Wall Street (1987/Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C+ Film: B-
Oliver
Stone’s Wall Street (1987) is often
considered the great statement on 1980s greed that Platoon (1986) was to Vietnam, but in both cases, I felt the films
did not go far enough or as far as he was about to go in greater films like JFK and Nixon. However, at least it
was ambitious and we recently covered the 20th Anniversary DVD set
by a fellow critic who really liked it:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6150/Wall+Street
Though I
was not as big a fan of American Psycho
either, that may have captured some of the psychosis (outside of its murders)
this film lacked. Both capture different
aspects of what went wrong in the 1980s, but the ultimate film has yet to be
made on the subject. So does this
Blu-ray show the film in a new light?
Sadly,
no. The 1080p 2.35 X 1 AVC @ 16 MBPS
digital High Definition image is just too soft and lacking in detail that a
good print at the time (like a few I saw) should possess. The amazing Robert Richardson shot this film
with a distinct look and some of that look is lost here. The DTS HD 5.1 MA (Master Audio) Lossless mix
is better than any of the previous DVDs, but also shows some flaws in the
material from the recording of the time.
Some clean-up should be considered, though this was always a 4.0 mix, so
there is only so much room for improvement.
Extras
include deleted scenes, intro by Stone, two documentaries (Greed Is Good and Money
Never Sleeps: The Making Of Wall Street) and an audio commentary by
Stone. This is a 50GB Blu-ray and a lack
of extras would have been a disaster.
But once again, why are the trailers and teasers missing?
- Nicholas Sheffo
