6.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
TEXAS RISING rides deep into the heart of the Lone Star State of 1836 and follows the true story of what it meant to be a Texan - from the cruel rule of the Mexican General Santa Anna to the Colt-packing Texas Rangers.
Starring: Bill Paxton, Trevor Donovan, Stephen Monroe Taylor, Jake Busey, Jeff FaheyWestern | 100% |
History | 70% |
Drama | 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 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Remember the Alamo? The perhaps sad fact is that many of us mostly remember The Alamo or even sidebar entertainments like Pee-wee's Big Adventure that featured the iconic Texan fortress, but the upshot is that many (myself included) have only a passing acquaintance with the actual history surrounding this era of Texan history, when the still nascent United States’ southern border was in more than a bit of flux and Texas itself was caught between varying interests and existed for a while in a kind of netherworld where it was neither “American” (meaning belonging to the United States) nor Mexican, nor indeed independent. This would seem to be more than fertile territory for a historical epic, one that hewed more closely to the facts (and just the facts) than John Wayne’s 1960 opus. Unfortunately History, a cable channel that seems to almost willfully defy the meaning of its moniker at times, has taken some substantial liberties with the story of the so-called Texian Army and the Texas Revolution in the wake of the devastating defeat at the Alamo in 1836. History is to be commended for having evidently spared little expense in bringing this saga to the small screen, and the miniseries is stuffed to the gills with some rather good performances from a hugely eclectic cast. Perhaps even more notably, the miniseries is directed by multiple Academy Award nominee Roland Joffé (The Killing Fields, The Mission), who invests the piece with the requisite sweep and visual acuity. However, even Joffé’s eye for panoramic vistas can’t help this miniseries overcome a perhaps disastrously overstuffed teleplay, one that employs a lot of talky bits to fill up its lengthy (some would probably argue overly lengthy) running time.
Texas Rising is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Digitally shot with the Red Epic Dragon, the miniseries boasts impeccable depth of field in its many wide shots, though some clumsy CGI at times intrudes. A lot of the miniseries has been very interestingly color graded to a just slightly desaturated, beigish side of things. It's not quite to traditional sepia tone levels, but it comes close at times, giving the film the appearance of something like a Daguerreotype come to life. This tends to slightly mask detail at times, especially in dimmer lit environments where the brown-beige appliqué can add a bit of murk. This also means that even in a lot of brightly lit outdoor scenes, the palette doesn't really "pop" with any traditional vividness, and instead assumes an appropriately dusty, ragged looking appearance. Joffé and cinematographer Arthur Reinhart occasionally play with other elements like boosted contrast and brightness, not to mention occasionally skewed framings, and these moments can also minimally detract from detail and fine detail levels (see screenshot 19). There are a couple of odd moments where a peculiar crosshatching pattern shows up for just a moment or two. It doesn't look like a traditional compression issue and may stem from the source digital file. It's a momentary distraction at worst (some may not even notice).
Perhaps because of its avoidance of an overreliance on knock down, drag out battle scenes, Texas Rising's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix may strike some as a bit less bombastic than might have been expected, though to be fair the track offers exceptional surround activity when there is action like galloping horses or indeed gunfire erupting on screen. Some of the most consistent surround activity actually comes courtesy of the often beautiful score by Bruce Broughton and John Debney, a score which features some guitar solos by Jose Feliciano. Dialogue is well rendered and well prioritized. Fidelity is fine and dynamic range wide (if not huge) on this problem free track.
Texas Rising has a lot of elements that are interesting if ultimately not all that riveting, but it suffers from over length and a "cast of thousands" approach that simply tends to disperse attention and keep too many veritable balls in the air to ever achieve any sense of focus and, more importantly, connection. The miniseries is often quite striking from a visual standpoint, and many of the performances are first rate. But this miniseries would have benefited from a much narrower focus on just a few characters as well as some significant trimming of its running time. Fans of Joffé and/or the large cast may well want to check this out, and for those folks, technical merits are generally excellent.
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Limited Edition to 3000
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60th Anniversary Edition / Fox Studio Classics
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2004
Return of the Magnificent Seven
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Warner Archive Collection
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Warner Archive Collection
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2016
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