7 | / 10 |
Users | 3.3 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.2 |
New York City in the year 2022 the population is over 40 million. Without enough food to feed the masses--most of it must be manufactured in local factories. The dinner choices are between Soylent Blue, Soylent Yellow, or Soylent Green. When William Simonson an executive in the Soylent Company, is found murdered, police detective Thorn is sent in to investigate the case. As he delves deeper into his investigation he uncovers another dark secret-- the heinous truth behind the real ingredients of Soylent Green.
Starring: Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors, Joseph Cotten, Brock PetersThriller | Insignificant |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital Mono
German: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
English SDH, French, Spanish, German SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
If there's a more disjointed future dystopian cautionary tale than Soylent Green, I have yet to see it. For all of its farflung, startlingly timely visions of an overpopulated world in the throes of climate change, food scarcity and global crisis, director Richard Fleischer's 2022 is firmly, oft-times bizarrely grounded in 1973. For all the poignant scenes it features between actors Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson (who died just days after the shoot wrapped), it falters nearly every time Heston's detective sets foot outside of his elder roommate's apartment. For all the cult notoriety it's earned, its "shocking" third-act revelation will come as little surprise to anyone paying the least bit of attention. Yet somehow, in spite of its most antiquated flourishes and terribly telegraphed twist ending, Soylent Green resonates more today than it did thirty-eight years ago. Does that make Soylent Green a classic? Not exactly. A classic curiosity? Most definitely.
Mmm. Tasty.
While it puts plenty of distance between itself and its DVD counterpart, Warner's decidedly decent 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer isn't the prettiest presentation in the studio's catalog collection. Heavy shadows, trampled black levels, mildly inconsistent skintones, and brief surges of noise and slight artifacting... the Blu-ray edition of Soylent Green isn't perfect by any means. Thankfully, many of its issues are source related and only a small handful could have been improved with a tighter overhaul. Richard Kline's dystopian palette is strong and pleasing on the whole, the image is teeming with sufficiently sharp edges and intermittently revealing textures, and the film's grainfield and the filmmakers' artistic intentions are intact. There also aren't any serious encode anomalies to report, other than the aforementioned artifacts (which appear at random and in infrequent bursts). Significant macroblocking, banding, aliasing, ringing, and smearing aren't factors, and notable print damage is nowhere to be found. All told, cinephiles will be happy to down the nutrient-rich wafer resting in Warner's outstretched palm.
Soylent Green's DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix isn't going to leave the masses begging for more, but it will satiate purists' appetites for faithful single-channel sonics. No, Fleischer's futurescape doesn't spread round the listener. No, his riot-dispersing machinery isn't bolstered by any LFE heft. And no, you shouldn't expect anything more than a front-and-center experience. That said, the results are fairly crisp, clean and proficient, dialogue is reasonably clear and intelligible, effects are typically bright and buoyant, and Fred Myrow's score thrives amidst an already overcrowded soundscape. Intoxicating? Hardly. Serviceable? Quite so. Warner's mono mix isn't going to move discs, but it clings to Fleischer's intentions and delivers as much as can be expected.
The Blu-ray edition of Soylent Green doesn't offer anything new, but fans of the early '70s chintz classic will find it includes all of the semi-decent special features that appear on the film's standard DVD release.
Soylent Green offers a particularly peculiar but at-times eerily prescient vision of a future gone mad. Heston and Edwards lend the film strength -- even when Fleischer actively undermines its power -- and its central ideas are fascinating enough to help newcomers push through to the bitter, largely predictable end. Warner's Blu-ray release has its own share of shortcomings, but its fairly faithful AV presentation and passable supplemental package increase its appeal, especially considering Soylent Green's price point. While not for everyone, future dystopian junkies and curious filmfans should afford Fleischer's off-kilter sci-fi genre pic some consideration.
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Limited Edition to 3000
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4K Restoration
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The George Lucas Director's Cut
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