Walk the Line – Blu-ray Disc Review
February 3, 2010 – 11:27 AM - Posted by: Justin SlussTags: FOX, Gill Dennis, Ginnifer Goodwin, James Mangold, Joaquin Phoenix, Johnny Cash, June Carter, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Patrick, Sandra Ellis Lafferty, Shooter Jennings, Tyler Hilton, Waylon Payne
has an average rating of 7.9 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are DVD ports but mostly in Hi-Def
– 
– 2005
– 135 minutes
– FOX
– 
This uses 27.9GB for the movie out of 37.5GB total.
Overall Verdict – Highly Recommended
Buy it for $19.49 @ Amazon.com
— Review by: Justin Sluss & Danielle Byington —
The Movie Itself is a biography based on the life of Country music legend Johnny Cash. The screenplay was based on Cash‘s biography “Man In Black” as well as the book “Cash: The Autobiography” which he co-wrote with Patrick Carr. The screenplay was adapted by writer Gill Dennis and the film’s Director James Mangold.
The film takes us through Johnny‘s childhood, growing up in the rural parts of Dyess, Arkansas. Through the biographical structure of the movie’s storytelling, we see this young son of cotton picker deal with the death of his older brother/close friend, and the consistent disapproval he dealt with from his father. Coming of legal age, we briefly see Johnny‘s (Joaquin Phoenix) experience overseas in Germany as part of the military in 1952, and more importantly, see the young man purchase a guitar; something it seems he had longed for, but against the wishes of his father, could never obtain before now. Aside from his first scratches at personal songwriting, Johnny also has a girlfriend from home on his mind, Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin), whom he repeatedly confesses his love to, promising her that they will live in Memphis, and that he will be on the radio.
Jumping forward a bit of time, we now see the young couple, Mr. & Mrs. Cash, and their new child, residing in Memphis. However, a piece of Johnny‘s promise is still missing just yet, though when it comes to Johnny getting his voice on the radio, it is more of a promise to himself, rather than his wife, who seems both uninterested and non-supportive of his musical passion, and would rather Johnny dull himself with one of her father’s lemming jobs. As this situation makes for some heated arguments between the two, being informed that his family is about to be evicted, and he has a second child on the way, Johnny really pushes his dreams forward to financially protect his growing family by auditioning for a local record label with a couple of acquired band-mates.
From here, the nostalgia of Johnny Cash and his band grows, as they begin touring with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis (Waylon Payne), and Roy Orbison (Johnathan Rice); but more importantly, at least to Johnny, is the presence of June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). As Johnny‘s married life seems to suffocate him more and more, primarily with the lack of support and respect he receives from his wife, and his beginnings of drug use, he doesn’t just look at June from a physical attraction perspective, but more of the other half of himself. The film showcases all of these highlights of the legendary musical artists from both their biographical perspectives, as well as an entertaining form of story.
In closing, “Walk the Line” is not only one of the greater bio-pic (biography) films of a musical artist and their career but it is also a telling of one of the truest love stories (romances) that truly ever was, that love for June Carter felt by Johnny Cash that she always returned to him regardless. The fact he passed away only 4 months after her says a lot about how much they really meant to one another and essentially, needed one another. Taking the other biographical elements into consideration as well, this man’s life in general sincerely has all of the glue in all of the right places that makes you root for him (even knowing the basic story of his life before viewing the film) from beginning to end, being the underdog and all. This on-screen representation of his life makes you feel his pain from the loss of his brother, the lack of approval from his father, and his frustration and conflict experienced as a rising star. It goes without saying that the performances here are hands-down impressive in their respectful portrayals of these real life people, and all of the combination of these elements makes for a terrific film, earning a “5 Star Rating“.
Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the AVC MPEG-4 codec on a BD-50 (50 gigabyte dual-layered Blu-ray Disc) in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. According to IMDb‘s technical specifications for the aspect ratio, this was shot on Super 35mm film and makes for an excellent transfer to Hi-Def with an enormous amount of detail that we never got to see on the previous DVD release(s). I will admit though, even on DVD this looked beautiful and that is much thanks to the film’s cinematography done by Phedon Papamichael (Director of Photography). There are some really iconic shots in this film, early on and especially near the end of the film and they look excellent here in Hi-Def via this transfer.
The picture’s color palette here is perfectly balanced, displaying all of the rural exteriors in a picturesque manner, and capturing all of the feel of a 1950′s world, from the hues most frequently seen in the wardrobe, set design, and so forth. Fleshtones translate perfectly on this release, and very few scenes lead on a lesser-than accuracy. This well colored video quality is complimented further by a solid black level, which is of utmost importance considering Cash‘s attire of choice at times. The definition seen through out the release’s duration is certainly a step or two above the DVD release, with much more visible detail apparent in, as mentioned above, the wonderful cinematography, which at times, captures its subject with the perfect lighting source making for an impressively clear and bright picture. Overall, there are not any significant complaints to be found within this release’s video quality, and it earns itself a “4.5 Star Rating“.
Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. This is a pretty nice improvement and keep in mind that even the original DVD releases from 2006 all contained a DTS 5.1 mix. This is an improvement first in the sense that it is a lossless track now in DTS-HD MA and given that advantage it offers much crisper sound with a good hearty amount of bass (LFE) presence as well as real channel presence, especially in the live musical numbers. The dialogue when things aren’t musical is delivered very distinctly here and requires no volume adjustments on your AVR of any sort throughout the film. The recordings of Joaquin Phoenix himself doing Johnny Cash‘s original songs sounded great before on DVD and they sound even a tad bit more cool now. I’d also like to add that the film’s original music composed by T-Bone Burnett sounds excellent as well here with a lot more “oomph!” to it this time around. The overall presentation is marvelous, especially for the fact that it technically is a combination of a biography and a musical of sorts since the film revolves around the life of the late Johnny Cash and June Carter (eventually Cash) who had amazing musical careers, each in their own right. “Walk the Line” earns a perfect, “demo material” worthy “5 Star Rating” for overall audio quality. Kudos to the folks at FOX on a job extremely well done here.
Bonus materials are presented in both High Definition (HD) and Standard Definition (SD) video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps unless otherwise noted below in the descriptions.
- Audio Commentary by Screenplay Co-Writer / Director James Mangold
- “More Man In Black – Deleted Scenes” (23:13 – HD) feature Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound.
- “Extended Musical Sequences” (5:40 – HD) feature Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound or just standard Dolby Surround as options for audio.
- “Featurettes“
- Theatrical Trailer (1:49 – HD) features Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound.
- “Rock and Roll Ruby“
- “Jackson“
- “Cocaine Blues“
- “Folsom, Cash & The Comeback” (11:47 – SD)
- “Celebrating The Man In Black: The Making of Walk The Line” (21:38 – SD)
- “Ring of Fire: The Passion of Johnny & June” (11:29 – SD)
Overall, the bonus materials are just the Special Edition DVD ports with some stuff like extended live performances presented in Hi-Def video quality. I wish they would have also got DTS-HD 5.1 MA sound but FOX only opted for the original Dolby Digital sound mixes for those extended live performances. It sucks that FOX did not opt to include the 153 minute extended cut of the film and instead we only get the 135 minute theatrical cut but I’d say when the time comes to “double dip” you can expect the extended cut — but for now be happy with the theatrical cut.
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.
