Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Founder Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 14, 2017

McDonalds may very well be the iconic American brand, serving "billions and billions" of America's most iconic food -- the hamburger -- and its reach has taken it to practically every land around the world. It's a childhood paradise of tasty food, bold colors, and plastic playgrounds, and the company's famous "golden arches" are practically ever-present and one of the great alluring draws the world over. But the company hasn't been without controversy. Whether "pink slime" or the fallout from Super Size Me, McDonalds has tried to find that cherished balance between great taste, cost effectiveness, ubiquitousness, and now, nutrition. In fact, only a few years after Super Size Me, some are calling McDonalds food the most nutritious...in human history. It might not beat the Avocado or carrot or chicken breast, but there's no denying the cost-per-calorie ratio. But that's all today. McDonald's history proves just as controversial yet alluring in The Founder, a film that explores the company's expansion into an icon and the man who used cutthroat business tactics to transform an eatery into an empire.

Super Size...my fortune!

Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) has carved out a decent living for himself and his wife Ethel (Laura Dern), but he wants more. He travels far and wide, now pitching his latest product, a milkshake maker that can pump out several of the tasty beverages in quick succession. He's running into roadblocks but learns that a San Bernardino, California restaurant has ordered half a dozen of the devices, and adds two more when Kroc gives them a call to confirm. Intrigued by a business in need of that many machines, he makes the long journey to the West Coast and meets the McDonald brothers, Mac and Dick (John Carroll Lynch and Nick Offerman), who have revolutionized the restaurant industry. Food is delivered to the customer at time of order, always ready to go. It comes wrapped in disposal paper rather than served on a plate. It's cheap, and it tastes great. Kroc senses a major opportunity and pushes the brothers to expand the business nationally. They're largely against the idea, fearing that they'll lose control over the franchise's stability and quality, but Kroc convinces them to let him in, and he quickly takes off running, building the brand into a national icon and leaving the brothers in his proverbial dust.

The Founder's title may be a little misleading. Title character Ray Kroc didn't actually come up with the idea for McDonalds, but he did oversee its expansion into a national brand and icon. The film explores Kroc's role in empire-building, taking an original concept first conceived, and executed on a small scale, by a couple of brothers who opened their first store in San Bernardino, California, and subsequently opened a few others in surrounding communities. One of the film's key battlegrounds between Kroc and the McDonald brothers comes in their vision for how to handle expansion. Kroc is a real go-getter, a guy who has a sharp business sense but also a ruthlessness about him that gradually evolves him from lovable struggling salesman to hero to villain, who by the end of the film could even be labeled a "jerk." On the other hand, the brothers -- and Dick in particular -- are far more cautious, concerned with quality control and wanting to make sure that the brand maintains not just a simple exterior identity but always offers a level of service matched by the quality of food. Some of the film's most interesting battles are fought in the muddy trenches of gray-area business dealings, often over the phone, with Kroc increasingly encroaching on the brothers' turf and building the fast food chain in his image, not theirs, while still making use of their branding and techniques to attract customers. Kroc does a lot of work to get the business rolling and risks everything -- his marriage and his home, notably -- to make sure the business grows into a success. But for every admirable quality, there's an equally disgusting quality that brings the character into question by the end.

Indeed, more interesting than the actual story of McDonalds is the story of Ray Kroc, who the film doesn't paint as a hero to be sure. Keaton's performance is superb. It requires a delicate balance that, at first, never betrays the character's angle or points to the sort of evolution he'll demonstrate throughout the film. Keaton's character evolution comes naturally. He allows the audience to feel that allure of excitement with the concept and turn up the heat ever-so-gradually. His turn into something of a villain is surprising in the context of where he begins, but it's not at all surprising along the delicately turned arc Keaton traverses throughout the film. Little by little the ideas begin to percolate, the emotional attachment to the business increases, and the sense that he sees his business partners as hindrances rather than helpers slowly comes into focus. It's the extent to which Kroc takes control that's most interesting, and Keaton manages to finely tune the character so that it's never clear whether he's working to build the business or build himself until the film's final minutes.

Still, the film's core proves almost as fascinating. An early film sequence in which the brothers recount the story of how they came up with the idea for the restaurant and, more impressive, mapped out a strategy to make it work in the real world, designing work stations and inventions of their creation to make it as fast, efficient, and cost-effective as possible, is one of the film's best and offers an alluring glimpse into the early-day industry's inner workings. Director John Lee Hancock (The Rookie) makes even squirting ketchup and mustard onto a bun a fascinating movie moment. He captures the hustle-and-bustle duties inside the kitchen remarkably well, making the store's layout practically a character itself, where grilling, adding condiments (five squirts each of ketchup and mustard and two pickles), wrapping, and sending the finished burger down to the chute to the bagging area demonstrate the store's productivity but also tell a full story of how and why Kroc found himself drawn to the operation.

The Founder Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Founder's 1080p transfer comes sourced from a digital shoot. The resultant image is rather flat and a bit glossy and smooth. There's not much inherent depth and faces are often a bit pasty. Still, details are fine, fairly sharp and revealing, particularly some of the old clothes and cars and various details around the McDonalds kitchen areas. Standard facial complexities are appropriately revealing as well. Colors are the highlight. The golden arches and neon hues stand out particularly well at night against deep, dark skies. There's a mild warmth and earthiness to much of the film otherwise, but its Mcdonalds colors primaries shine. Noise is kept in check and no other source or encode flaws are readily apparent. This is a quality overall image from Anchor Bay.

The Founder Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Founder features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Music presents very well, airy and effortlessly spaced around the stage, and with a hint of low-end depth. Some of the drive-in restaurants from early in the film offer a nice array of location din, including music flowing from an outdoor speaker. Likewise, crowd din and kitchen activity at the San Bernardino McDonalds locations are nicely filling and occasional frantic, particularly in the kitchen where a cacophony of elements come together. Lighter outdoor atmospherics are presented with light, natural surround and width implementation, including birds, insects, and owls. Dialogue powers most of the film, and it's presented with natural front-center positioning, strong clarity, and prioritization around any competing elements.

The Founder Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Founder contains several extras. A DVD copy of the film and a UV/iTunes digital copy voucher are included with purchase.

• Behind the Scenes Gallery (1080p): A five-part feature.
• The Story Behind the Story (4:32): A basic plot recap and brief character examination.
• Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc (3:08): A quick character overview and a look at Keaton's performance. The cast and crew also sing his praises.
• The McDonald Brothers (4:01): A brief look at the brothers who really founded McDonalds and the actors who portray them.
• The Production Design (7:06): Designing the restaurants seen in the film, both exterior and interior and some of the interesting little tidbits found inside the restaurants. It also covers the use of McDonalds colors in the film.
• Building McDonalds: Time Lapse Video (1:21): Building off a discussion from the previous supplement, this is a simple, rapid look at building one of the key locations from the film.
• Press Conference with Filmmakers and Cast (1080p, 37:44): A collection of key talent discusses the film. From Los Angeles, January 12, 2017.

The Founder Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Founder tells the story of the iconic restaurant's origins and expansion, but there's practically a full movie's worth of history not yet explored: expanding the restaurant's menu; its global, not just national, reach; competition with Burger King and Wendy's; the creation of its iconic characters like Ronald McDonald and The Hamburglar; and the restaurant's position as one of the largest employers in the world. Fortunately, the early-days take makes for a great movie by itself. Michael Keaton is unsurprisingly brilliant in the lead, flanked by a couple of standout performances from Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch. The film will most assuredly challenge the way audiences perceive the brand and the man credited with building it into a fast-food empire. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray is excellent, offering solid video and audio along with an honest allotment of bonus content. Highly recommended.