Oldboy (Blu-ray/Tartan)

 

Picture A-     Sound: A-     Extras: A-     Film: B

 

 

If there is one Blu-ray title that you want to impress your friends with then look no further than Oldboy, as long as you don’t mind subtitles that is.  If you can look past that fact than you are certainly in for a real treat with this film, which arrives to Blu-ray as one of the first Foreign film titles in the format and one of the more popular titles from the Tartan series called “Asian Extreme”, which I also reviewed the DVD elsewhere on the site, so for more about the film itself check there, but this review will focus more specifically about this Blu-ray, which I can’t say enough good things about! 

 

First let’s start with the picture, which is presented here in an anamorphic 2.35 x 1 1080p transfer that is top-notch.  Maybe even close to reference quality in many respects.  The biggest advantage that this Blu-ray has over the DVD is the ability to offer less compression and the 1080p resolution takes Oldboy to a whole new level of fidelity.  The film’s color palette is very interesting and muted, but has incredibly dark detail and a greenish/bluish tinge to set a certain mood throughout the film, which was never really that impressive on the DVD.  It made the image seem faded, washed-out, and even soft at times, but the Blu-ray offers a more color-accurate rendition of what the film should and could look like for home viewing and delivers some truly superb deep blacks, subtle whites, and a pristine transfer that is more dimensional than the DVD could ever dream to me.  The highly stylized action sequences are done in more acrobatic and cinematic ways than what American audiences are used to and again the Blu-ray captures this motion in true glory making the film more film-like with the gritty nature still in tact during key sequences, you will notice some incredible up-close refinement on characters faces, crevices in the skin, etc, etc like never before! 

 

Then there’s the audio, which more than impresses, it demolishes the DVD counterpart that was available in Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1.  Here we have several audio options, the first is the Dolby Digital 5.1 EX surround sound Korean audio track, which is similar to the English-dub track in 5.1 as well, but for purist you will certainly want the Korean audio track.  The DD 5.1 mix is good, but not nearly as impressive as the DTS-HD Master Audio Digital 7.1 encoded track, which I am currently not running 6.1/7.1 surround sound, but the 5.1 out of this is just staggeringly good.  Perhaps some of the best sound I’ve heard in a home theater setup, although there are some other Blu-ray and HD-DVD’s that are up there as well.  The music score for the film is constantly engaging, engulfing, and intriguing and makes for a solid experience throughout, but the sound effects and other elements really make for a captivating and breathtaking experience that gives us a small glimpse of what the future of action movies have potential of being on and HD disc, the future does indeed look bright! 

 

As if the performance of this disc isn’t enough reason to have it, there is a second disc loaded with extras, which all seem to be the same as that offered on the DVD, even the commentaries (4 of them), which you can read about on the DVD review elsewhere on this site at this link:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3279/Oldboy+(Asia+Extreme)

 

 

-   Nate Goss