7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.4 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
29-year-old Adaline survives a near-death experience, and from that day on, never grows older. Adaline guards her secret and her heart for eight decades until a charming philanthropist and his parents force Adaline to confront her destiny in this tale about the timeless power of love.
Starring: Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman, Harrison Ford, Ellen Burstyn, Kathy BakerRomance | 100% |
Period | 5% |
Fantasy | 1% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Eternal youth isn't all it’s cracked up to be would seem to be the moral of any number of tales told on both the small and large screens. Who amongst us hasn’t wished for time to stand still, especially once we reach a certain age, look in the mirror, and ask in wonder, “How (and/or when) the hell did that happen?” But as if to subliminally transmit the ameliorative message that staying young may not in fact be a panacea for any and all things that ail an individual soul, just about every story that features various characters in a state of perpetual vivacity tends to suggest that such a phenomenon comes at a substantial price. Sometimes that price is linked to exactly how eternal youth is obtained, as outlined in such vampirically themed outings like The Hunger or Innocence. The granddaddy (still looking mah-velous, of course) of such dramas, The Picture of Dorian Gray, went a step further, suggesting that the bargain to attain a callow state amounted to a Faustian deal with the Devil (or at least something close to it). Even offerings that shy away from the details on how such a state is attained tend to posit severe emotional repercussions not just for whomever is experiencing the circumstance, but for those around them as well, as detailed in the hokey but effective “Queen of the Nile” episode from The Twilight Zone: Season 5. "Queen of the Nile" actually shares a somewhat similar depiction of a perpetually fresh faced woman and her increasingly aging daughter (who ultimately looks like her own mother or in fact grandmother) to one shown in The Age of Adaline. Perhaps surprisingly, though, the not very surprising “reveal” in that Twilight Zone episode is eschewed here, and interestingly enough, The Age of Adaline doesn’t play around with obfuscating what’s going on with its titular character and in fact lays it all out, newsreel style, in the film’s opening moments.
The Age of Adaline is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. As director Lee Toland Krieger mentions in his commentary, almost all of this film was digitally shot with the Red Epic, though there is a brief interstitial which he chose to do on 16mm (with a hand cranked camera, no less). There's been some subtle but consistent grading done throughout the film, once again in the seemingly inescapable buttery yellow and cool blue tones which are evidently de rigeur in current "color theory" for film. These choices are actually not as aggressively done as some might fear, and detail is never materially affected. The bulk of the film offers a very healthy and natural looking palette, and the image retains the excellent sharpness and clarity which has become a hallmark of Red shot features. Some of the CGI and/or green screen material looks very soft in comparison to the bulk of the presentation, something that tends to make some of the flashback material play in an almost dreamlike ambience at times. Contrast is consistent, though there are occasional moments of murk in some nighttime sequences.
The Age of Adaline is the latest Blu-ray to offer a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 core) track, but one whose general sound design doesn't offer the sort of typical bombast that those wanting a completely immersive track may prefer. There are certainly moments of impressive surround activity, often replete with fantastic discretely placed sound effects and at times booming LFE, as in the calamitous car accidents which bookend the film, but this is in essence a romantic drama, and therefore fairly talky, an ambience which tends not to offer tons of traditional surround activity save for ambient environmental effects and score. Fidelity is top notch, offering crystal clear renderings across all frequency ranges, and dynamic range also is rather wide for a romantic drama, again courtesy of elements like the car crashes and "cosmic" events which play into the plot at various moments.
The Age of Adaline probably could have done without all of the cosmic portentousness which acts as a sort of subtext throughout the story. The basic setup is quite compelling in and of itself, even if it tends to ultimately recall such generational dramas as Edna Ferber's Come and Get It, where a man falls in love with the lookalike daughter of a woman he forsook years previously, and the young woman is caught between the desires of the father and his son, who is now in love with her as well. The film ultimately strains an already tenuous credulity by its third act, but things manage to stay on course due to some winning and heartfelt performances. Technical merits are generally first rate, and The Age of Adaline comes Recommended.
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