Spy Game – Blu-ray Disc Review
May 17, 2009 – 2:44 PM - Posted by: Brendan SurplessTags: BD-Live, Bonus View, Brad Pitt, Robert Redford, Tony Scott, Universal
has an average rating of 6.9 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
include ports and U-Control
– 
– 2001
– 127 Minutes
– Universal
– 
This uses 32.4GB for the movie out of 35.6GB total.
Street Date: May 19th, 2009
Overall Verdict – Worth A Look
Buy it for $20.99 @ Amazon.com
— Review by: Brendan Surpless —
The Film is directed by Tony Scott (known for “Crimson Tide“). Tony Scott’s thriller “Spy Game” finds once director and actor Robert Redford and Brad Pitt (they made “A River Runs Through It” as director and actor) teaming up. Robert Redford plays Nathan Muir, a man who is a on the brink of retirement from the CIA. As he is cleaning out his office, Muir is told that Brad Pitt’s character, Tom Bishop, has broken into a Chinese prison simply to rescue the woman he loves. Doesn’t seem to bad does it? It turns out that the CIA thinks that the Chinese is going to try to extract as much information from Bishop as possible (read information as secrets). Muir has scramble and see if he can get Bishop out in less than 24 hours before Bishop is scheduled for execution.
Tony Scott, the skillful director of “Crimson Tide” and “Enemy at the State“, is just as skillful here as he has been before. While the ideas presented in “Spy Game” are nothing totally brand new, Scott adds another level of credibility to the film with his interesting twist of direction. Since the film came out in 2001, a year that saw such horrendous disasters as “Pearl Harbor” (well the PG-13 cut at least), Scott’s stylistic thriller was a welcome film during the November frame. Actors Redford, who always seem to be on his ‘A’ game no matter what film he stars in, and the overly-publicized Brad Pitt (he’s a great actor despite the hatred some have for him) deliver fine performances.
No “Spy Game” is not the best example of a Tony Scott film nor the best example of an excellent thriller; however, the film still manages to provide a solid two hours of excitement and fun. While I probably won’t remember the film in a few months, I will return to see it again and again as the film is a good enough thriller and is interesting enough for fans of either the director or the stars.
Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the VC-1 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layer Blu-ray Disc). “Spy Game” has been given an incredibly terrific 1080p 2:35:1 Widescreen Transfer. Colors are spot on giving the characters a more realistic feel. There do tend to be a few shots that have a bit of over saturation to them. This results in more of a bleach look to some shot;however, this isn’t that big an issue as it never results in a poor picture. Since this is a fairly recent film coming out in 2001, the print the film has is pristine making it hard for one to find many faults in this transfer. There is a solid amount of detail to the picture, particular in close ups of the characters. Grain is not noticeable at all while little things like windows and trees showcase fine detail. Edge enhancement, sometimes a problem in film’s of this nature, was nowhere to be found here. All in all this earns a solid “4 Star Rating“.
Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. Having viewed and owned the HD-DVD, I welcomed the chance to watch this film with the included DTS-HD lossless track. And what an improvement! Surrounds are great giving the necessary low bass in some of the quieter scenes while the audio revs up in some of the louder scenes. Dialogue is easy to understand and never was overwhelmed by some of the rear and frontal effects, something I feared might happen as have in recent films. As one might expect a film of this nature is a truly great audio experience. The atmosphere the film creates puts you right into the action. Bullets zip and explosions ring with such a solid sense of sound quality that you’re home theater, whether large or small, will definitely get a good work out. One of the better aspects here was the sense of blending of discrete effects. Never was there an a sound absence between effects but rather a smooth transfer giving us a really great audio track. This earns a “4.5 Star Rating“.
Bonus Materials are presented in a mix of High Definition and Standard Definition video using MPEG-2 with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps.
- BD-Live: My Scenes Sharing allows the viewer to share their favorite scenes with their friends. Also included is access to Universal‘s own BD-Live network. This requires the user to be on a “Profile 2.0” capable Blu-ray Disc Player.
- U-Control: This is Picture-In-Picture feature uses Bonus View (requiring a “Profile 1.1” capable Blu-ray Disc Player). The feature is named “Clandestine Ops” and allows viewer simply has to click the icon and be treated to a one to two minute brief clip on a certain section of the film.
- Script to Storyboard: This brief two minute feature sees director Tony Scott explain a bit of the transferring of the script to storyboard and how the process works.
- Audio Commentary with Director Tony Scott: If anyone enjoys Tony Scott films like I do, they you’ll be very happy with the result of this commentary track. Scott is pretty informative as he discusses the little tidbits of the film including how events like September 11th, 2001 have affected films he has done as well as Hollywood in itself. Worth a listen if you like Scott as a director and filmmaker.
- Audio Commentary with Producers Douglas Wick and Marc Abraham: The second of two commentary tracks was way more technical than I ever wanted. Both Wick and Abraham were somewhat interesting to listen to, but I found myself slightly dozing off a few times as their voices were very low and they both seemed highly uninterested in the project at hand (the commentary track not the film). Only worth a listen to if you found the film to be the best thing since sliced bread.
- Deleted and Alternate Scenes: Here we’re given nine different scenes including an alternate ending that was pretty interesting. While I don’t want to give anything away, for those of you that found the theatrical cut’s ending somewhat confusing, this ending may explain a bit more. Director Tony Scott offers commentary on each scene, which was great especially on the alternate ending.
- Requirements to be a CIA Operative: This was quite the funny feature as it explained how one can be a CIA Operative. Quite a bit of work is required here making the job, as it’s outlined here, overly complex to the average person.
- Trailer and the Rest: The features round up with the film’s theatrical trailer and a few promos for the film’s soundtrack.
Blu-ray Disc packaging:
Screenshots:
NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.
