Blu-ray Review #67 - World War Z

World War Z - Blu-ray Review 4.3 Stars (out of 5) - Rated PG-13 Synopsis

A U.N. employee races against time and fate as he travels the world trying to stop the spread of a deadly zombie pandemic. As the undead hordes gain strength across the globe, governments topple and Earth stands on the brink of total social collapse.

Starring:

Brad Pitt, Matthew Fox, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, David Morse, David Andrews

Director:

Marc Forster

Blu-ray Release Date:

September 17, 2013

Subtitles:

English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:

Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 4.5 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison

● Subwoofer – 4.5 Stars

● Dialog – 4.5 Stars

● Surround Effects – 4.0 Stars

● Dynamic Range - 5.0 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1

The subwoofer gets some action but it’s not as bombastic as I would like. However several scenes feature low frequencies such as explosions, car crashes, gunshots, hordes of tumbling zombies, and exploding grenades. In a few scenes it was difficult to make out some lines of dialog. It sounded a little muffled and was lost to the background. The rear channels are not used as often as they could have been, but they do a good job filling the room with the sounds of helicopters, broken glass, screaming crowds, airplane propellers, soft falling rain, and of course screaming congregation of unhappy zombies.

Video 4.5 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison

● Color Accuracy - 4.5 Stars

● Shadow detail – 4.5 Stars

● Clarity – 4.0 Stars

● Skin tones – 4.5 Stars

● Compression – 5.0 Stars

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Resolution: 1080p, Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1, Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Colors are cold in most scenes, in a few others colors are natural looking but overall the hue matches the tone … dreary. A few colors are more noticeable than others like yellow taxi cabs, glowing red road flares, and one short view of some green grass. There are numerous dark scenes and it does a decent job of handling it but a few details do get lost in the shadows. The clarity is mediocre for a Blu-ray. It won’t wow you but it’s good enough to see, loose hairs in the wind, individual grey hairs in Pitt’s beard, wrinkles on skin, and floating ash.

Bonus Features 3.5 Stars (out of 5)

● Origins (HD, 8:21): A look at the film's production, from the book's release in 2006 and translating it into film.

● Looking to Science (HD, 7:28): An examination of how real-world scientific truths and analysis were used to enhance the film.

● WWZ: Production (HD): A four-part Documentary detailing the making of the film. It

• Outbreak (8:31), a detailed look at the making of the film's opening sequence. The

• Journey Begins (8:39) focuses on building several of the visual effects and shooting the scenes that end the first act and play through part of the second.

• Behind the Wall (9:41), a thorough examination of making the extended Israeli action sequence.

• Camouflage (9:25) guides viewers through the making of the film's extended airliner sequence and third act elements.

Movie – 3.5 Stars (out of 5) Review

World War Z is a high budget zombie movie with the tone of an action drama instead of a horror film. Don’t expect this PG-13 movie to be filled with gore and blood it spends more time solving the zombie problem than it does fighting them. Having an Oscar nominated actor like Brad Pitt in a zombie movie makes it more terrifying since he is able to emote terror and disgust in ways I haven’t seen in a horror film before. It’s a unique film that shows how different countries handle the “Z” problem, and it makes the scope of the movie seem very large. The plot is really four different stories that all star Pitt’s character. This method of storytelling will definitely stop you from getting bored, but it also makes it hard to connect with the characters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EC7P5WdUko

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