6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.2 |
To learn what the USA can gain from other nations, Michael Moore playfully "invades" them to see what they have to offer.
Starring: Michael MooreDocumentary | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Contrary to its suggestive title, Where to Invade Next isn't about U.S. foreign policy and the seemingly constant wartime footing the nation has found itself on since World War II, and in the post-9/11 era in particular. No, controversial Director Michael Moore's (Capitalism: A Love Story) latest feature is about his attempt to import domestic policy ideas from abroad to the U.S, masquerading as a one-man "invasion force" in the quest to bring change to his homeland. Moore vacations, er, travels predominantly through Europe and Iceland (with a quick stop in Tunisia for good measure) with an eye out for social constructs that differ from, and improve on, their counterpart systems in the United States, focusing largely on labor and education but hitting a few more highlights, including women's rights, drug laws, and so forth. Moore doesn't hide his progressive-minded agenda and takes a seriously one-sided, slanted, and unbalanced look at the way things work abroad and domestically, but the film works well enough in his established style and preaching-to-the-choir context.
Skipper Michael Moore.
Where to Invade Next's 1080p transfer doesn't really excite the eyes, nor does it offend them. The digital source material features light-to-pervasive noise and some occasional mild-to-moderate aliasing, but it's otherwise a fairly clean, straightforward presentation. The image captures that hallmark midrange digital glossiness and flatness, but it's rarely a hindrance to any critical factors of concern. Detailing is fine. Moore's worn ball caps and clothes, elegant European exteriors, and general facial details are finely revealing, the latter in particularly capturing a broad range of pores, facial hairs, tattoos, and makeup seen on the film's various interviewees. Colors are cheerful and balanced, enjoying a lifelike neutrality that sees colorful clothes worn by schoolchildren, for example, standing apart with good depth of color and nuanced saturation. Flesh tones retain positive neutrality, and the movie rarely gets dark enough to find much room to concern the review with comments on black levels. Overall, this is a perfectly enjoyable transfer, with the caveat that a couple of key faults are in play for the duration.
Where to Invade Next features a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack that offers plenty of discrete and immersive surround detail amongst the otherwise talk-heavy experience. Militaristic details heavily push through the stage right off the bat. Bass is potent, clarity impressive, and spacing wide across all sides. Other details, such as a bullet train zipping through the stage, are powerfully impressive. Voices emanate from all over the stage when a cacophony of presidential sound bytes swirl about the listening area early in the movie. Otherwise, the track has little offer beyond straightforward and well-prioritized dialogue, which comes through the center clearly and articulately.
This Blu-ray release of Where to Invade Next contains no supplemental content. No digital or DVD copies are included, either.
Just as films from, say, Dinesh D'Souza won't win over any converts entrenched on the political left, Where to Invade Next won't win over any converts entrenched on the political right. Moore's film could almost pass for a two-hour commercial for Bernie Sanders, a Presidential candidate he endorsed on his website earlier in this election cycle; the film espouses many of the Vermont senator's campaign promises, such as free college education and various social reforms. The film plays with an overtly snide but, at the same time, halfway entertaining style. It's a bit too long in the tooth but Moore's agreeable style, at least when he's in his comfort zone (which is most of the movie), makes the film a blast for his backers and a tolerable watch even for his opponents. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of Where to Invade Next features decent video, good audio, and no supplemental content. Progressive minded audiences have probably already purchased. Conservative viewers should probably pass, though the film shouldn't make the blood boil quite so deeply as some of Moore's other cinematic excursions, if only for its more playful, in some ways rambling and harmless, nature.
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