Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Sean Connery returns as James Bond in this thrill-a-minute adventure featuring remarkable villains, beautiful women and exotic locales! This time, Bond squares off against the evil SPECTRE organization in a race to seize a Soviet decoding machine, thrusting him into a thrilling boat chase, a brutal helicopter attack and a deadly brawl aboard the Orient Express.

The second Bond film ever is a slightly broader film than Dr. No but is also a bit slower at times. The production values have gone up a bit and you get a larger sense of Bond’s international charm, but compared to later films the action is a bit tame. On the plus side the early Connery films were light on the super gadgets that started to take over the storyline later down the road.

To say this film looks spectacular for its age is an understatement. This was restored brilliantly by Lowry Digital a few years ago and the results are simply breathtaking at times. Image detail is exquisite throughout the entire film with only stock footage for backdrops coming up a bit short. Fine texture detail is also incredible and the color balance and depth of image is what I would expect from a brand new film. I did notice some slight blurring around objects at times but it was hardly distracting and only showed up on occasion. Otherwise this is by far the best I’ve seen this film look.

The soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and overall I’d say the aged soundtrack has held up pretty well. Dynamic range can be a bit limited at times and the canned gun sounds can be a bit cheesy at times. Dialogue is largely dubbed and at times the synching isn’t all it could be but I didn’t find this overly distracting. The soundtrack does have an airy quality thanks to the subtle surround use and holds up well given its age.

Extras include a director’s commentary along with a collection of interviews and insight into the production. A storyboard comparison and collection of trailers is also included.

MGM has done a remarkable job bringing this classic to Blu-ray. The video transfer is absolutely gorgeous and I’m sure long time fans will be more than pleased.