles. It would not play on my flagship Panasonic DP-UB9000, my Oppo UDP-203, or any PlayStation consoles, whether PS3, PS4, or PS5. It would not play beyond the Mill Creek title screen on my screenshot setup, either, yet for whatever reason there were no playback issues on Xbox.

Hot, hot hot. Mill Creek's 1080p Blu-ray release of Safe House pushes contrast hot and heavy, offering a baked, over stylized image that appears to be right in line with the original Universal release from 2012 and, by extension, the film's natural, filmmaker intended appearance. The hot contrast is the defining characteristic here. Skin tones push red and orange, everything looks baked and burned, and black levels are dense and enveloping and soupy with little to no room for shadow detail or low light area nuance. The picture is highly stylized and will likely be a love it or hate it sort of image. It's very reminiscent of a Michael Bay film. This carries over to the textural appearance as well. The Blu-ray presents the film's intentionally gritty look quite nicely. Details are overly sharpened by filmmaker intent, adding to the frenzied, kinetic, and scorching appearance. Viewers will see complex facial features with all of the clarity and intimacy the image has to offer at this resolution, and the amplified sharpness only increases the sense of intimacy. It doesn't go grossly overboard, though, but the look plays well with the contrast and color temperature. Location elements are faithfully sharp and complex, too. The image appears more or less free of significant compression issues as well, though with the excess post work done on the film it's sometimes difficult to tell what exactly is going on with the image. There are times where the appearance of compression issues are in evidence, but this is certainly a "reduced" compression flaw load compared to other releases from this studio. It is very likely that this is nearly identical to the Universal issue, perhaps with some minor compression issues added.

Safe House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mill Creek releases Safe House to Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack, the same configuration found on the Universal disc. The presentation never misses a beat. Much like the video is cranked up for effect, so too is the audio aggressively engineered to drop the audience in the middle of the movie and make an impact. Music and gunfire are the key features. The track offers exceptional stage engagement to both. Musical elements are clear and rich with impressive volume at reference level while holding clarity and boldness even in its size. Gunfire hits very hard with shots bursting from and impacting all around the listening area. The subwoofer checks in with regularity as well in its support of these core elements. Surrounds carry plenty of natural atmosphere, some more subtle, some more dramatic and obvious. Dialogue is clear and well prioritized from its front-center location.

Safe House Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Mill Creek release of Safe House contains no supplemental content. The Universal disc, by contract, included a number of extras, including U-Control picture-in-picture content and a several standalone featurettes. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

Safe House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Safe House never soars, but it's got Denzel Washington, which makes it an automatic must-watch. The film is fine in the aggregate, offering decent thrills, well-structured action, and a good pairing between two unlikely stars in Washington and Reynolds. The film doesn't hold a lot of replay value or really ever stand out from its peers, but it's definitely a serviceable time killing watch. Mill Creek's featureless Blu-ray does offer very good video and audio. At time of writing, however, it's priced about the same as the Universal disc which is still available new through Amazon, and that disc includes a good number of extras. Unless this drops drastically in price in comparison, or the Universal disc disappears from the market, there is no reason to choose this Mill Creek disc over that Universal disc.