7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In 1973, a squad of National Guardsmen on an isolated weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamp must fight for their lives when they anger local Cajuns by stealing their canoes.
Starring: Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Fred Ward, Franklyn Seales, T.K. CarterThriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Walter Hill's "Southern Comfort" (1981) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Second Sight Films. The only supplemental feature on the disc is the exclusive new documentary "Who Will Live, Who Will Die". In English and small portions of French, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
The Bayou
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Walter Hill's Southern Comfort arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Second Sight.
The high-definition transfer appears to have been struck from a dated source, and more often than not it clearly shows. While some close-ups with plenty of natural light look decent (see screencapture #12), the darker footage tends to look quite rough (see screencapture #4). Occasionally, noise and compression artifacts affect clarity and image depth (see screencapture #18). The grain is also frequently mixed with noise, though there are large sections of the film that still look rather good. Colors are stable but do not always look healthy. Edge-enhancement is not a serious issue of concern. Some light halo effects, however, are occasionally easy to spot (see screencapture #2). Post-production degraining corrections have not been performed, but as mentioned above there are indeed various limitations which the transfer has inherited from the dated source. Finally, there are no large cuts, damage marks, debris, or warps to report in this review. All in all, I was hoping that the presentation will be similar to the one Scanners received, but obviously this isn't the case here. Still, there are no serious issues that will dramatically affect your viewing experience. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Btu-ray disc: English LPCM 2.0 (with small portions of French). For the record, Second Sight have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.
Dynamic movement is quite limited. Even the shootouts do not impress with any sizable intensity.
The music score by the legendary Ry Cooder (Paris, Texas) sounds marginally fuller and better rounded that it does on the R1 DVD release, but depth is limited. On the other hand, despite the the fact that the film was shot under some unusually rough conditions, the dialog is crisp, stable, and easy to follow. For the record, there are no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.
I have to speculate that at some point Walter Hill's Southern Comfort will appear on Blu-ray in North America. However, until such a release materializes, this Region-B "locked" release should be treated as the film's best presentation on the home video market. It is not as pleasing as Second Sight's presentation of David Cronenberg's Scanners -- there is plenty of room for sizable improvements -- but it represent an upgrade in quality over previous DVD releases of the film. It also features a very good new video interview with Mr. Hill. At the moment, this release is easy to recommend.
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