7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 2.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 2.9 |
Following the suicide of their father, Mary and her younger brother Peter are left stranded in the blistering heat of the vast Australian outback. Facing exhaustion and starvation, their salvation comes when they cross paths with an Aboriginal boy on ‘walkabout’, a ritual in which he must leave his home and learn to survive off the land. He teaches them how to survive in the wilderness, but a clash of cultures leads to terrible and tragic consequences.
Starring: Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, David Gulpilil, John Meillon, Robert McDarraDrama | 100% |
Coming of age | 5% |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0 Mono
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Nicolas Roeg's "Walkabout" (1971) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios-UK. There are no supplemental features included with this release. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
Where do we go now?
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios.
The high-definition transfer appears to have been sourced from the same master Criterion worked with when they prepared their Blu-ray release of this most beautiful film for the U.S. market - and this is definitely very good news. In fact, Criterion's logo appears before the film's main credits. However, the UK and U.S. releases are not identical.
Generally speaking, detail and clarity are very good. Because natural light has a very important role in the film, some minor image fluctuations are present (they are very easy to spot during sunsets and sunrises). Understandably, the nighttime footage also looks slightly softer than the rest of the film. There are no traces of excessive degraining and denoising corrections. There are absolutely no traces of edge-enhancement either. Unsurprisingly, the film has a solid organic look. Brightness levels have been slightly elevated (or those on the Criterion release slightly toned down). As a result, colors appear marginally richer and better balanced on the Criterion release (compare screencapture #2 with screencapture #17 from our review of the Criterion release, as well as screencaptures #3 from the two reviews). Additionally, compression is also better on the Criterion release (which uses a BD-50). As a result, some of the light grain is slightly more prominent and image depth slightly better (compare screencapture #9 with screencapture 12 from our review of the Criterion release). Regardless, fans of Walkabout residing in the UK should be very pleased with the presentation as the high-definition transfer is easily one of the very best I have seen Universal Studios use for a catalog release. Well done. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray disc: English LPCM 2.0. For the record, Universal Studios have provided optional English SDH subtitles for he main feature.
The lossless track is very good. The audio has good depth and clarity, while balance issues from previous DVD releases of Walkabout have been eliminated. The most important improvement for UK viewers, however, should be the elimination of the PAL speed-up that plagued the R2 DVD releases of the film. The dialog is crisp, clean, and easy to follow.
Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray disc.
This Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release of director Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout is a very good alternative for fans of the film residing outside of North America that could not take advantage of Criterion's Region-A "locked" release. I still prefer the Criterion release because of its excellent supplemental features, but as far as the technical presentation is concerned this is easily one of the most competent releases to come out of Universal's vaults. RECOMMENDED.
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