Monday, September 7, 2009

BD review: Braveheart

3:57 PM / Reviews / Comments8 Comments

Blu-ray

It's difficult to argue against Braveheart being one of the finest packages assembled on Blu-ray this year. With a transfer that is extremely close to perfection, a rollicking good audio mix and a nice (if slightly incomplete) array of bonus features, this is a fine example of how good a catalogue release can be if those involved go the extra mile instead of taking cheap shortcuts. While, in my review of the phenomenally disappointing Blu-ray release of Gladiator (released by the same studio on the same day, no less), I encouraged those who already owned the DVD to hang on to their copies and forego the BD, my advice for Braveheart is the exact opposite: chuck your DVDs in the bin immediately and pick up this excellent BD release. Highly recommended.

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8 Comments

1. Daniel Sardella said:

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=3375

(Posted on Monday, September 7, 2009 at 5:29 PM)

2. FoxyMulder said:

I caved in and bought this. I was thinking about waiting for the Fox UK edition but this looks too good and i love the movie so i bought it.

If only all films got this sort of treatment ( minus the first 22 minutes of course although i probably won't notice that )

(Posted on Monday, September 7, 2009 at 5:34 PM)

3. FoxyMulder said:

Regarding Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ. I'm not at all religious but my mum is and she found it to be a very powerful and moving film. I actually thought it powerful too and well made. Not at all torture porn.

Remember it's taking it's story from the Bible. Pretty much as described in the Bible. There is no Anti-Semitic tones in the film and those who say so i suspect just dislike Gibson and who the guy is.

No i have to disagree with the torture porn comments. Hostel and Hostel II fall into that category but The Passion Of The Christ basically was a re-telling of the Bible. You could say it's a work of fiction brought to the silver screen.

I think Gibson himself gets a bad rap from far too many but then i think Michael Bay gets a bad rap from far too many as well when really both guys know their craft and deliver entertaining movies. Ok Mel may well be getting a little mad these days but that's the mid life crisis and i'm sure he'll pull through it.

(Posted on Monday, September 7, 2009 at 8:16 PM)

4. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Daniel:

Yeah, I saw that earlier this morning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping we don't get another contrast boosted copy.


Foxy:

Pointing out that it's based on the Bible isn't going to win any points with me, I'm afraid, given that I basically think the Bible is one of the biggest pieces of vile, amoral claptrap ever committed to paper (the Old Testament in particular). It's basically "torture porn" in its own right, in my view (although, unless you've got one of those illustrated copies, you have to use a little imagination). That said, calling it "pretty much as described in the Bible" is slightly inaccurate. In much the same way that Braveheart was largely inspired by a fifteenth century poem by "Blind Harry", The Passion takes most of its cues from the ramblings of a mad German nun called Anne Catherine Emmerich and includes such delights as Jesus' shoulder being dislocated and one of the thieves' eyeballs being pecked out by a crow, which I'm pretty sure weren't in any of the accounts in the Bible.

As for anti-Semitism... hmm, let's see... the conniving, hook-nosed priests depicted in the film are basically the quintessential negative stereotype of Jews. (Mind you, even Gibson seems to have got cold feet and removed the subtitle translating the line "His blood on us and on our children.") I can't say I'm overly convinced by the notion that Gibson was being deliberately anti-Semitic: I think it's more likely that his style of storytelling and characterisation are so mono-dimensional that he just went for the most obvious caricatures for all and sundry, the Romans as well as the Jews.

It's interesting - my mum, like yours, is a Christian, but she thought the film was absurd. I found it absurd too, not to mention simplistic, tasteless, gratuitous and lacking anything approaching a storyline (and even something like Hostel, weak though it is, has one of those). About all I can say in its favour is that I thought the cinematography and gore effects were expertly handled. I can admire it in those terms, in much the same way that I can admire an expertly constructed outhouse.

(Posted on Monday, September 7, 2009 at 8:36 PM)

5. FoxyMulder said:

No my mums catholic but i guess it's all religion.
As for the priests in the film. Correct me if i'm wrong but their depiction is of people who betrayed him as the people chose Jesus to be crucified.

Yes parts get added for fiction purposes but note above i said i think the Bible is a work of fiction. I don't think it's anti semitic to say the Jews in the region at that particular time who were in the crowd chose Jesus to be crucified and thats assuming it's true but i doubt it is true but lets assume it is for one moment. They chose Jesus to be crucified. Pointing that out in a movie is not anti semitic.

Is the world so politically correct that any negative portrayal of someone jewish means you are anti semitic ? Am i anti-semitic for typing this opinion ?

If i say OJ Simpson is a murderer does that make me racist because he's black ? You can see where i am going with this.

No i don't agree at all on Gibson being anti-semitic. He had an upbringing with a father who is definately anti-semitic and who denies the Holocaust took place but i don't think Gibson is. Thats a debate that could probably go on for days but i think he isn't.

It is actually logical to assume a crow might peck out a persons eye if they are on a cross and can't move. I was speaking to an ex friend a while back who lives in the country and he claimed he has saw them doing this with young lambs. I wasn't believing this but he insisted it happens and that i was a townie. I still have doubts but maybe they do.

I just don't agree that negative portrayal of some people within a nationality makes you anti semitic. I don't think Braveheart is racist because the english are stereotyped as bad guys. Sometimes films need this so we can cheer the good guys on. Bit like an old fashioned war movie or an old fashioned western. You need a bad guy in entertainment.

Now thats Braveheart but with The Passion it isn't about bad guys or good guys it's supposed to represent the final hours of Jesus and it shows that some of his own people from that region betrayed him - Mentioning this upsets certain people but it's what happened in the Bible and i'm pretty sure the romans gave the crowd the choice of who to crucify and they chose Jesus. I think it's an amazing work and daring and to water it down would have been a mistake and made it less powerful.

The old testament is the most fun part of the Bible and without it we wouldn'nt have The Omen, The Ten Commandents, Ben Hur and countless horror movies and historical epics. The New Testament is positively dull and boring. Not that i read it but i remember it from school.

Lets say the Universe started with The Big Bang. Two tiny atoms collided. So my question is what existed before The Big Bang. Ok those two tiny atoms but how did they form ? Where did they come from ?

What existed before the Universe was created is a question i want answered in detail.

Thats getting off the subject.

(Posted on Monday, September 7, 2009 at 9:18 PM)

6. Erik said:

"Yeah, I saw that earlier this morning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping we don't get another contrast boosted copy."

Best cross (no connection to the ongoing Christian 'debates') your toes too. What is it, 3-4 different countries/distributors using that boosted master now?

I just hope Sony will soon announce THE BIG BLUE after Optimum completely messed up that disc.

(Posted on Monday, September 7, 2009 at 9:33 PM)

7. Author Profile Page Michael said:

Foxy:

I think it's more a case of negative stereotypes being propagated (hooked noses, scheming etc. - the traditional anti-Semitic caricature the Nazis were so fond of), coupled with the fact that that particular passage in the Bible served as the basis for generations of Christian persecution of the Jews. As I said, I doubt that Gibson intentionally sought to insert an anti-Semitic message into the film, but think he may have deluded himself as to how his portrayal of the priests might have been perceived.

"It is actually logical to assume a crow might peck out a persons eye if they are on a cross and can't move."

I'm sure it is indeed possible - I was just pointing this out as a specific instance of an event that was directly inspired by Anne Emmerich's "testimony". I'm led to believe that the film is full of plot points such as this (another being Jesus being suspended from a bridge) that are taken from her visions. That said, it doesn't particularly matter to me what the source was.

(Posted on Monday, September 7, 2009 at 10:22 PM)

8. Kentai said:

There are countless films that follow the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, but most of them seem to have the good sense to focus more on the lessons he taught than the bones he broke. Heck, even the ever controversial 120 Days of Sodom director Pier Paolo Pasolini created a Vatican approved and critically acclaimed film about Christ without spending 90% of the run time on his crucifixion!

Without the inspirational messages Christ carried with him being explored to any degree, the physical sacrifice as portrayed in Passion of the Christ is meaningless. If I have to already be a believer to be inspired, than Gibson has failed to create a truly inspiration film. I'd say even the totally ludicrous stage musical Jesus Christ Superstar does a much better job of showing the audience why Christ was, son of God or not, such an important figure in history.

That said, I can't say I dislike it for what it really is: a gruesome and uncompromising exploitation film armed with the budget and aspirations of a Hollywood epic. There's only one truly fair comparison I can even come up with to match that description, but it's so surprisingly absurd I'm having trouble even typing it.

That out of the way, I never have seen Braveheart. Tried a few times on cable, but always gave up after a few minutes of incomprehensible pan-scan hell. That full review of yours has convinced me that giving it a rental is the only fair thing to do.

(Posted on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 7:19 AM)

 
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