Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Kudos to Sony for being one of the best studios for foreign releases so far. I don't understand why so many studios have been neglecting their better known foreign titles. Run Lola Run has been a favorite of mine for quite some time. The film is a kinetic ride lasting really only 20 minutes but repeating itself for different outcomes as Lola tries to save her boyfriend after losing drug money. The film combines several different filming styles including animation and personal camera work giving it a rather frantic pace and look.

The HD presentation varies throughout, mainly because of the filming style. On the film side the transfer looks quite good. Close ups have plenty of detail and the depth of image in some of the longer shots is excellent. Whites are overcooked though, which is probably a stylistic choice, but it made banding evident from time to time and exaggerated some of the colors. The video segments don't fare too well. Detail is robbed and the imagery looks flat and washed out. Again this is a stylistic choice, but it doesn't bode well for an HD presentation. The animation looks fine. Colors are very bold and the image has a nice punch to it. You can really tell where the better elements are in this film because they really do look great in HD.

The soundtrack is presented in its native German dub in 5.1 Dolby TrueHD. There is also an English dub in TrueHD as well. I must say, this is a REALLY fun audio track. The soundstage is used in its entirety and the house/trance score keeps the energy going and offers a nice kick at the bottom end. Discrete channel use is excellent in both the main soundstage and the surrounds. Dialogue sounds clean and is balanced perfectly with the rest of the track. I was extremely impressed with the surround soundstage and how engulfing it was. For an older film, this one packs a mean soundtrack.

Extras are a bit meager on this catalog release. There is a music video for one of the film's songs, a feature commentary with the director and star and a production feature that covers making the film and its worldwide success.

It is great to see a film like this makes its HD debut so early. If you haven't had a chance to see it already now is the perfect time. This film has never looked or sounded better.