7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Survivors of a devastating flu pandemic try to rebuild their lives after losing everything.
Starring: Joe Pingue, Mackenzie Davis, Danielle Deadwyler, Himesh Patel, Jenny Young (II)Drama | 100% |
Mystery | 57% |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.00:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.00:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Love it, like it, or really not care for it, one must at least appreciate Station Eleven for approaching what is becoming a fairly well-worn genre from a different perspective. The HBO MAX miniseries, which premiered in December 2021, is sourced from Emily St. John Mandel's novel of the same name. The program follows the story of a young girl's life through the trials and efforts at rediscovering normalcy in the decades following a deadly pandemic with an exceedingly high mortality rate. But rather than a The Last of Us-style journey through physical terror, this show is more concerned with picking up the pieces in the aftermath, though with much of the pain, destruction, and emotional upheaval still lingering freshly on the surface. It's rock-solid content and it is translated exceedingly well to the miniseries medium.
Paramount brings Station Eleven to Blu-ray with a solid 1080p transfer. The image is nicely detailed, offering crisp, efficient digital imagery that captures both the "real world" cityscape elements in the first episode as well as the overgrown and alerted terrain of the post-apocalyptic landscape with equal clarity and visual engagement. While some of the digitally inserted backgrounds can be obvious, there's nevertheless a nice level of visible clarity at work, and the jerry-rigged wagons and recycled components that have changed functionality over the decades look marvelous; the show's production values are very strong, and the Blu-ray is well capable of revealing the content for just about all it's worth. The color palette is solid if not slightly faded, at times, but more or less contrast is strong, temperatures are dialed in, and tones veer towards full. Black levels can push a little flat and gray/green (look at around the 36-minute mark of episode 2). Flesh tones are generally healthy. Noise is light and other source artifacts are not present, and neither are encode problems. This is a good-looking release from Paramount.
Paramount seems to be inching away from Dolby Atmos with some of its new releases (Devotion being another recent example) but this more traditionally oriented DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is nevertheless every bit the delight one would expect. The track offers some significantly impactful audio cues throughout the ten episodes. Listeners will be frequently impressed by depth and subwoofer's usage and management, the ability for the surrounds to carry a significant load without overpowering the fronts, and the overall balance with which the track presents its wares. Enviornmental supports are delightful as well, including dense sounds on a subway in the first episode and various exteriors throughout the show, whether in calm moments, during stage productions, and through some action in other spots. Surround engagement is always welcome and balanced here and overall elemental priority is in good working order, including with dialogue, which is always clear and center positioned.
No supplemental content is included. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover. Beyond a basic menu screen, it's as bare bones they come.
Station Eleven takes the favorite post-apocalyptic genre and weaves together a tale that is at once both familiar and novel. It looks at how the world moves on, even in devastation, and how important past normalcy is to forward progress in the wake of disaster. Of course, nothing is normal, even within the appearance of normal -- theater, in this case -- and the show's lifeblood is in that contrast between the familiar and the unfamiliar. Character depth, production values, acting, and visuals are all also top-of-the-line, making this one of the better shows of the year, and of its kind. The Blu-ray is featureless, sadly, but the video and audio presentations are very good. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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