Blu-ray Movie Reviews

When disgraced President Richard Nixon agreed to an interview with jet-setting television personality, David Frost, he thought he'd found the key to saving his tarnished legacy. But, with a name to make and a reputation to overcome, Frost became one of Nixon's most formidable adversaries and engaged the leader in a charged battle of wits that changed the face of politics forever.

This was a great follow up film to Oliver Stone’s Nixon, which I just watched a few months ago. This one starts off right at the end of Nixon’s term picking up right after his resignation. I only had a limited knowledge about the Frost/Nixon interviews and Howard’s film does a great job of delivering the events in almost a documentary style. The film has a bit of a sluggish first act but quickly picks up as the interviews commence. The performances by Langella and Sheen are also remarkable. A great film for political drama fans and another great film from Howard.

Universal delivers an outstanding Blu-ray transfer here with exceptional fine detail and definition. The image is very contrasty with deep black levels and plenty of rich shadow detail. The color palette has been stylized a bit and I loved the darker color tones. Fine film grain gives a nice level of detail and the photography really puts you in the film with its documentary feel.

The 5.1 mix is a great blend of subtle scoring and ambiance and provides a very convincing soundstage. Dramas tend to be a bore when it comes to spatial design but this one excels in the convincing cues. One great example is the scene on the airplane where you can hear the subtle jolts of turbulence and wind as it gently rocks the plane. It is the little touches like this that really draw you in. Dialogue always sounds natural within the soundstage and imaging across the mains is dead on.

Universal delivers a rich interactive experience for this one including full BD-Live and Bonus View support. You get a look at the film’s ties to the real events including clips from the real interviews and picture-in-picture interviews and behind the scenes footage. A production feature on the making of the film sheds some light on tackling the issues and anyone interested in the Nixon events can take a look through a library of materials about the President and his demise. Some deleted scenes, trailers and a feature audio commentary are also included.

As I mentioned before this would be a great one to watch back to back with Nixon, though it stands strongly on its own. Universal continues to deliver outstanding Blu-ray presentations for their library making this an easy recommendation for fans of the genre.