True Detective: Night Country Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

True Detective: Night Country Blu-ray Movie Review

The truth is *down* there.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 10, 2024

The very title of True Detective may evoke pulpy magazines from the veritable days of yore, but this fourth season of the anthology series may actually evoke something a bit more recent, namely the season one episode of The X-Files entitled "Ice", in which Scully and Mulder journey to Alaska to investigate the mysterious disappearance of scientists at an isolated research facility. Well, guess what? True Detective: Night Country may not have two bickering FBI agents, but it does feature a duo of investigators who might arguably be in that same skeptic vs. believer dialectic mode that our intrepid X-Files focal characters often were, and as with that probably little remembered episode from the long running "paranormal" television series, the pair in this effort are in a (fictional) Alaskan locale, in this case a town called Ennis, where they indeed are investigating the mysterious disappearance of scientists at an isolated research facility. Also with at least some episodes of The X-Files, while there's a glut of supernatural phenomena suffusing the story, there's also a relatively rational explanation for at least moments of mayhem, though the emphasis on indigenous peoples from that frigid region and their belief in spirits walking amongst us is certainly a salient and probably ultimately inexplicable (in a left brain way) element of the tale.

True Detective: Night Country begins with local Ennis police chief Liz Danvers (an impressive Jodie Foster) looking into a suddenly mysteriously empty research facility. Well, maybe not completely empty, because (again, kind of in "traditional" X-Files fashion) a severed human tongue is found on the floor. An indigenous native Alaskan trooper named Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) is pretty much instantly certain the tongue belongs to a long ago Inupiat murder victim named Annie Kowtok, and it turns out the Kowtok killing has become (no Alaskan pun intended) a "cold case", with Navarro blaming Danvers at least in part for a solution never having been achieved. In the meantime, an even more harrowing and X-Files-esque situation is uncovered with the discovery of a gaggle of naked dead men frozen en masse on an ice field. They of course turn out to be the missing researchers, and even more horrifyingly, in one of those funny-horrific combo platters, it turns out one of them isn't "quite dead yet".

Unsurprisingly, the unsolved murder of Annie and the (brief) "disappearance" of the research workers are related, though it takes six fairly stuffed full to bursting episodes to "get there" in a more or less rationally explained way. The interstitial episodes offer a typically novelistic array of other characters who play into the story, including Liz's adopted Inupiat stepdaughter Leah (Isabella Star LaBlanc), but the main focus remains pretty relentlessly on Danvers and Navarro, as they each confront what might be called their own "darknesses" while surrounded by unending nighttime due to the polar location in whatever the opposite of the Land of the Midnight Sun might be. A number of native traditions and/or belief systems enter the fray, but the upshot is that the Alaskan wilderness, along with being a "character" of sorts in this story, also "encloses" a host of spiritual influences, at least according to the natives.

The narrative somewhat hilariously may probably become more preposterous in its perceived "realistic" aspects than in any of the supernatural elements, and once an underground lair is found and a supposedly top secret project and predictable consequences begin to be unveiled, things may arguably go slightly rote and ridiculous in about equal measure. The whole subplot of Liz somehow not supporting her daughter's desire to understand her native heritage is probably also unnecessary and only serves to introduce a somewhat soap operatic aspect. Those probably niggling qualms are easily outweighed by a palpable mood offering an almost ominous presence of darkness and something going bump in that night.

True Detective: Night Country Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

True Detective: Night Country is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.00:1. One of the problems with IMDb's technical data is that multi season anthology productions like this may utilize a variety of cameras and/or capture resolutions/DIs, but this really interesting interview with cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister that I found discloses he used Arri Alexas, but with some absolutely fascinating infrared technology to handle all the low light material. I highly recommend those interested in background information like this to read the interview, but one way or the other, this is a stellar looking transfer that manages to eke out a surprising amount of detail in sometimes very low light conditions. That tendency toward frames bathed in blacks can occasionally lead to some very slight banding as a light source may suddenly enter the frame. A few passing moments of CGI are probably less than completely convincing (including an opening caribou hunt). Interestingly according to some of the featurettes included as bonus items, none of the weather shown was CGI generated. The palette is appropriately cool, but rather nicely suffused. Detail levels are excellent, with the possible exception of some of the most shrouded material.

True Detective: Night Country Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

True Detective: Night Country features an impressively immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. While an Atmos offering probably could have provided more "in your face" wind effects, the outdoor material here is often completely enveloping. There is some surprisingly floorboard rattling LFE at times, especially in a calamitous sixth episode where all hell (probably appropriate, given some underground and even underwater material) breaks loose. Interior scenes often have nicely subtle background ambient environmental sounds that are properly directional. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly rendered throughout. Optional subtitles in several languages are available.

True Detective: Night Country Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One

• Meet the Detectives (HD; 2:56) is one of two supplements that feature Foster and Reis at a table doing little "bits" in what might be thought of as the supplemental content version of some of the momentarily silly aspects of the main piece mentioned above. Here, they ask each other a series of questions like "what's the coldest you've ever been".


• New Chapter (HD; 2:59) is a brief overview with interviews and snippets from the series.


• Episode One Recap (HD; 00:59)


• Episode Two Recap (HD; 1:00)


• Episode Three Recap (HD; 00:45)

Disc Two

• Exploring Indigenous Themes (HD; 4:43) is a really interesting if too brief piece, with a title that might be taken literally at least intermittently when there's some footage of "throat singers" and ethnic drumming.


• Max Inkblots (HD; 3:13) is the second of the two supplements featuring Foster and Reis at a table. Here, they have supposed "inkblot" like images they have to react to, after which the actual source image for the "inkblot" is revealed. I don't subscribe to Max, but since this is so obviously branded, I'm wondering if this could actually be a little series of similar featurettes that either has already shown up or will be showing up on the service? Was someone actually paid to come up with this concept?


• Setting (HD; 2:17) is a good look at the Icelandic locations that served as Ennis, Alaska.


• Episode Four Recap (HD; 1:01)


• Episode Five Recap (HD; 00:42)


• Episode Six Recap (HD; 00:47)

The keepcase insert features an inner print and packaging features a slipcover.

True Detective: Night Country Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kind of interestingly, at least in a trivial pursuit sort of way, "Ice" wasn't the only episode of The X-Files set in the frozen north, and the first two seasons of the long running series in particular seemed to like to feature icy polar locales. "Colony" and "End Game" both have far northern settings, which, along with such (snow encrusted?) evergreens as The Thing (in either of its versions) may suggest that Alaska is haunted one way or the other. True Detective: Night Country occasionally indulges in some unnecessary silliness in doling out information, but it's often an incredibly tense and ultimately moving depiction of what kind of incredibly ultimately turns out to be a tale of women taking back their own power. Technical merits are solid and the supplements engaging. Highly recommended.