6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A pair survive a plane crash in the mountains where they are forced to trust each other and find safety while badly injured.
Starring: Idris Elba, Kate Winslet, Dermot Mulroney, Beau Bridges, Lucia WaltersDrama | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1
Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1
Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Urdu: Dolby Digital 5.1
Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Polish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Turkish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Cantonese, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Korean, Malay, Mandarin (Simplified), Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Turkish, Vietnamese
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Back in the Dark Ages when I was in elementary school and there were these things called books, I read a fantastic adventure story whose name I still struggle to recall about a young boy who, along with a severely injured adult, survived a plane crash in the Sierra Nevadas in the depths of winter. It was so exciting to my then probably ten or eleven year old self that I kind of wanted to be in a plane crash myself (so much for the wisdom of youth), just so I could experience the thrill of foraging in the forest and proving that Mother Nature was no match for human ingenuity. My adult self was considerably less “excited” about a somewhat similar plot conceit informing The Mountain Between Us, a film which posits two grown ups surviving a plane crash in the depths of winter in the mountain range directly to the east of the Sierra Nevadas, the Uintas, in a region of Utah where I was probably living when I read that children's book years ago (the book on which this film is based evidently actually begins in Salt Lake City, something that’s kind of oddly been switched to Boise for the film adaptation). The Mountain Between Us traffics in some traditional disaster and/or “survival” film tropes while also attempting, perhaps unwisely, to inject a kind of tear jerking romantic subtext to some of the proceedings. Ben Bass (Idris Elba) is a prominent neurosurgeon and Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) is a journalist who are thrust together by the vagaries of fate when weather cancels their flights. Both have supposedly important appointments which can’t be canceled, and so team together to charter a private plane to get them to their destinations. When that plane’s pilot, Walter (Beau Bridges), succumbs to a stroke while flying, the plane crashes, leaving Ben and Alex stranded on a wintry mountaintop where personal issues begin intruding into the story.
The Mountain Between Us is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists various Arri Alexa cameras as having been used, and (kind of oddly) lists a 2.4K DI from which this transfer has assumedly been culled. The results here are rather staggering a lot of the time, with really nicely textured accountings of the snowy mountaintops as the duo attempts to make their way to civilization. Rather impressive depth of field attends many wide shots showing how "small" Ben and Alex are in this new environment. But it's in more "mundane" elements like the fabrics on the knit caps of Ben and Alex or the fur lining in Alex's parka where detail levels really pop most impressively. Kind of refreshingly, aside from some yellow tinting in some of the interior cabin scenes, there's really not a lot of overt (or at least noticeable) grading on display, and so the palette looks natural and really nicely suffused. There are a few passing issues with shadow definition both in some dark scenes in the fuselage after the crash and, later, in the cabin, but on the whole this is a really great looking transfer that most fans will enjoy.
The Mountain Between Us has a really effective DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix, one which provides some extremely forceful surround activity in moments like the initial take off of Walt's little plane (with a great backward to forward panning sound as the craft flies "over" the camera), and then of course in the frightening crash sequence. But even after things have supposedly "quieted" down there's a consistent use of the surround channels as Ben and Alex trudge through the wilderness. Wind sounds waft through the side and rear channels and occasional bursts of sonic energy are achieved in some of the little set pieces like the attack of the mountain lion or, later, Alex's plunge into icy waters. Dialogue, effects and Ramin Djawadi's score are all mixed very smartly, and there are no problems of any kind to report on this track.
Fans of Winslet and/or Elba will probably be willing to overlook some of the more incredible aspects of The Mountain Between Us, and the film does offer some spectacular scenery to help distract from some needlessly melodramatic plotting. Technical merits are first rate, and with caveats duly noted, The Mountain Between Us comes Recommended.
2017
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2017
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