6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
American Senator Gary Hart's presidential campaign in 1988 is derailed when he's caught in a scandalous love affair.
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Mamoudou AthieBiography | 100% |
Drama | 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
Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Polish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1
Turkish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Polish VO
English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Thai, Turkish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
For Director Jason Reitman's (Up in the Air, Tully) The Front Runner, megastar Hugh Jackman transforms from hunky self healing hero to perfectly coiffed, calm, cool, and centrist candidate. And cheater. Jackman plays Gary Hart, a candidate for the 1988 presidential election (which was ultimately won by George Bush over Michael Dukakis), whose personal missteps cost him the nomination and very possibly the White House. Sex scandals are certainly nothing new to the political landscape, but Hart's was different. It was the first to be covered in the now-familiar media frenzy. The press would often look the other way (Kennedy-Monroe) but Hart's undoing came in a time of more intense media scrutiny in the post-Watergate era, even in the pre-Internet days, which was of course the point of release for the Clinton-Lewinski scandal that at once both made online journalism a power in the evolving media industry and a scandal that ultimately led to a president's impeachment, but not removal from office.
Facing his accusers.
The Front Runner was shot on film. Reitman carefully recreates a period appearance for his picture, one that Sony's Blu-ray replicates fully and faithfully. The image is a textural powerhouse, defined by tight, precise details and complimented by a fine, filmic grain structure. Facial complexities are revealed with ease, 80s attire is sharp and revealing, and various offices and props, including era televisions, telephones, and typewriters, showcase exceptionally revelatory clarity. Colors are a strong point. The film does take on a fairly warm color temperature but expect to find well saturated hues within the picture's visual parameters, with strong pop and vitality in some of the more neutrally lit scenes. Black levels are critical to shaping the moods within various scenes, and Sony presents them with highly impressive depth, shadow detail, and stability. Skin tones are likewise full and healthy. The image reveals no source artifacts or compression issues. Slight wobble on a title card introducing the New York location at about the 76-minute mark is really the only "blemish" to be found, but that might be a small Reitman detail meant to suggest and reinforce the picture's period-recreative look and feel.
In The Front Runner, it's not uncommon for characters to speak over and atop one another; various scenes can be a jumble of dialogue that Sony's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack produces as intended, which means a general absence of perfect prioritization and vocal distinction and clarity. Still, even in isolation, some vocals, particularly early in the film, struggle to elevate to a reasonable level, leaving the listener straining a bit to properly hear what needs to be heard. The track is otherwise in good shape, presenting reasonably wide and slightly immersive office din at newspapers and campaign offices. The track gains some steam in chapter four when music plays with a more prominent energy and clarity when Hart takes his first break from the campaign in Miami. Listeners will appreciate some fine musical distinction in chapter 10 while a scene in chapter 15 features a critical moment in a press conference that is interrupted by camera shutters clicking all over the stage. Indeed, the bustle of gathered press comes to define most of the film's key second half scenes, which juxtapose against Hart's more reserved responses in front of gaggles of journalists.
The Front Runner contains a commentary track, a featurette, and deleted scenes. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with
purchase. A DVD is not. The release does not appear to ship with a slipcover.
The Front Runner is a well-paced and entertaining film but more importantly an intimate character portrait about a politician's fall from grace, if not the first then certainly the first most prominent victim of extreme media scrutiny or "tabloid politics" as Author/Screenwriter Matt Bai has called it in the book on which the film is based. Jackman is terrific in the role, parsing the part more inwardly than outwardly, commanding the screen as the darling but quickly discarded candidate. Sony's Blu-ray is, unsurprisingly, first rate, offering pristine 1080p film-sourced video, a high end 5.1 lossless soundtrack, and a few quality extras. Highly recommended.
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