Re: **Official Blu-Ray & HD-DVD Thread Part II**
Another review of Video and Audio (Hidefdigest)
The Video: Sizing Up the Picture 4 out of 5 stars
Brace yourselves, fanboys. You're about to read the most "biased" and "unprofessional" review in the history of forever! What's this? I'm not going to give 'Revenge of the Fallen' perfect 5-star scores for audio or video? How can that be? Clearly, I've let my dislike for the movie color my review of its technical specs. I mean, there couldn't possibly be any other explanation, could there? It's simply not conceivable that this disc could be anything less than total perfection in every regard.
Well, be that as it may, I don't consider the Blu-ray's 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer to be the pinnacle of home video quality. 'Revenge of the Fallen' looks almost exactly like the first 'Transformers', which is to say that the picture is superficially sharp, but (aside from those few scenes shot on IMAX film stock) doesn't exhibit a lot of textural detail. While the image doesn't look soft, skin pores or the fabric weave of clothing are almost never resolved in any particular clarity, as they are in the best high-def transfers. Contrasts have been pumped up, blacks are crushed, and colors are gaudily oversaturated such that all the actors have orange Oompa Loompa skin. That's Michael Bay's style, of course, so I can't fault the transfer for replicating what he wanted. Nonetheless, when searching for the best of the best-looking movies on Blu-ray, this probably isn't the first one I'd grab off the shelf.
None of that is to say that the disc looks bad. It looks very good indeed, excellent even. But 5 stars? Not in my opinion.
Riding the coattails of 'The Dark Knight', Michael Bay chose to film selected scenes for 'Revenge of the Fallen' on IMAX film stock, which has a much larger negative size and captures much more detail. (Because so much of the movie is CGI-intensive, Bay also had the VFX artists render their work at a higher resolution for these scenes.) The majority of the movie was shot on traditional 35mm film with Panavision lenses for an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. In IMAX theaters, the bulk of the movie was projected letterboxed on the giant 1.44:1 screen, while the special IMAX scenes expanded vertically to fill the screen. On the other hand, in standard 35mm theaters, the IMAX scenes were cropped on the top and bottom, and the entire movie was projected at 2.40:1.
The general release Blu-ray is a replication of the 35mm theatrical prints. The whole movie is letterboxed to 2.40:1 throughout. A few scenes have English subtitles for alien dialogue. Those subtitles are contained within the movie image, and are safe for viewing on Constant Image Height projection screens.
Like the Blu-ray edition of 'The Dark Knight', the IMAX scenes here do exhibit slightly better sharpness and detail than the rest of the movie around them. However, much less of this movie was shot on IMAX stock than 'Dark Knight'. Also, Bay's frenetic and confusing visual style largely negates the benefit of that added clarity.
The Audio: Rating the Sound 4.5 out of 5 stars
This is a Michael Bay movie. It's gonna get loud, folks. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack starts up with the thumping bass right from the Dreamworks and Paramount logos. Even Optimus Prime's gravelly voice sounds like it's trying to rattle your chair a little. The action scenes in the film, of which there are many, are pure audio porn. They feature slamming, thunderous waves of intense bass down to the lowest registers. No matter how large your subwoofer, this disc will push it to its limits. All the while, the surround channels constantly buzz with sound effects zinging all around the soundstage.
The thing is, though, that dialogue levels are very low and flat in comparison to the really freakin' loud sound effects and music. Also, non-action scenes, of which there are several long stretches, are pretty much sonically dead. In either type of scene, this movie is all about loudness at the expense of anything else. Clarity of subtle audio details (I can't believe I just used the word "subtle" to describe something in a Michael Bay film) and musical fidelity are incidental, and not particularly noteworthy.
So, again like with the video, the soundtrack is pretty great, but not what I personally classify as perfect.
I can wait for the price drop b/c I didn't love the movie. I'd be more inclined to buy Wolverine or the last Terminator movie on blu ray before T2: RotF
Another review of Video and Audio (Hidefdigest)
The Video: Sizing Up the Picture 4 out of 5 stars
Brace yourselves, fanboys. You're about to read the most "biased" and "unprofessional" review in the history of forever! What's this? I'm not going to give 'Revenge of the Fallen' perfect 5-star scores for audio or video? How can that be? Clearly, I've let my dislike for the movie color my review of its technical specs. I mean, there couldn't possibly be any other explanation, could there? It's simply not conceivable that this disc could be anything less than total perfection in every regard.
Well, be that as it may, I don't consider the Blu-ray's 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer to be the pinnacle of home video quality. 'Revenge of the Fallen' looks almost exactly like the first 'Transformers', which is to say that the picture is superficially sharp, but (aside from those few scenes shot on IMAX film stock) doesn't exhibit a lot of textural detail. While the image doesn't look soft, skin pores or the fabric weave of clothing are almost never resolved in any particular clarity, as they are in the best high-def transfers. Contrasts have been pumped up, blacks are crushed, and colors are gaudily oversaturated such that all the actors have orange Oompa Loompa skin. That's Michael Bay's style, of course, so I can't fault the transfer for replicating what he wanted. Nonetheless, when searching for the best of the best-looking movies on Blu-ray, this probably isn't the first one I'd grab off the shelf.
None of that is to say that the disc looks bad. It looks very good indeed, excellent even. But 5 stars? Not in my opinion.
Riding the coattails of 'The Dark Knight', Michael Bay chose to film selected scenes for 'Revenge of the Fallen' on IMAX film stock, which has a much larger negative size and captures much more detail. (Because so much of the movie is CGI-intensive, Bay also had the VFX artists render their work at a higher resolution for these scenes.) The majority of the movie was shot on traditional 35mm film with Panavision lenses for an aspect ratio of 2.40:1. In IMAX theaters, the bulk of the movie was projected letterboxed on the giant 1.44:1 screen, while the special IMAX scenes expanded vertically to fill the screen. On the other hand, in standard 35mm theaters, the IMAX scenes were cropped on the top and bottom, and the entire movie was projected at 2.40:1.
The general release Blu-ray is a replication of the 35mm theatrical prints. The whole movie is letterboxed to 2.40:1 throughout. A few scenes have English subtitles for alien dialogue. Those subtitles are contained within the movie image, and are safe for viewing on Constant Image Height projection screens.
Like the Blu-ray edition of 'The Dark Knight', the IMAX scenes here do exhibit slightly better sharpness and detail than the rest of the movie around them. However, much less of this movie was shot on IMAX stock than 'Dark Knight'. Also, Bay's frenetic and confusing visual style largely negates the benefit of that added clarity.
The Audio: Rating the Sound 4.5 out of 5 stars
This is a Michael Bay movie. It's gonna get loud, folks. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack starts up with the thumping bass right from the Dreamworks and Paramount logos. Even Optimus Prime's gravelly voice sounds like it's trying to rattle your chair a little. The action scenes in the film, of which there are many, are pure audio porn. They feature slamming, thunderous waves of intense bass down to the lowest registers. No matter how large your subwoofer, this disc will push it to its limits. All the while, the surround channels constantly buzz with sound effects zinging all around the soundstage.
The thing is, though, that dialogue levels are very low and flat in comparison to the really freakin' loud sound effects and music. Also, non-action scenes, of which there are several long stretches, are pretty much sonically dead. In either type of scene, this movie is all about loudness at the expense of anything else. Clarity of subtle audio details (I can't believe I just used the word "subtle" to describe something in a Michael Bay film) and musical fidelity are incidental, and not particularly noteworthy.
So, again like with the video, the soundtrack is pretty great, but not what I personally classify as perfect.
I can wait for the price drop b/c I didn't love the movie. I'd be more inclined to buy Wolverine or the last Terminator movie on blu ray before T2: RotF
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