Bronson – Blu-ray Disc Review

February 15, 2010 – 9:44 pm - Posted by: Brendan Surpless

Tags: 6-Shooter Film Series, Edward Bennett-Coles, Helen Grayson, James Lance, June Bladon, Kelly Adams, Magnet, Magnolia, Magnolia Home Entertainment, Matt Legg, Nicholas Einding Refn

has an average rating of 6.6 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 50gb disc
DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
are quite interesting
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– 2008
– 92 minutes
– Magnolia
–
This uses 25.7GB for the movie out of 31.9GB total.

Overall Verdict – Definitely Worth A Look

Buy it for $17.99 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless —

Trailer:

The Movie Itself is directed by Nicholas Einding Refn. “Bronson” tells the story of Michael Gordon Peterson (Tom Hardy) and his life before prison and while in prison. With Peterson not really excelling in any particular field, he ultimately decided he wanted to become famous. With this on his mind, he entered a post office, robbed it, and was sentenced to 7 years in prison. While briefly on parole, Peterson became interested in knuckleboxing, something that would eventually land him to rename himself to Charles Bronson (the same name as the infamous actor). Once again returning back to prison after a robbery, it was during his second go around that Peterson became violent, typically displaying moments of insanity and pure rage towards the guards. This resulted in the development of a sort of stardom amongst other prisoners. This newfound fame and ultimate violence eventually leads to solitary confinement, an area where he spent a majority of his time.

A movie like “Bronson” certainly won’t be something everyone will want to watch. The idea of pure pain, torture and violence that essentially consumed Bronson’s life is not a kind subject to take on. Director Refn handled this with quite a sense of both style and intelligence. Never does he attempt to label Bronson as a confused man, perhaps one who was mislabeled by society. Instead Refn and Actor Tom Hardy breath a new chapter into this man’s life. We see Bronson not necessarily as a born again man per say, but rather a man who was a human being in the purest sense. While someone don’t openly seek masochism like he did, the idea of striving for fame and wanting your name out there isn’t an oddity at all. Many will go to the ultimate depths to achieve stardom, their name in the spotlight. Bronson found his ultimate pleasure witnessing the pain of others.

In closing, “Bronson” is quite the intense film, both visually and physically. The scenes where Bronson is beaten down, within an inch of life, are a tough sight to see, but I feel that more brings the power and message of the film to a new height. While “Bronson” doesn’t necessarily answer the ultimate question of who Charles Bronson was (the criminal), the film is still quite powerful and will certainly invoke a few thoughts out of your mind. Recommended for those with an open mind.

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 1:85:1 aspect ratio. Akin to that of the included audio, “Bronson” has the type of imagery that is very gritty, very hardcore so to speak. According to IMDb, the film was shot using a variety of Arriflex cameras and lenses. The film’s print is in fine condition while the grain level is intact. This isn’t the kind of “3-D” pop film as you won’t find any of that here. Still the amount of detail present is impressive at times. The film’s color palette also conveys that grainy, gritty feel to the image with reds of blood and darker darks of the prison world coming off well. There are instances where the colors do tend to waver, like those of sequences following Bronson’s beating by the guards, but I view this as more of a directional decision. Sometimes detail is lost in moments throughout, but the overall image is solid. All in all this earns a “3.5 Star Rating“.

Audio Quality on this release is presented in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. The sound design for a film like “Bronson” is the kind you might expect out of a UFC style film, full of brash effects, booms from punches and other effects. While some of the sound effect designs do sound a bit fake at times (more like something out of the future instead of the “Rocky” like booms we’re accustom to), I still found myself enjoying the mix here. Dialogue is well reproduced for the most part. Some of Bronson’s dialogue is a bit muddled and hard to understand without subtitles, but I think this was done on purpose to convey his mind process. Dynamics are well positioned with the rears becoming active with either noise of background dialogue, chains swinging throughout the prison or the film’s score by Lol Hammond. This is a hefty, forceful track that I’m sure fans will eat up. All in all this earns a good “4 Star Rating“.

Bonus materials are presented in Standard Definition (SD) Video with Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound @192kbps.

• Charles Bronson Monologues: This runs a total of 17min16sec and features, possibly, the real Charles Bronson speaking about random topics. Due note that the audio quality is very subpar so be prepared to adjust your volume accordingly. With that said, I found these monologues to be quite interesting.
• Making of Bronson: This runs a total of 15min22sec and is your making-of attachment. Unlike most making-of’s though, this is rather informative as it features interviews with members of Bronson’s family.
• Training Tom Hardy: This runs a total of 5min47sec and shows the physical regiment that Actor Tom Hardy went through to prepare for this role.
• Interviews: Here we get interviews with the following people. Nicolas Winding Refn (Co-Writer/Director), Tom Hardy (Actor) and Matt King (Actor) . These interviews run a total of 47min59sec and essentially serve as an audio commentary for the film as each participant provides us with solid information on the making of, production and overall atmosphere of the shoot.
• Behind the Scenes Footage: This runs a total of 11min41sec and is your behind-the-scenes footage, rather raw and gritty.
• Trailer: Here the film’s theatrical trailer is shown.

Overall, the bonus materials are certainly worth a watch as they provide a good amount of information both into the making of the film and the man that became known as Charles Bronson.

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.

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