The Dovekeepers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

The Dovekeepers Blu-ray Movie Review

Not a keeper.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 7, 2015

'The Dovekeepers' is exclusive to Amazon.com through August 11, 2015.

The Dovekeepers comes from Producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, the same pair that brought the recent fan-favorite The Bible to the small screen back in 2013. Their latest endeavor sees them return to Biblical times, only a few decades removed from Christ's birth and crucifixion. The Dovekeepers tells a story centered on three women and their experiences in the First Jewish–Roman War and, specifically, at a mountain retreat known as "Masada." The story, based on the novel that Producer Roma Downey says she could neither put down nor read through with a dry eye, comes from the novel by Alice Hoffman, based on historical events. It aired on CBS on the nights of March 31 and April 1, 2015 with nearly 9,000,000 views on the first night and a sharp drop-off of around 30% on night two.

Dove Letgoer.

Roman Archivist Flavius Josephus (Sam Neil) is tasked with interviewing two women -- Shirah (Cote de Pablo) and Yael (Rachel Brosnahan) -- in relation to their lives and their stay at Masada, the mountaintop stronghold where they, and hundreds of Sicarii rebels, held out against a Roman army bent on their destruction. Shirah, known as "The Witch of Moab," recounts her upbringing and the years to follow, including her mother's life of prostitution; her care for a young Yael and her brother Amram (Diego Boneta); and her forced exit from Moab for bearing a child, Aziza (Kathryn Prescott), out of wedlock, a daughter whom she would raise as a boy. Yael recalls her mother's death at birth, an act which her father held against her. She's haunted by various, and often nightmarish, visions and engages in an adulterous affair with a married man named Jachim Ben Simon (Luke Roberts). All three find their way to Masada where Shirah enlists Yael's help as the fortress' dove keepers. There, the three women become entangled in various relationships in the midst of the Roman siege.

The Dovekeepers plays like a classic case of the good merging with the bad, a production that boasts impeccable attention to detail in terms of its visual prowess -- it's a truly dazzling display of gorgeous costumes and finely-constructed set pieces -- but that's flimsily constructed where it really counts. The show assumes far too much audience foreknowledge of the basic time line and history through which it's weaved, resulting in a narrative that's overly cloudy to begin and that never really opens up for the duration. Even clocking in at around three hours total runtime, it never feels quite so accessible as it should, particularly in terms of keeping up with the many who's, what's, when's, where's, and why's that are intrinsically interconnected and inseparably important in shaping the story's many branching arcs and winding avenues. The result is a story that's more jumbled than linear, more complex than it should have been. It's not inaccessible, but it is a fair bit too big for even its miniseries britches.

Perhaps most damaging of all, the show fails to find a center for its characters. They're at once both honorable and dishonorable, following their hearts and living as well as they can but dipping into forbidden fruits far more often than a show that's at least angling to draw in the religious audience probably should. The miniseries waffles between the upright values the characters hold dear on one side and the promiscuity and other unsavory bits of "witchcraft" and the like on the other. It's an odd combination that seems more likely to push away audiences on both ends rather than unite them under a single banner. While the characters are strongly portrayed by several fine performers -- Cote de Pablo, Rachel Brosnahan, and Kathryn Prescott are all very good in the parts, melting into them both physically and emotionally -- they're unevenly presented at the script level and, like most of the other lines that run through the movie, feel listlessly constructed on the inside though beautifully rendered on the outside.

Yet while it's cluttered and confused, there's no mistaking the miniseries' ability to blend an obvious character intimacy with a broader, much more sweeping and dynamic backstory, a contrast that's often at the heart of similar stories. The Dovekeepers oozes professionalism, perhaps not rigorous authenticity but certainly a feeling of care in every frame and detail in each shot. If nothing else, it's a pleasure on the senses, whether in its most daring and dynamic moments or its most inmate character bits alike. Even when it doesn't all mesh together as seamlessly and narratively soundly as it should, the miniseries maintains a base level of interest with its exterior strength on display in every scene. At least it gets it half right.

The Dovekeepers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Paramount/CBS has released the two-part The Dovekeepers on two 25GB Blu-ray discs, each half (part one [or "night one"] 1:25:58 total runtime, part two [or "night two"] 1:26:58 total runtime) appearing on one of each of the two discs. With a little room to breathe (and not many supplements crowding disc two) the results are striking. Despite the rather glossy and flat façade that comes courtesy of the inorganic digital shoot, the image presents a splendid mixture of striking detail and bold colors. The film is packed with earthy terrain, stone and brick structures, faces, and clothes that are displayed with pinpoint precision, revealing the finest nooks, crevices, accents, seams, lines and other details that give the image a remarkable level of tactile texturing throughout. Colors are likewise impressive, featuring a majestic array of shades -- blues and reds, noticeably -- that are naturally vibrant and healthy, standing out boldly from the various earth tones that dominate most backgrounds. Black levels are deep and pure. Flesh tones appear natural to the actors' complexions (and makeup). The image suffers from a bit of low light level noise but is otherwise absent any noticeable bouts of macroblocking, banding, or aliasing. Overall, this is a truly fine image from Paramount/CBS.

The Dovekeepers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Dovekeepers features an impressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Music is healthily spaced and nicely clear, playing with strong instrumental definition and a nicely immersive surround structure, evident whether the film is playing feather-light, airy notes or heavier beats. The track plays with a good bit of natural environmental immersion; crowded streets are often filled with chatty pedestrians and various sounds of animals, nicely filling the stage and doing well to recreate the total landscape. Sounds of battle are well defined and hefty, including battering rams, various crashes and clanks, swooping arrows, screaming combatants, and other little bits that create a robust sonic battlefield. Dialogue is generally clearly delivered and center-focused; Sam Neil's voice sometimes comes across as just a touch mushy but never to a truly bothersome extent.

The Dovekeepers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Dovekeepers contains a featurette and a collection of network promos, all on disc two.

• The Dovekeepers: Taking Flight (1080p, 29:06): Producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, Author Alice Hoffman, and cast discuss the film. In this catch-all piece, Hoffman describes what drove her to write the story, the producers discuss love of the material and securing the rights, and the actors share character basics and some of their depth. The piece also looks at the crew and the technical details of the shoot, the weather on the set, set construction, props, costumes, and working with the doves.
• Network On-Air Promos (1080i, 2:16): Brief previews for the program.

The Dovekeepers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Dovekeepers doesn't lack ambition, but it does lack polish. While it's a beautifully produced program, the raw dramatic execution often feels sloppy, unbalanced, and unfocused. The jumbled narrative often feels confusing and there's a general waywardness that keeps it less than easily accessible, yet not totally inaccessible, either. Everything about its exterior is near flawless; it's a shame that same attention to detail didn't translate to where it's needed most: the dramatic heart. Paramount/CBS' Blu-ray release of The Dovekeepers features brilliant video and fine audio. Supplements are limited to a broad 30-minute overview and a few promos. Rent it.