Blood Diamond (HD-DVD)
Picture:
B+ Sound: A- Extras: C+ Film: C
Diamonds
are one of the most beautiful, desired products around, even after the success
of many imitators and with a very dark secret hidden to make sure their high
price (along with the hording and holding of them to pump up market value)
stays so. That dark secret, the terrorizing,
exploitation, rape, physical mutilation and even murder to produce product even
if it means Civil War and genocide, is the background for Ed Zwick’s drama Blood Diamond.
The paths
of a fisherman (Djimon Hounsou) with a family threatened, a reporter (Jennifer
Connelly in one of her better roles in a while) who wants a big story and will
get more than she expects and a smuggler with a military past (Leonardo
DiCaprio) cross in Sierra Leone as Civil War is on the rise and the true price
of making money might just be forever.
Forever dead!
Though
the Charles Leavitt/C. Gaby Mitchell story (turned into a screenplay by
Leavitt) has its good moments, good points and some memorable scenes, it is not
enough to make the 143 minutes cohere and succeed. This is certainly ambitious and shook up the
diamond business internationally, but the film sadly falls apart in the acts
and the needed payoff that would have hit a homerun on the subject mater is
never reached. Some predictability and
DiCaprio’s accent being a bit off at times are also issues, but would have been
overcome by a concluding impact, even if you cannot have closure on a crisis in
progress.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image was shot in Super 35mm by Director of
Photography Eduardo Serra, A.S.C., A.F.C., and it is often too stylized for its
own good. As it was in 35mm film prints,
the slight overexposure approach may not be overdone, but it is still more
often than one would like. However, the
color rich shots that the disc does offer save the transfer from being
poorer. Even better is the sound,
especially in Dolby TrueHD 5.1, which is richer and cleaner than its Dolby
Digital Plus 5.1 equivalent. James
Newton Howard’s score is not very memorable, but sounds good too. Zwick has worked for better sound fidelity in
his films since Glory in his larger
productions and this is one of the best mixes yet.
Extras on
this HD-DVD include Internet-accessible maps, original trailer, Music Video for
Nas’ Shine On Them, four featurettes
on the film and three exclusives in the In-House Experience function only
available in this format. All are very
interesting and especially with the In-House feature, even more intriguing than
the film. If you have not seen it and
have HD-DVD, see it in this format over DVD.
- Nicholas Sheffo
