5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A woman is murdered in Oxford. Her body is discovered by two men, Arthur Seldom, a prestigious professor of logic, and Martin, a young graduate student who has just arrived at the university hoping to study with Seldom. It quickly becomes clear that this is the first in a series of murders, all of which are announced by the murderer with strange mathematical symbols. Professor and student join forces to try and crack the code, and thus begins an elaborate puzzle, in which nothing is as it seems, and the truth is elusive.
Starring: Elijah Wood, John Hurt, Leonor Watling, Julie Cox, Alex CoxThriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English, English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Ah, the hallowed halls of academe, home to dusty chalkboards, learned professors, and—unfortunately—stilted murder mysteries. At least, this is the case in The Oxford Murders, a logic-befuddled whodunit from Spanish director Álex de la Iglesia (The Day of the Beast), based on a novel of the same name by Argentine writer Guillermo Martínez. The film boasts a litany of impressive mathema-philosophical references—from Gödel's Theorem and Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, to Wittgenstein’s rule-following paradox and the so-called “Butterfly” effect—but what’s missing from this veritable upper-level undergrad course is any sense of human conflict or suspense. The Oxford Murders shares the curse of every owl-eyed researcher and esoteric specialist: live too long in the ivory tower, and you’ll inevitably lose touch with the common man.
Elijah Wood and John Hurt catch a video-on-demand showing of "The Oxford Murders."
The Oxford Murders skips U.S. theaters entirely—well, I think it opened on a single screen in San Francisco—and comes straight to Blu-ray, where it's equipped with an impressive 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer. Given the subject matter—mathematical murders in dreary old England—you shouldn't expect eye-popping color, but the bleak palette is still rich and saturated in its own way. A bluish cast tints most of the scenes, with amber hues occasionally taking over for key sequences, and while skin tones are pallid throughout, this is definitely an intentional choice. Black levels are mostly deep and consistent—you'll see some haziness—and contrast is pleasingly tweaked for a dense, slightly stylized image. What impresses most, though, is the clarity on display. For evidence of how crisp the picture is, look no further than the characters' preferred jackets—the fine texture of Martin's leather bomber is easily visible, and Seldom's appropriately professorial corduroy/tweet coats display every nuance of the their fabrics. Of course, for additional verification, you can also look to John Hurt's characteristically craggy face, which offers up its every wrinkle, pock, and pore here for our inspection. The only overt visual distraction I noticed was a brief moiré effect on the tight pattern of one of John Hurt's jackets—the one he wears on the bus. Otherwise, no complaints here. Grain is intact but unobtrusive, the print is sharp and clean, and there are no real compression-related problems.
The Oxford Murders starts with a WWI battle scene flashback that may set your expectations for the film's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track a little too high. Here, gunshots ping through the rear speakers, mortar rounds explode with LFE rumble, and chunks of dirt and debris go spraying outward through every channel. There's nothing in the rest of the film that can match the sheer sonic expressiveness of this sequence, but there aren't any fatal audio foul-ups either. What we get, instead, is a front-heavy, dialogue-driven experience that sometimes calls on the rear channels to accentuate moments of mounting suspense. (Or, rather, what passes in the film for suspense.) You'll hear some quiet on-campus ambience, a clock ticking ominously in a surround speaker, a helicopter flying between channels, etc.—nothing bombastic, but all successful in building a more enveloping audio environment. Then, of course, we have the score, which fills out the space with rich orchestral arrangements and the occasional bit of chanting. Dialogue is consistently easy to follow, and the disc includes English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
The Making of The Oxford Murders (SD, 17:20)
Pretty typical making-of documentary, complete with on-set footage and interviews with all the key players.
Criminal Math of Oxford (SD, 10:14)
Author Guillermo Martinez explains the concept of a logical series.
The Oxford Murders Interviews (SD, 13:45)
Includes additional interviews with Alex de la Iglesia, John Hurt, Elijah Wood, and Leonor Watling.
The Oxford Murders at Abbey Road (SD, 2:26)
Brief footage of the film's composer at the famed Abbey Road studios.
The Oxford Murders: Waiting for Alex (SD, 18:12)
Novelist Guillermo Martinez and screenwriter Jorge Guerricaechevarria discuss the adaptation process and make jokes about waiting for director Alex
de la Iglesia to show up and join them.
The Oxford Murders: Professor Kalman (SD, 4:30)
A behind-the-scenes look at Alex Cox as Kalman, the demented self-lobotomized professor.
The Oxford Murders: Set Design (SD, 3:27)
A quick glimpse at the pre-production drawings for each of the film's main locations.
The Oxford Murders: Kalman's Makeup (SD, 4:32)
Not sure why they didn't fold these featurette in with the previous Kalman-centric piece, but whatever.
HDNet: A Look at The Oxford Murders (1080i, 4:43)
A typical HDNet promo, with brief interviews and a synopsis of the film.
Behind the Scenes of The Oxford Murders (SD, approx. 6:00)
Small snippits of interviews and a profile of the director as a Spaniard working in England. There are six segments here, each a hair over a minute
long.
Also from Magnolia Home Entertainment Blu-ray (1080p, 9:02)
Includes trailers for Centurion, The Extra Man, I Am Love, and Demand Zero.
The Oxford Murders was actually completed in 2007, but it's only now seeing a straight-to-video and video-on-demand release. This is usually indicative that the movie is either a.) not very good or b.) hard for the distributor to market, and in the case of The Oxford Murders, I'd say it's both. The film is by no means terrible, but it is magnificently dull, especially for a supposed thriller. On the plus side, the movie gets a strong presentation on Blu-ray, so if you're a fan of director Álex de la Iglesia and you're willing to give The Oxford Murders a shot—be forewarned, it's nothing like his other, more comedic films—then you'll at least have a pleasing high definition experience. For all others, though, you'll want to skip this purely academic exercise.
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