Blu-ray Movie Reviews

It would take a much better film writer than I to do justice to this film, so I'll limit the damage by being brief. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel brilliantly intertleaves the lives of four families across three continents, and links them in way that are mostly believeable and emotionally captivating and compelling from beginning to end. Almost like Jim Jarmusch meeting Robert Altman in the Int'l terminal.

It's obvious when there's truth in movie characters, and excels by combining Inarritu's cinematic panache (the director of Amores Perros and 21 Grams) with powerful performancces from stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and unknowns Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi. This is not a pick-me-up but it's stirring from beginning to end. I thought the movie could have stood on its human elements without the brief bits of politicization, but I loved this movie too much to complain and recommend it without reservation or hesitation.

Babel will be released later this month on DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD. Reviewed here is the MPEG-4/AVC encoded HD DVD, and I'll try and update this post with a follow-up on the MPEG-2 encoded BD release later as I received screeners for both

Babel's 1080p transfer isn't something you'll be demoing when your buddies come over, but it's a rock solid and film-like transfer that's always as involving as the subject matter. Film grain is ever present in a good way, the detail is natural but very revealing, and even the darkest sceens don't suffer from noise or any other distracting artifacts. The complete absence of compression artifacts, edge enhancement, etc. is something that almost sneaks up on you- a revelation on this HD DVD that you simply can't see on DVD or even broadcast HD. A rich, dimensional image that does justice to the material.

On the audio front, this Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack isn't busy in the surrounds, and nor should it be. A summer blockbuster this ain't. There are some solo strings in the music score that pop and occupy space nicely, and when called for the bass and dynamics punctuate the scenery, whether it's a pumping Tokyo night club or gun fire. One of the creative elements in the sound design is the dropping of all audio during visually busy sequences featuring a deaf character making her way through Tokyo. Brilliant stuff visually, and a powerful example of sound design communicating emotion and character. This soundtrack not only never distracted me from the film, it immersed me further into it, subtly, when called for.

As for extras, only the trailer in HD. Special Edition anyone? All I can say is that as a father of a two year old I don't get out to the movies much anymore. What a treat to get movies like this on HD so quickly, and in time with the DVD.

Picture: 9 out of 10

Sound: 7 out of 10

Video reviewed on Marantz VP-11S1 1080p DLP projector, 80" wide Stewart Filmscreen Studiotek 130 screen. Toshiba HD-XA2 HD DVD player and Pioneer Elite BDP-HD1 Blu-ray Disc player via HDMI to Anthem AVM 50. Audio sent as PCM over HDMI to Anthem AVM 50. Ayre MX-R monoblocks and Theta Dreadnaught power amps, and Vandersteen loudspeakers. All video cables by Bettercables, all audio cables by AudioQuest