Blu-ray Review: Falling Down (Blu-ray Book) - BigScreen Journal: The BigScreen Cinema Guide

Front Cover Artwork Falling Down

Warner Home Video
112 Minutes

List Price: $34.99 (Check Price at Amazon.com)

This movie is also available on DVD and video on demand (rental, purchase).

Available 5/26/2009

Click here for additional movie details, including the full plot summary, cast listing, trailers and videos, photos, reviews of the movie, and links to the official movie web site and more.

	Theatrical	This Disc
Video Format:	35mm	1080p VC-1
Aspect Ratio:	2.35:1	2.40:1
Audio:	Dolby SR	Dolby TrueHD 2.0
Other:		Movie: BD-25 (x1) BD-MV

Disc Contents

Upfront Ads - can be skipped (HD, DD 5.1)
- Blu-ray Promo (1:10)
Movie
Special Features
- Commentary with Michael Douglas and Directory Joel Schumacher.
- Deconstructing D-Fens: A Conversation (10:11, SD, 2 channel)
- Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2 channel)

About the Movie

Michael Douglas stars as William Foster, a defense worker with some serious anger management issues that snaps during a traffic jam and decides to walk to his destination. Along the way, he suffers some injustices, and instead of just dealing with them by "turning the other cheek," he decides to exact some vengeance against his oppressors. Robert Duvall plays a cop on his last day of work before retirement that pursues the vigilante on the loose on the streets of LA.

How Does it Look?

Still from the movie (not an actual screenshot)

The picture quality was good but unremarkable, and mostly free of artifacts or other issues. The look of the movie is somewhat grainy and subdued, and I have to believe that this was the original look of the theatrical release. I did notice a color shift from red to green twice during the movie, but it was subtle.

How Does it Sound?

The Dolby TrueHD lossless audio soundtrack is good, but the movie doesn't lend itself to being good audio (or video) demo material. The 2-channel soundtrack is very front-heavy with very little surround activity. That being said, I'm still glad to see a lossless soundtrack, as every Blu-ray disc should offer the best audio options possible.

Extras

I like to see the theatrical trailer included with movies, so I was glad to see one included here. There is a commentary track featuring Michael Douglas and Director Joel Schumacher, but I didn't listen to it. There is a feature titled "Deconstructing D-Fens: A Conversation" which features Michael Douglas talking about what drew him to the movie, and how he felt it related to the climate in Los Angeles at the time of the Rodney King riots.

Other Aspects

This disc is BD-MV formatted, and our PlayStation 3 was able to support auto-resuming the movie. Bookmarking is not supported. This title is packaged in a "book" format, which means that the traditional case is eschewed for a hardcover book that details some information about the movie and the primary actors and actresses. The back cover of the book contains a nicely done plastic holder for the disc, which is much better than a paper sleeve or gummy center dot to hold the disc.

All in all, it makes for a nice presentation that makes the traditional cases look somewhat cheap by comparison.

Conclusion

This movie is an odd choice for release on Blu-ray, in my opinion. Perhaps it is a sign that the format is maturing to the point that catalog titles of lesser consequence can be released with some confidence by the studios. Whether this release is a purchase candidate for you depends completely upon your opinion of the movie.

If you are fortunate enough to have a Netflix membership, I think it's better to rent this one first if you haven't seen it already or aren't sure about it.

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