Tuesday, June 16, 2009

BD impressions: The Unborn

11:51 PM / BD Impressions / Comments4 Comments

BD Impressions
Blu-ray

Oof! Well, that was pretty underwhelming. This evening, we watched The Unborn, the latest offering from Platinum Dunes, Michael Bay's PG-13 horror-lite factory. Written and directed by David S. Goyer, the screenwriter behind the Blade franchise and Batman Begins, to name but a couple, this limp and vaguely ridiculous little number melds the "scary child" and "demonic possession" subsections of the horror genre but offers nothing new to either, beyond replacing the usual Catholic mumbo-jumbo with Jewish mumbo-jumbo and having poor old Gary Oldman embarrass himself in a role that is well beneath him. Oh, and some photogenic girl standing around in her pants a lot. (Judging by the poster, the studio considered this to be the film's strongest asset. I'm not even convinced I'd disagree.) Seriously, just watch The Orphanage and don't bother with this nonentity.

But now, the good (?) news: Universal's BD looks terrific. The film was shot in anamorphic Panavision, and has that wonderful "smooth but detailed" look so often associated with that cinematographic process. The blacks look slightly elevated, particularly towards the beginning of the film, but there's really nothing else to criticise in this excellent transfer, which showcases a solid, film-like texture, with no evidence of digital tampering and nothing in the way of compression artefacts. 9.5/10

The Unborn
studio: Universal; country: UK; region code: ABC; codec: VC-1;
file size: 21.3 GB; average bit rate (including audio): 34.52 Mbit/sec

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4 Comments

1. Todd S. Gallows said:

Yeah, I didn't expend much time, thought, or attention on this one. It seems like they were going for making it the Judaic equivalent of The Exorcist.

(Posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 12:55 AM)

2. FoxyMulder said:

David S Goyer also wrote and directed Blade: Trinity which was another disappointment for me.

Michael Bays horror production company are usually pretty good and usually go for harder ratings. Perhaps this is a new trend for them to go for a PG-13 to try and make more money.

If it is i hope they stop now unless of course it's a film which suits the PG-13 rating but it seems to me many studio's these days water their horror productions down to fit a certain category and the film itself usually suffers because of it.

(Posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 12:15 PM)

3. Author Profile Page Michael said:

I felt that Blade: Trinity was actually kind of fun in a mindless way, at least whenever Wesley Snipes (or his stand-in, hyuk hyuk!) wasn't on screen. It was certainly no masterpiece, however, and simply serves as further evidence to suggest that, whatever talents Goyer may have as a writer, he's a long way from being a great director.

(Posted on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 4:17 PM)

4. FoxyMulder said:

The problem i had with Blade: Trinity was considerable.

1) Snipes was contracted to do the movie but hated the script and thus did the movie but you can see from his performance he is going through the motions due to the fact he hated the script. Look at Blade II and the fact he loved the script and actually bothered turning up.

2) The scene where Drac confronts Blade in the office in daylight and then RUNS AWAY from Blade. No way is that right. This guy is supposed to be the ultimate vampire and he is running away from Blade. I hated that scene.

3) Humans in the form of Jessica Biel ( yum ) and Reynolds are somehow able to kick vampire ass in hand to hand combat. Nope i never bought into that at all although liked the actual actors performances.

4) I intensely disliked the ending of Blade Trinity. Both endings although the unrated cut was even worse than the theatrical cut.

I did like some individual scenes but i felt the film just paled into comparison with the original film and certainly was very poor going by the standards set in Blade II.

It also killed any hope there was of a fourth movie and thats due to the script.

(Posted on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 10:00 PM)

 
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