The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: C Film: D
When The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen
(aka LXG) originally arrived in the
U.S. on DVD, it was disappointing, so we looked at an import and found that
though the film stayed bad, the sound and even picture had its moments. You can read more about it at the following
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2789/League+Of+Extraordinary+Gentleman+(Region+2/DTS)
Now, Fox
has made the film one of its first Blu-ray disc releases, primarily since it is
a title with Sean Connery. The film did
not do well in the U.S., but was a hit overseas, much to the surprise of more
than a few people. What is terrible now
is how great this could have been if Director Steven Norrington had not botched
the film. Since they read more literature
in Europe, the fact that most of the characters came from classic books likely
helped the film there. Too bad writer
James Dale Robinson had not considered that.
For a
film from 2003, this has not aged well.
Some of the sets and production design is still good, but there is some
digital work here that looked bad then and is really, really bad now.
The 2.35
X 1 1080p AVC @ 16 MBPS digital High Definition image is as good as it is going
to look, shot in Super 35mm by Dan Laustsen, D.F.F. without the usual gutting
of color. As compared to the U.S. DVD,
it is an obvious improvement, but as compared to the import we covered, the
margin is far narrower, though the Blu-ray is still better.
The DTS
on the import disc was impressive, making the problems with the film more
annoying since the sound is so good. No
wonder Fox wanted this to be one of the first-ever DTS 6.1 ES HD Master Audio
releases. You can hear improvements
between the two DTS tracks, though equipment is not available to play this at
its best yet, that will only show the limits and flaws. Norrington’s DTS sound for Blade is still better overall, but this
is easily the best sounding of the first six Fox Blu-rays (not including Speed or Kingdom Of Heaven) that we have listened to so far. One reason is that this was a film that took
full advantage of the full 8-channel version of Sony’s theatrical-only Sony
Dynamic Digital Sound format. Whatever
DTS chip you can play it on now, you will be pleased and since most people do
not have multi-region DVD players, the DTS Blu-ray sound here will seem like a
big leap forward.
Extras
here include two full length feature audio commentaries by the technical
personnel (one of which has actors Jason Flemyng, Tony Curran & Shane West)
and a shooting gallery game tied to the film.
There are more extras Fox did not include, but the high performance of
the sound is worth losing them at this time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
