7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The true story of the "Rumble in the Jungle" fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire.
Starring: Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Don King, James Brown (I), B.B. KingDocumentary | 100% |
Sport | 22% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Leon Gast's documentary "When We Were Kings" (1996) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an exclusive new video interview with producer David Sonenberg; archival interview with Leon Gast; Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte's documentary "Soul Power"; and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by Kelefa Senneh and technical credits. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, When We Were Kings arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this Blu-ray release:
"This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director scanner from a 35mm interpositive and restored at Deluxe in Hollywood. The 5.0 surround soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm six-track full-coat magnetic tapes using Avid's Pro Tools and iZotope RX.
Colorist: Lee Kline, Criterion Post, New York."
The documentary uses footage from a number of different sources, including some were mastered in standard definition, with variable technical characteristics. So, my comments do not address the native quality of this footage and how it was incorporated into the documentary. My comments address only the presentation of the finished product and how it was transferred to Blu-ray.
Given the above clarification, you should expect to see a range of modest to strong density fluctuations, with the most prominent ones appearing during the standard definition footage (you can see an example in screencapture #11). Clarity also varies, especially during the darker footage, some of which is also a tad jittery. This being said, the entire documentary has a very nice organic appearance. (Just to be clear, there are no traces of digital work that was done to rebalance the archival footage). The color grading job is also very pleasing and in my opinion preserves the native period qualities of the raw footage. (And yes, even the black-and-white footage). Image stability is excellent, but keep in mind that some of the native footage could be a tad shaky. There are no distracting imperfections, such as damage marks, cuts, stains, warped torn frames. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
As the technical credits that we have quoted above reveal, the audio has been remastered to remove age-related imperfections. However, the original soundtrack does some native dynamic and balance fluctuations, and it should not be difficult to understand why -- there is quite a bit of raw footage and concert footage that was shot under different conditions. The important bit here is this: the lossless track reproduces the original qualities of the soundtrack very well.
Any way you look at it, the 'Rumble in the Jungle' was a monumental event, which for a short period of time had the entire world fixated on it. In those days, only FIFA's World Cup was capable of accomplishing the same. I also consider it one of the greatest business deals ever done, with Don King being the mastermind behind it. There is a lot of political noise that surrounded it and When We Were Kings rightfully captures plenty of it, though it is difficult for me to see the documentary as an objective account of what took place as it clearly promotes a one-sided view and does not treat Muhammad Ali and George Foreman equally. It is still worth seeing, however, because there is plenty of very rare archival footage in it. Criterion's Blu-ray release is sourced from a solid new 4K remaster. RECOMMENDED.
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