Blu-ray Movie Reviews

A stylish, twist-filled film noir, THE SQUARE centers on an adulterous couple whose scheming leads to arson, blackmail and murder. Escaping the monotony of a loveless marriage, Raymond Yale becomes entangled in an affair with the beautiful and troubled Carla. Ray’s moral limits are tested when Carla presents him with the proceeds of her controlling husband’s latest crime. This is their chance: Take the money and run... If only it were that simple. The seed is planted and Ray, fearing he will lose his love, engineers the plan. Hiring the professional arsonist Billy becomes a fatal error, and the plan goes horribly wrong. Alarm bells sound and suspicions are raised but, miraculously, the dust looks to settle. After all... Nobody knows. Then the first blackmail note arrives.

This is great twisted filmmaking and I look forward to seeing what these two brothers deliver next. The Square sets up simply enough, but the story changes arcs dramatically as the uncertainty of real life throws in its normal twist and turns. This is a great production with outstanding production and acting.

Sony delivers a solid presentation throughout on this one. The Blu-ray transfer has a nicely detailed look with plenty of rich contrast. Photography has a natural look for the most part and not a lot of cinematic tweaking went into this one. The DTS-HD soundtrack punctuates the twists perfectly with plenty of rich nuance and scoring. Deep bass is effective for the mood and dynamic range is solid.

Extras include a look behind the scenes of the film and the filmmakers. You also get some deleted scenes and a music video. My favorite extra was a short film from the brothers though that again shows how small decisions can have horrifying ramifications.

A solid thriller from Australia that is riveting and twisted. And don’t forget to watch the great short film, Spider, that is also on the disc!!