5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 3.6 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A lawyer finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking.
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Javier Bardem, Brad PittDrama | 100% |
Crime | 73% |
Thriller | 36% |
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 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
Italian: DTS 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Russian: DTS 5.1
Ukrainian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Extended cut has only English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit) track; DTS all 768 kpbs, DD all 448 kbps
English SDH, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Hindi, Latvian, Lithuanian, Mandarin (Simplified), Norwegian, Russian, Swedish, Ukrainian
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Cormac McCarthy’s name may only be instantly recognizable to the more literary minded, or at least to those who really pay attention to film credits as they whisk by, but there’s little doubt that the acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winning author has had a hand in several well regarded film triumphs. Novels by McCarthy have provided source material for such widely disparate movies as The Road and, perhaps most famously, No Country for Old Men. Many of McCarthy’s works have a sort of bleak outlook, with weathered heroes (or anti- heroes, as the case may be) who have paid their dues but also are still dealing with either external crises or, just as often, psychological detritus arising from past traumas and regrets. The Counselor marks McCarthy’s first original screenplay, and it, like many of his novels, posits a morally ambiguous lead character whose decisions ultimately spill out into a number of unforeseen ripples, affecting both those around him as well as himself. Also like many of McCarthy’s novels, The Counselor is filled with poetic language, beautiful little bons mots which are at once wildly lyrical but also perfectly attuned to whatever character is uttering them. The Counselor raised quite a critical ruckus upon its release, with many reviewers stating it was among Ridley Scott’s worst films, but others, notably Variety’s chief critic Scott Foundas, taking his colleagues to task for not understanding the film’s intentional density and literary ambitions. All one need do is to listen and watch the exhaustive three and a half hour quasi- Maximum Movie Mode appending the film’s extended cut on this two disc Blu-ray set in order to realize that, like it or not, The Counselor is a film that a lot of gifted people thought quite carefully about. This is not, in other words, some kind of haphazard thriller cobbled together out of preexisting parts and foisted off on an unsuspecting public as Art, but instead a rather ruminative piece, rather like The American in some ways, that upends several expected tropes in what might more appropriately be seen as a character study (or, indeed, characters study) than as any easily pigeonholed genre film.
The Counselor is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. This often luscious looking film was shot with the Red Epic, and the image here is almost flawlessly pristine and sharp looking. If you listen to Scott's commentary, you might be surprised to hear how often locations jump from continent to continent, even though the film is supposedly based in a rather narrow swath between Texas and Mexico, and all of those segues are handled seamlessly here. Scott and DP Dariusz Wolsky have color graded scenes variously, with many of the outdoor sequences bathed in a beautiful amber hue that evokes a hot dusty southwestern ambience. But other scenes, like the opening sequence where we see illicit drugs being stored in a canister, are skewed toward a kind of sickly green side of the spectrum. Throughout these changes, fine detail is only minimally affected. Scott tends to exploit close- ups quite a bit throughout the film, which markedly augments fine detail. There are some niggling contrast issues in a few scenes (I personally wished for a bit more shadow detail in the relatively brief diamond sequence), but otherwise, this is a stellar looking transfer.
From the first moments of The Counselor, when a motorcycle races across an open desert and the soundtrack is filled with a nice panning effect, it's obvious that the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is going to have some excellently immersive channelization. That continues through several set pieces in the film, whether they be the party at Reiner's house or, much later, a really frightening shootout on a deserted desert highway. The film has some very vigorous LFE courtesy of both engines and gunfire at several key points in the film. Dialogue is always very cleanly presented and Daniel Pemberton's odd but effective score also nicely populates the surrounds.
The Counselor doesn't divulge its secrets easily, and in fact this is one film that virtually requires (at least) a second viewing. Filled with some low key but very effective performances (including a perhaps surprisingly nasty turn by the usually sweet Diaz), and boasting some admittedly flowery but unforgettable dialogue by McCarthy, the film is exciting and disturbing in about equal measure. It's not a typical genre film by any stretch of the imagination, but in my book that's a major compliment. The presentation here is virtually flawless and the three and a half hour hybrid commentary-featurette supplement is outstanding. Highly recommended.
1990
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Unrated
2012
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La linea
2009
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Reissue
1977