Blu-ray Movie Reviews

A U.S. Navy Captain and his crew are just beginning to enjoy 48 hours of leave when they receive word to immediately return to duty. On a top-secret assignment, they must disguise themselves as Nazis and infiltrate a severely damaged Nazi U-boat. Once on board, they are to steal the Nazi's top-secret decoding device and sink the sub before the Germans catch on to what's really happening. Their mission is more dangerous and frightening than anything they could have ever imagined, but one which has the power to turn the tide of battle.

This is still one of my favorite submarine action films to date and I’m glad to see Universal release it on Blu-ray early on in their support. I’ve owned this on D-Theater and HD DVD and this Blu-ray does a nice job of stepping up the quality on both the audio and video front. This has long been one of my favorite demonstration titles for audio and it doesn’t hurt that it’s a very intense and fun thriller.

The video quality is a bit different than what we saw from the previous HD releases. Some of the noticeable banding is better but there are still a few moments when banding is there. I can only surmise that this is an issue with the master and not a product of the encode. Contrast levels are stunning and the dark and dreary interior shots of the submarine are full of dimension and depth. Fine detail is slightly different this time around as Universal has done some clean up. Film grain isn't quite as obvious but detail doesn't suffer too much. Close ups still look quite good but not quite as resolved as the HD DVD in some areas. Longer shots can be a bit on the soft side at times. This is the first new encode from Universal that disappointed compared to past efforts.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is a must have for those looking for reference quality audio presentations. This film has always been one of my favorites for audio demonstrations and the intensity of the action sequences in this film are second to none. You truly get a sense of the peril and terror of being depth charged as the room fills with blistering dynamics and wall threatening bass. The mix is incredibly spacious with outstanding use of the surrounds to achieve excellent side wall imaging and even height perception. In this regard the track is very similar to another reference title I have, Master and Commander in its ability to trick the listener into hearing things above them. The balance of the mix is dead on and imaging across all channels is flawless. A superb reference soundtrack.

This Blu-ray release gets the “U-Control” treatment with a picture-in-picture feature with interviews and behind the scenes footage that can be toggled on and off throughout the film. The feature commentary from the previous releases is also included.

For those looking for the best in audio presentations this is a must own. The touch up work in the video department was a bit of a let down but I can see customers divided on the issue. Fine detail is still there, but if you have an older version to compare you may be a bit disappointed at times.