6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.4 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
A well-known entertainer, stalked by an obsessive fan, hires an ex-Secret Service agent to protect her, and the two fall in love.
Starring: Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston, Gary Kemp, Bill Cobbs, Ralph WaiteRomance | 100% |
Melodrama | 32% |
Music | 27% |
Drama | 20% |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 2.0
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 2.0
German: Dolby Digital 2.0
Italian: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono (Spain)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 2.0
Czech: Dolby Digital 2.0
Polish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Russian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0
Japanese only available on Japanese menu settings
English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Swedish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Reaction to the recent death of Whitney Houston has predictably been split along two diametrically opposed viewpoints. One camp inists it was a completely unsurprising result of Houston’s well publicized bouts with substance abuse. Others lament the sad pasing of a superstar who many consider the finest pop vocalist of her generation, no matter what the contributing factors. That debate will no doubt rage for some time to come, but it’s notable that at Houston’s memorial service, while there were allusions to Houston’s troubled past, some of the most insightful commentary actually came from Kevin Costner, especially when Costner recounted Houston’s incipient insecurities as she took on her first film role in The Bodyguard after having established herself as one of the top selling music artists of the previous several years. The Bodyguard had been stuck in development hell for years and years—it was originally announced as a vehicle for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross—and judging by the final product here, it probably could have used a little more time there. The film was enormously popular and spawned the biggest selling soundtrack album of all time, an album propelled to the top of the charts by Houston’s now legendary rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You”. But popularity isn’t always a sufficient arbiter of inherent worth, and looking back on The Bodyguard now from the vantage point of a couple of decades, the film certainly seems creaky and contrived, one that manages to get by (barely at times) mostly on the star wattage of Costner and Houston.
The Bodyguard is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Brothers with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Revisiting the film now some two decades after its original release, what strikes the viewer more than anything is how surprisingly dark so much of the film is. Large swaths take place in dimly lit interior scenes, where shadow detail is on the murky side and fine detail all but disappears except in extreme close-ups, especially in the many blue-hued moments. This transfer boasts much better saturation than previous home video releases (as should be expected), but it still is hampered by an overall softness that is apparent throughout the film. In the few really brightly lit scenes (such as some of the outdoor footage at Rachel's palatial Hollywood estate), things really pop quite nicely, with appreciably greater fine detail, but even then there's a certain haziness to the image that may bother some expecting digital perfection from a relatively recent catalog title. There doesn't appear to have been any over indulgent grain removal or digital sharpening here, and so the film, while dark and somewhat soft, boasts a suitably cinematic appearance.
The Bodyguard's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is quite impressive on several levels, opening with a literal bang and then proceeding through a rather surprising use of LFE in the first sequence as both gunshots and an explosion catapult across the soundfield. Surround activity here is limited mostly to opening up the musical elements featuring Houston, all of which sound absolutely great in this lossless environment, as well as adding occasional immersion in ambient environmental effects, especially in crowd scenes where a real sense of directionality is achieved with some excellent use of discrete channelization. Fidelity is top notch throughout this rendering, with dialogue and score very well represented. Dynamic range is also surprisingly wide for a film of this type.
It's obviously a very bittersweet experience watching The Bodyguard now, given recent events. Houston may not have had the chops to really develop an outstanding screen career, but she had charisma in abundance, and that comes through quite clearly in this film. The film itself is another matter entirely. This early effort from Lawrence Kasdan is just too clunky for its own good, despite some effective moments scattered amongst the clichéd debris. Warner had planned on releasing The Bodyguard this year all along, but moved up the release with the news of Houston's untimely passing. That may strike some as capitalizing on a sad circumstance and revealing a certain venality on the part of the studio. Be that as it may, for better or worse The Bodyguard is probably going to be the film that most people will remember Whitney Houston for, in terms of her not very impressive screen career. This Blu-ray presentation offers a somewhat underwhelming video presentation, but outstanding audio, something that certainly should appeal to Houston's legion of adoring fans. Perhaps if Warner hadn't rushed this release they could have done a more fitting retrospective of the singer's career as a supplement, instead of porting over previously released material. This film has frankly left me pretty cold from its release, though it has its proponents. Fans will probably want to pick up this release one way or the other, and for them The Bodyguard on Blu-ray is recommended, albeit with some caveats. Others who are merely curious may want to rent this first to see if they are motivated enough to include it in their personal collections.
2018
Paramount Presents #8
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