The Outfit Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

The Outfit Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson February 6, 2023

While considering prospective topics for a new film, screenwriters Graham Moore and Johnathan McClain leafed through a book on twentieth-century tailoring when they stumbled on a historical milestone. Moore has stated in press interviews that he read the FBI planted its first listening bug for an organized crime syndicate within a Chicago-based tailor store where local mobsters frequented. Moore and McClain used this as the genesis for a small ensemble drama set in a single locale. They thought that narrating a gangster picture from the perspective of a tailor would lend a fresh angle to one of Hollywood's oldest genres. And so the two scribes set The Outfit in 1956 Chicago where British émigré Leonard Burling (Mark Rylance) operates a customized tailor shop. Leonard learned his craft as an expert cutter on Savile Row which he ultimately fled following a personal tragedy. Leonard meticulously trims bespoken suits with his oversized shears along a rectangular worktable. Leonard is assisted by his trusted secretary, Mabel Sean (Zoey Deutch), who yearns to one day live in a more wide-open city. Well-dressed men pass through daily and some come to the backroom to deposit packages through a dropbox attached to the wall. Visitors include Richie (Dylan O’Brien), the son of Irish mafia capo Roy Boyle (Simon Russell Beale), and mob enforcer Francis (Johnny Flynn), who's the senior Boyle's top lieutenant. Leonard always goes about his work amid the passersby to and fro his trimming room. He never asks the men questions about what's in the packages. Late one night, the backroom turns into an operating table. Richie is wounded in the gut with a "marble" from the rival La Fontaines gang. At gunpoint, Burling is ordered by Francis to needle and stitch Richie's gaping wound (a cringe-worthy moment, to put it mildly). Francis and later Roy become aware that a "rat" has been using a secret listening device and informing on them for the FBI. They're hellbent on tracking down that individual.

A cutter, not a tailor.

The audience learns a lot about what a cutter does through Leonard's voice-overs and Mark Rylance's masterful, sharply nuanced performance. While Leonard is on the one hand an omniscient narrator, he's also an unreliable one. Indeed, most of the characters in The Outfit can't be entirely trusted. Each character has his or her own agenda and will use duplicitous means to further dubious causes. They seem to tell multiple versions to a story where the real truth is elusive.

One of the most revealing scenes about the Chicago underworld occurs when Roy Boyle explains to Leonard that he's essentially a descendant of Alphonse Capone where "the outfit" grew from New York to Chicago and spread to a wider network. Boyle's portly appearance reminds me of Jake Guzik, Capone's financial advisor and "bagman." (Guzik may have been one of the inspirations for the elder Boyle.) There's an exchange later in the film between Leonard and Mabel about the possibility that the outfit could always trail one of them.

The Outfit Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Universal and Focus Features' Blu-ray of The Outfit also comes with an insert containing a code for a digital copy on Movies Anywhere that's good through at least 6/30/23. The picture appears in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.00:1 on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50 (disc size: 36.07 GB). Cinematographer Dick Pope shot the movie on the ARRI Alexa LF. While I don't have definitive details to confirm the final grading, I can confidently surmise that the DI for The Outfit was finished in 4K. I have seen Moore's directorial debut in the cinema, on this 2K transfer, and on 4K courtesy of UK label Dazzler Media's UHD release, which also comes with a Blu-ray to go with a slipcover featuring different artwork than the US edition.

In an interview with Zoe Mutter of British Cinematographer Magazine, DP Pope said that he preferred the large sensor on the Alexa LF because it "offered rich image texture, beautifully intense blacks, and natural skin tones." I'd vouch that both the Blu-ray and UHD transfers on these two releases retain those characteristics. Mutter reported that for Leonard's workroom, Pope incorporated an old-fashioned snooker table light with various bulbs depending on the tone of a given scene. You can see how the light is used for scenes part of Screenshot #s 1, 4, and 11-14. Dazzler's HDR10 presentation brings out clearer facial details as well as skin textures on Leonard and the other characters than the 1080p transfer does. I also could see the letters on the front of the tailor shop (frame grab #20) better on the Dazzler than on the Universal. Universal encodes the 105-minute feature at an average video bitrate of 36718 kbps. Dazzler Media's video encode on its BD-50 averages 32997 kbps (disc size: 32.72 GB). I rate the video on the Universal a 4.25/5.00 and 4K transfer on the Dazzler a 5.0/5.0.

Twenty chapters are accessible along the menu's thumbnail icons where you can pick a desired scene. (The Dazzler discs have a dozen scene selections each.)

The Outfit Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Universal has supplied a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround (3357 kbps, 24-bit) as the default sound track. The movie is presented in English except for a phone conversation that's spoken in French in which subtitles are deliberately withheld. Rylance's voice is the clearest among the seven speaking parts. Johnny Flynn does an excellent job of adopting a Chicago accent. The Malaysian-born Simon Russell Beale convinced me that he could pass as an Irish American mafia chieftain. The sound mix makes complete use of all speakers during two flashbacks that Leonard has of fires. The fronts and surrounds are also quite active throughout the final climax. The jazz bass and cello performed for the score by Alexandre Desplat produce some distinct and rangy sounds that extend pretty far out of the center channel.

Dazzler Media has provided a Dolby Atmos track that's TrueHD compatible (7.1+13 objects; 3133 kbps to 3773 kbps, 16-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo downmix (1525 kbps, 24-bit). Please note that there isn't a DTS-HD MA 5.1 on Dazzler's BD-66 or BD-50. The general sound design and directional f/x on the Atmos mix are similar to what I heard on Universal's 5.1 track.

I watched the Universal disc with the optional English SDH enabled; they're very well done. They transcribe the dialogue with 99 percent accuracy. (I noticed one name that wasn't included in the track.) Words spoken in voice-over appear in italics. Generally, subs appear on the bottom center of the screen. If two characters appear in the same shot, the subs display in the same position of the frame (left or right). If bits of dialogue delivered by two characters either overlap or directly follow one another, a dash precedes the line. If a character talks off-screen, the subs will appear in that sound's direction. In addition, there are Spanish and French subtitles.

The Outfit Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Neither the Universal Blu-ray nor the Dazzler UHD/BD editions contain any extras. On the former, there are these previews:

When the Universal disc loads, three trailers launch: House of Gucci, Last Night in Soho, and Licorice Pizza. Each is skippable so you can jump to the main menu.

The Outfit Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's a big shame that Mark Rylance has been completely neglected during awards season. He delivers an Oscar-caliber performance that should have netted him a Best Actor nod. Because The Outfit came out last March and didn't do much business at the box office, it has slipped under the radar. It's one of 2022's sleepers. The Internet Film Critic Society couldn't have given it a more apropos award as last year's "Most Underrated Film." Universal and Focus Features have given the picture a very solid 2K transfer. While it stands out just fine on its own, Dazzler Media's HDR10 presentation boasts finer detail and clarity. I would recommend listening to Dazzler's Atmos mix at higher-than-normal listening levels if you want to pick out the more subtle sounds on the surrounds. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 performs at an optimal level on the Blu-ray. A SOLID RECOMMENDATION for Universal's bare-bones disc and a STRONG RECOMMENDATION for the film.