7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The vice president is dead, and as the president makes his choice for a replacement, a secret contest of wills is being waged by a formidable rival. When Senator Laine Hanson is nominated as the first woman in history to hold the office, hidden agendas explode into a battle for power.
Starring: Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Gary Oldman, Christian Slater, Sam ElliottDrama | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
How does one of the best films of 2000, not to mention one of the most intelligently scripted, wholly plausible political thrillers in recent memory, sneak onto Blu-ray without so much as a press release? It's a mystery to be sure. And yet suddenly, without any fanfare, writer/director Rod Lurie's The Contender -- which earned Joan Allen and Jeff Bridges Academy Award nominations -- has finally arrived; its domestic high definition debut nearly two decades late. Distributor Giant Interactive, whose biggest release to date is arguably the excellent 2014 documentary I Am Big Bird, somehow scooped up the rights to the film, which apparently either went unnoticed by Universal (who currently owns the rights to most DreamWorks films) or simply fell between the cracks of two studios butting heads over said rights. Perhaps Paramount. Who can say. What matters is The Contender is available and I'm happy to report its performances are just as powerful and its story and screenplay just as relevant today as they were twenty-four years ago.
The Contender arrives on Blu-ray with a solid albeit less than perfect 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer that hints at what the film might have
been had it received a full overhaul and remaster via the original negative. There's nothing expressly bad here -- certainly nothing that should prevent
anyone from taking the plunge -- but there are some shortcomings we should deal with up front. First, the presentation gets off to a shaky start, faring
worse in its opening minutes than it does as it goes along. Be patient. Your initial fears will be allayed soon enough. That said, there's sometimes a
yellowed-newspaper tone to the palette that points to a dated master, along with some suspicious grain that isn't quite up to high definition snuff. Black
levels struggle a bit too, although not enough to bring them out of nitpick territory. Otherwise, The Contender fares surprisingly well for a film
that obviously hasn't had a new master minted in a good while. Detail is notable, with (largely) clean edge definition, reasonably well-refined textures
and above average shadow delineation. Likewise, colors are pleasing on the whole, with plenty of convincing skintones and primary support lending the
image a nice, filmic quality. The transfer has an older aesthetic, more akin to earlier catalog Blu-ray releases that hail from DVD's heyday, but again,
there isn't anything here that spoils the proceedings or amounts to much of a distraction. Macroblocking and banding are virtually absent and no other
anomalies caught my attention. Maybe I'm just so in the bag for The Contender that I'm being too kind, but I suspect not. And while scoring
the presentation with a 3.75 would make me feel better, our system only allows for half-point increments, so I have to pick my poison. Subjectively, a
3.5 seems more accurate than a 4.0, and so it goes.
Note: I haven't had the opportunity to compare this U.S. release (which arrives on a BD-R disc) to the Australian Blu-ray edition of the film (which
reportedly features a BD-50 disc). If I get the opportunity, I'll evaluate the Australian release and update this review with any relevant impressions.
The Contender's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is more satisfying, despite the fact that its mix is probably just as old as the video master. Dialogue is intelligible and neatly prioritized, offering significant differences in voices spoken within the comfortable silence of the oval office and in competition with the shuffling papers, moving bodies, grumbling politicians and crowds of a large public hearing room. (A few scenes sound slightly thin, with some obvious ADR to boot, but it's never too troublesome.) The rear speakers follow suit, doing a fine job creating a sense of space and place thanks to invisible channel pans, slick directional effects and plenty of immersive subtleties that make each environment sound natural and convincing. LFE output is a bit weak in the knees, but then again, The Contender isn't exactly bursting at the seams with scenes that would be vastly improved by heftier low-end support. All in all, it's a strong lossless outing that rarely disappoints.
The Contender's theatrical trailer (SD, 2 minutes) has made its way onto the disc, and it's a BD-R disc at that. Unfortunately, no other special features are included, despite the fact that the previously released early 2000s DVD and the Australian Blu-ray edition of the film offers an audio commentary, deleted scenes with optional commentary, a Joan Allen interview and a behind-the-scenes featurette.
The Contender may not be focused on its president, but it ranks high in my list of presidential films thanks to a string of fantastic performances and a genuinely intense battle of wills between Allen's potential Democratic VP and Oldman's ax-grinding Republican congressman. It's old fashioned politics, sure, but twenty-four years after its release, it seems oddly prescient and timely, boasting a showdown that clips along with breathless aggression for what's otherwise a very chatty flick. Giant's Blu-ray release is more of a mixed bag, unfortunately. While its video transfer is solid (despite it practically begging for a remaster) and its DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is relatively strong, its BD-R disc and almost complete lack of extras are a disappointment, especially when everything from a commentary to deleted scenes to interviews and more were available on the long-ago released DVD. Purchase with caution, although, honestly, it isn't likely to get any better than this anytime soon. Perhaps the Australian Blu-ray, which includes all the film's extras, is worth the investment. If its video transfer is minted from a better master, one hopefully built from the original elements up, the Australian version is a no-brainer. If it ends up being the same transfer? Then your decision will come down to a disc that won't survive the years as well and a barebones supplemental package that could've been so much more.
(Still not reliable for this title)
2007
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1940
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1973
2012
1990
2013
1999-2006
2005
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35th Anniversary Edition
1979
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1939
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