The Break-Up Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

The Break-Up Blu-ray Movie Review

Mill Creek has released the 2006 Rom-Com-Dram 'The Break-Up' to Blu-ray. The film first came to the Blu-ray market via Universal in 2016. The Mill Creek issue is not as good, primarily because it drops the rather substantial assortment of extras from the Universal disc. Video and audio are quite nice, especially as part of a double feature that also includes 'The Dilemma.'

The Break-Up Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mill Creek releases The Break-Up to Blu-ray with a fairly decent 1080p transfer. I did not review, nor do I have access to, the Universal disc, so I cannot offer a direct comparison, but it certainly appears that this image compares favorably to the Universal disc. The Mill Creek version is fairly strong beyond the occasional burst of compression artifacts. These are rarely severe, and they are not constant, but they do appear in some density and visibility from time to time, pulling down an otherwise solid image. At its best, however, the picture is efficiently filmic and faithful to the source, offering a satisfying film-like picture with well managed grain. Facial features are HD sharp and film-based crisp, and the same can be said of various location details, whether in the condo, out on the city streets, in barrooms and bowling alleys, an art gallery, or a Cubs game. The level of detail is always very strong, right on par with what one would expect to see on a major studio release. It is likely that this is sourced from the same master as the Universal disc but presented without the benefit of superior compression. The colors are bold and do favor a mild warmth. The image is frequently vivid with impressively saturated colors with only minor adjustments to temperature and contrast to offer that warm appearance. Skin tones take on that same characteristic. Whites are fine and blacks generally look very deep with only mild pushes to crush. This is not at all a bad image, but it could certainly be better.

The Break-Up Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mill Creek's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack for The Break-Up delivers a well-rounded listen. The track is by its nature not one of prodigious, thumping bass and intensive surround cues but rather a front-heavy and center-stable experience that does offer the odd stretch out to the front-sides to allow audiences to soak in various local Chicago flavors around the film. The track offers a steady stream of good little examples of ambience at a bowling alley or out on city streets, for instance, but these cues usually linger across the front without presenting any significant depth and immersion through the backs. Still, even with minimal surround usage, and really no serious subwoofer output of which to speak, the track does just enough to subtly draw the listener into various locales throughout the film. The Break-Up is predominately dialogue heavy and by extension center channel focused. Dialogue is clear and accurate without stray to other speakers, and it is well prioritized for the duration.

The Break-Up Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Break-Up contains no supplemental content. The Universal disc, by contrast, includes two commentary tracks, a number of featurettes, deleted and extended scenes, and outtakes for a robust supplemental complement. As it ships in the above linked double feature, no DVD or digital copies are included, and neither is a slipcover.

The Break-Up Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of The Break-Up is not at all poor. The video looks good with only the odd burst of serious compression issues at play and is generally very solid for clarity and color. Audio is satisfactory within the film's limited engagement structure, and the lossless encode ensures plenty of accuracy to all elements. The big drawback here is the absence of the long list of extras from the Universal disc. Casual viewers should find this a good, affordable alternative means of owning the movie, but those desiring superior picture and the avalanche of extras need to shell out more for the Universal disc.