Paramount's First Blu-ray Titles Reviewed

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Paramount has quietly released their first wave of Blu-Ray titles on September 26th. They join Warner Bros. as only the second studio to release content on both next generation home video formats. The first two waves from Warner Bros. were put under the microscope by many reviewers, as everybody wanted to know if one format came out on top of the other. The first battle between the formats found HD-DVD coming out easily on top. The MPEG-2 compression was visibly inferior to the VC-1 compression used on the HD-DVD titles. The sound choices were not quite as good and the world took notice. The second wave fared better for Blu-Ray, but HD-DVD still held a slight edge, as Blu-Ray lacked the Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks of the HD-DVD releases. Paramount muddies the waters more with their first three releases, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and "Four Brothers." Though not identical to their HD-DVD counterparts, the battle lines are far less defined than before.

First Glance: Without Popping in a Disc

Some of the more significant differences between the Paramount releases can be found without even inserting a disc into either the Toshiba HD-A1 or Samsung BD-P1000 players. Aside from the translucent blue cases of Blu-Ray and the translucent Elite Red HD-DVD cases, Paramount has made changes to the packaging. The cover artwork of the Blu-Ray title features a more 'high-tech' looking silver border that contains less artwork than the HD-DVD releases, but is far more angular and futuristic looking than the simple rounded corners of the HD-DVD titles. The layout continues on the rear facing of the packaging and where HD-DVD had the features and title information formatted across the top, the Blu-Ray titles find that information down the upper right side of the case's back. The rear artwork is either reformatted or completely different. Instead of white text for logos, as they did on the HD-DVD releases, Paramount has moved to black text on Blu-Ray. My preference is the more organized and simple layout of the Elite Red cases and not the high-tech bordered look of the Blu-Ray title.

Beyond High Definition: How Does the Titles Compare visually?

The first choices made by Paramount for release on Blu-Ray appear to be a bit odd. "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" are both questionable titles in the visual department. "Tomb Raider" was perhaps the worst of the Paramount titles yet released on HD-DVD. The image was routinely grainy and poorly detailed. The film's final action sequence, in the film's final tomb was the strongest and most impressive of the visuals. The water looked remarkable, facial detail was strong and for a few moments, I was impressed. However, the rest of the film was a disappointment. "Sky Captain" is a good looking title, and watching it gives a sense of high definition, but the cinematography and stylistic choices made in the film's visuals provides an intentionally soft and hazy image that does not provide a highly detailed image and suffers from a desaturated palette. "Four Brothers" was one of the better releases of the first wave of HD-DVD titles and is visually striking, but the streets of Detroit do not exactly provide eye candy to the viewer.

Unfortunately, the Samsung Blu-Ray player does not provide the compression codec in its display menus. Because of this, I am unable to determine if the first wave of Paramount titles are mastered in either the newer and efficient VC-1 or the older and maligned MPEG-2. The press release that accompanied the Blu-Ray screeners made no motion of the code used. Visually comparing the titles did not yield and results that were conclusive enough to determine which compression technology was used and if I had to make a best guess, I would say that the studio ported the titles to Blu-Ray with VC-1 compression. The reason for my guess is that picture quality is nearly identical between the two releases. I could detect some very minor differences, and these differences are likely due to hardware or wishful thinking that I had actually found something different visually. For instance, one scene in "Tomb Raider" looked a bit more detailed on the Blu-Ray release, while one of the action scenes in "Sky Captain" jumped a bit on Blu-Ray. Unless you tried very hard, you would have a tough time finding any true differences.

Where Did the Plus Go?: How Doe the Titles Compare Audibly?

With the missing five gigabytes of data on the Blu-Ray single layer titles versus the HD-DVD dual-layer titles, Paramount apparently had to cut some corners to fit these three titles onto the Sony-led format. The corners cut was simply dropping the word 'Plus' from Dolby Digital Plus. Otherwise, the sound formats available are identical. Throwing the discs into their respective players and comparing the Dolby Digital Plus sound mixes against the Dolby Digital multi-channel tracks found on the Blu-Ray releases does provide the greatest divide between the two formats. The Blu-Ray soundtracks, while still sounding quite good, lack the full pop and clarity that are provided with the HD-DVD titles. The heavy action scenes of "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and the big shootout sequence of "Four Brothers" are slightly superior in Dolby Digital Plus. Individual bullets were easier to pick out on the HD-DVD title and the Dolby Digital Plus mixed just seemed a bit more dynamic.

The differences between the Blu-Ray releases and the HD-DVD releases are apparent, but in the grand scheme of things, they are not night and day differences. It would be difficult for many people to even pick out the differences and without a high quality amplifier and speaker setup, the differences are probably negligible. The difference is about as apparent as the Dolby TrueHD is superior over the Dolby Digital Plus mix on the HD-DVD release of "Training Day." Many of us have talked about the level of improvement, yet I know others that feel they are nearly identical. The difference is not even enough that I would change the score from what I had given the HD-DVD release to reflect the Blu-Ray's lesser soundtrack. The soundtracks still sound pretty good and I don't think anybody would be particularly unhappy with Paramount's efforts on the Blu-Ray format.

Supplements. Is Blu-Ray Given Value Added Love by Paramount?

One of the principal gripes I have had thus far with the Blu-Ray releases has been the number of supplements provided. HD-DVD has been running circles around the Blu-Ray releases and those that have only released on the Blu-Ray format continue to disappoint. Warner Bros. has done a fine job of providing the same materials on their BD discs that they did on the HD-DVD titles. However, nothing has matched some of the Warner HD-DVD only titles and nobody touches Universal. Fortunately, Paramount seems to be taking a page out of Warner Bros. playbook and the three initial Blu-Ray titles are blessed with the same extra content that the HD-DVD titles were. It is nice to see that the studios that support both formats are doing the best they can to guarantee that everybody is treated as equal as possible. The Samsung player continues to stretch the 4:3 supplements to a 16x9 image, but that is a hardware issue and not related to the software. This is also a personal preference as I prefer pillarboxing over a distorted image.

Four Brothers

"Four Brothers" is a very violent film that takes a look at the harsh life of Detroit. Detroit has been the butt of many jokes because of how violent the city is. There is a lot of blood and plenty of gunfire. A scene where the four men are pinned down in their mother's home while a large number of hitmen engage them in a gunfight is very violent and eclipsed only by the strongest of war films in its ferocity. In their quest to bring justice to the man who killed their mother, they resort to executions and to other vicious acts. Mark Walhberg is a Boston native who first rose to fame as rapper Marky Mark (his brother was a singer with New Kids on the Block). I don't consider Walhberg to be a great actor, but he extremely believable as Bobby Mercer. His upbringing on the streets of Boston have prepared him well for the part of street smart Bobby. He is a tough and dangerous persona that you do not want on your bad side, but you know he is the kind of person that has your back if you have his respect.

Beyond the violence, "Four Brothers" has an engaging story that doesn't quite reach the level of storytelling found in "Boyz n the Hood," but shows that Singleton still knows how to relate the dangers of the streets in American's dangerous cities and what some youth need to do to survive in this rough neighborhoods. Much of the dialogue was improvised by the actors. Wahlberg invented nearly all of his lines in the film. By having them relate to each other in their own words and through the friendships they made while being brothers, the four principal actors relate to each other in a very believable fashion. The film succeeds in part to the dynamics of the four actors and under Singleton's talented direction, "Four Brothers" is violent, but believable. In the end you feel compassion for four violent men. You understand their plight and you want to see the kind old lady's murder avenged. You also want to avoid the streets of Detroit.

Video: The visual splendor of “Four Brothers� is quite good on Blu-Ray. The 2.35:1 widescreen image is highly detailed, full of color and among the better offerings so far on the young format. Singleton got to film the snow he craved to shoot and there is a lot of real snow in the picture. Each flake is clearly defined and the fresh-laden snow on the ground shows texture that can only be realized through a good high definition picture. There are a few scenes shot at night and these dark moments are nicely rendered. During the film's big car chase sequence where Bobby and his brothers try to run down two killers in an El Camino, there is a little bit of film grain and some of the interior shots of the cars are a bit soft, but these few minutes were the only faults I could see in the entire film. The picture quality ranks among the better Blu-Ray titles thus far. The image quality is consistent and nicely detailed throughout the film.

Audio: Paramount has chosen to replace the Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks that were found on the HD-DVD titles with a standard English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There is a difference and the Blu-Ray releases are not nearly as strong as the HD-DVD titles, but fortunately, "Four Brothers" still sounds quite good. "Four Brothers" is presented with four soundtracks. The native English language is offered with a solid sounding 5.1 Dolby Digital mix and an equally strong DTS 5.1 multi-channel surround track. I found the Dolby Digital mix was marginally better and had more presence in the big gunfire sequence. Bass is strong and powerful when needed. It is most apparent during Lil Jon's song. There is a lot of bullets discharged throughout the picture and when they come from different sources on-screen, they are delivered through various speakers. The rear surrounds are used very nicely during both the car chase sequence and the gunfight. Much of the film is dialogue driven and everybody is loud and clear and never drowned out by either gunfire or heavy snowfall. All-in-all, "Four Brothers" is a good sounding film that comes to life when it needs to.

Extras: The Commentary by Director John Singleton is a personable track by the director. He chats about his various decisions in the film and goes into detail about the various influences he had from Westerns, Seventies action films and Motown music. The Look of Four Brothers covers how Singleton did not want a film that was 'Hip-Hop' or like a music video. He wanted a classic looking film that was reminiscent of American Westerns. He wanted an American looking film and this ten minute short covers this approach nicely. Crafting Four Brothers is an eleven minute look at creating the story behind the film. Behind the Brotherhood is ten more minutes and has Singleton discussing the strong bond between the characters. Mercer House Shootout is only four minutes long, but looks at storyboards and other elements that went into the great shootout scene. Nine deleted scenes are included on the Blu-Ray. They run for only eleven minutes and do offer more background on the characters and the story. After the deleted scenes, the Theatrical Trailer is presented in high definition. I can't wait for studios to start formatting the rest of the supplements in HD.

Quick Notes: John Singleton has crafted another good look at urban violence and the trials and tribulations of youth who lack the full advantages that were available to most of us. "Four Brothers" is a revenge film that is molded after the Great American Western. Singleton wanted a classic feeling film that was not an extended music video like many other films today. He also wanted snow. He succeeded on both accounts and by allowing his young actors to improvise much of their lines, he created a genuine chemistry between the characters. The Blu-Ray release of "Four Brothers" is technically sound. It features a very good image that is backed up by a strong soundtrack. The supplements contained take a good look at the Singleton's 'different approach' to filmmaking. This is a violent picture that shows the strength of brotherhood. This disc is the best of the three initial Blu-Ray releases by Paramount.

Story: 9
Video: 8
Sound: 7
Extras: 8

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Lara Croft is many a young teenager's fantasy girl. This isn't to say she isn't the perfect fantasy girl for many post-teenage boys either, as I'm sure plenty of twenty-somethings that grew up playing the "Tomb Raider" video games still would love to have a girlfriend just like Lara. The video game series became popular not because of its gameplay or engaging story, but because of the character's rather large polygons. The controls were lousy and the story was often quite dull. However, the British accent and curvaceous proportions of the character engraved Lara Croft into many a young boys idea of the perfect woman. So when it came time to bring "Tomb Raider" to celluloid, who could fill the brassiere of the gun-toting adventurer?

I'm not sure that much thought had to be given to cast Angelina Jolie as the tomb raiding Croft. Jolie is the object of affection for many movie-going males. She is a lovely lady who has an intelligent, but adventurous appeal. She is also a shapely young lady who doesn't quite fit the dimensions of the video game vixen, but still looks mighty fine in a skimpy outfit. Out of the better known actresses in Hollywood, Angelina is easily the best choice as Lara Croft. To successfully make a film based on a game that was popular mainly because young male players enjoyed finding the best camera angle to ogle at the heroine requires an actress that is going to have the same success of capturing the male eye. Angelina is a great choice.

Perhaps my familiarity with the series is reason for me to not enjoy the film. I think "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" would have been better served as a smaller budget film that didn't have all of the grandness of this picture. A little less bullets, a little more moss would have done the film well. The film doesn't hit a tomb until nearly forty-five minutes into the picture. Lara is airdropped to a tomb in Cambodia (the airdrop is another example of how over-the-top everything has to be in this picture) and finds the bad guys already there. Manfred Powell has employed tomb raider Alex West to help uncover pieces of the triangle. The film runs for only 100 minutes and it takes us halfway through the film before we even get to see an adventurous location. What are we rewarded with? Some nice visuals. Lara stops to smell a flower and falls into a hole and we finally are rewarded with a set we would have expected to see in a film titled "Tomb Raider" Then we get stone monkeys for Lara to combat and within a dozen minutes, the best set and scene in the film is over.

Video: The 2.351 anamorphic transfer is mastered in 1080p. "Tomb Raider" is a bit of a disappointment. The level of depth in the film varies scene-to-scene. Some of the scenes are as stunning as Miss Jolie, while others are soft and a bit grainy. The film finishes on a grand note and the entire final sequence exhibits high levels of detail. The film contains a lot of bright colors and they are nicely saturated and quite pretty. The film has a few dark moments and black levels and shadow details hold up well. The sets used in the film are all quite grand. Buddhist temples, grand mansions, Venice, Cambodia and other exotic locations are all brought to life. However, the often hazy picture does not do the film as much justice as Blu-Ray is capable of. Haze is actually a good word as some of the backgrounds are lost in a haze. Whether this is a problem with the methods of lighting used in the film or the film stock used, "Tomb Raider" is far from being a stunning title on Blu-Ray. It is far from being the worst transfer I've seen and there are certainly moments where the title exhibits a stunningly high-detailed image, but it is just wildly inconsistent.

Audio: Paramount's initial slate has the following soundtracks: English 5.1 Dolby Digital, English 5.1 DTS, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. This is a nice complement of formats. In "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," The Dolby Digital Plus soundtrack is the better sounding of the native-language tracks. It has a fuller and more dynamic sound to it. The DTS mix does contain a harder hitting amount of bass, where the .1 LFE channel is more controlled and a bit subdued on the Dolby Digital mix. The soundtrack for "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" is quite aggressive. Considering the high amount of gunfire, it is almost a given. There are some nice atmospheric sound effects, but the soundtrack's musical score by Graeme Revell hits hard and drowns out the ambient effects. A bell wrung in the film's finale and the following explosion of ice wonderfully shows off the films higher range and prepares the viewer for the final scene in the room with the planetary tomb machine, where the soundtrack really shines.

Extras: The Commentary with Director Simon West is a decent enough commentary track. Listening to the commentary allows you to learn the trials and tribulations of covering Angelina Jolie's two dozen tattoos. Digging into Tomb Raider is the half-hour long making of feature that takes a look at the history of the "Tomb Raider" franchise as both a game and the film. The smaller features include Crafting Lara Croft and others. The Visual Effects of Tomb Raider is a collection of eight shorts that can be played individually or together. For special effects buffs, this is good stuff. The Stunts of Tomb Raider is nine minutes of showing how Angelina Jolie did a lot of the stunt work. Are You Game? is an eight minute summary at Lara's video game beginnings. Four deleted scenes add depth to the character of Powell and build on the relationship between Lara and Alex. A musical video is included for U2: Elevation. I do like U2 and "Elevation" is a good song. Alternate Main Title is a two-minute additional take on the opening titles to the film. Finally, a High Definition trailer and teaser trailer are provided.

Quick Notes: The Blu-Ray release is a mixed bag. The picture ranges from being a highly-detailed transfer to be a hazy mess that barely rises above standard definition DVD. I tend to suspect the source materials and not the actual transfer. Sound is very dynamic and works well. There is nearly an hour and a half of bonus materials. These give a good look at the making of the film and show the hard work put in by Angelina Jolie in the making of the film. The commentary track is good and details a lot of hard decisions made in the making of the film. For fans of "Tomb Raider" this is certainly a good purchase. Now I said I didn't particularly enjoy the film, but I didn't dislike it either. The film just does not rise to the level it could have.

Story: 6
Video: 8
Sound: 7
Extras: 4

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Director and writer Kerry Conran had an interesting idea when he conceived "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." Borrowing and paying tribute to so many films of decades ago, the director intertwines historical details of the era and involves them into the story. Some of the film's history was changed to help facilitate the 'alternate reality' New York of 1939. The Hindenburg docks at the Empire State Building, something that was originally intended to be, but never quite happened. Newspapers plaster true stories onto their front pages from vintage elements. Sets are painfully recreated to created a look and feel of a New York City that is not preparing for World War II, but getting ready for a large scale invasion by gigantic robots and mysterious flying machines. When mixed with the large number of film references, every line of dialogue and every minute detail on screen may hide a bit of cinematic or historical fact or fiction awaiting to be discovered.

Sadly, the director's gift to us film buffs and movie lovers was largely ignored. The film grossed about as much in box office ticket sales as it cost to produce (about forty million dollars). It has not been a big success in home video sales either. "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is so visually interesting and curious in its storytelling that the film is a nearly forgotten gem that deserves more attention than it has gotten. The film was shot in only a few weeks and nearly the entire film was produced on computers. I remember hearing about the film and was quite interested in seeing the film because of its throwback look and different take on filmmaking. However, I was alone in a desire to pay my money for a ticket. I couldn't find a single person that thought the film looked interesting. The couple people I do know that have enjoyed this quirky and unique picture grew up on the comic books, television shows and films that so heavily inspired this project.

Video: I cannot think of another picture that is as difficult as this one to grade on visual quality. "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is a beautiful film. It really is. However, the diluted and desaturated colors that are purposely out of contrast and the constantly hazy picture will never ever have somebody proclaim "this looks breathtaking." It is meant to pay tribute to the visual styling of films that are now fifty and sixty years old. There are a few minor times when the level of detail is high, but these are fleeting moments. The film is so far different than anything else ever produced that it is incredibly difficult to do it justice with words. I'm sure there are a large number of folk out there that think I'm insane by calling "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" a beautiful looking film. It is certainly not something you would expect to stand out in high definition, yet it does have a very high definition appeal to it and the increased color capabilities and amount of detail of the Blu-Ray format helps this film achieve its intended visual goal far greater than the standard definition release did. This is a very difficult film to grade for how it looks because of how different it is, but the Blu-Ray transfer is stunning in its own way.

Audio: The lively and aggressive mixes for "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" are delivered by either an English Dolby Digital 5.1 or a English DTS 5.1 mix. Both of these multi-channel mixes are incredible. This is a film best played at high levels and it really is impressive. All six channels are heavily utilized throughout the entire picture. The .1 LFE channel pounds hard enough to rattle shelves and picture frames at multiple points in the picture. The DTS soundtrack had a heavier bass presence, but both thumped admirably. Rear speakers are used quite often and a few of the sound effects created a wonderful enveloping experience. The dialogue and sound effects are so crisp and clear that every change in deflection or bit of detail can be heard. The dialogue sounds about as good as it gets. Never once do you wonder what the actor has just said. Never once does the dialogue, effects or Shearmur's score conflict with one another. There can be a lot of audible information being pummeled towards you and it all sounds great. Comparing the two tracks, the Dolby Digital track has slightly better imaging, but the DTS has more rumble to it. Both tracks will impress at medium to high levels and the differences are quickly forgotten as your ears get quite a workout.

Extras: A Commentary by Producer Jon Avnet and a Commentary by Writer and Director Kerry Conran and the VFX Crew are both interesting listens primarily due to the interesting nature in which this film was produced, but unless you are very interested in the technical aspects of the film, they are not the easiest to sit through. The second commentary track involves Conran and his brother and the production designer Kevin Conran, animation director/digital effects supervisor Steve Yamamoto and visual effects supervisor Darin Hollings. A rather large documentary is included and split into two halves. Brave New World: Chapter 1 and Brave New World: Chapter 2 runs for an hour combined. This two part documentary is far more valuable than the commentary tracks and if you are short on time, the documentary is certainly the better bet. The Art of World of Tomorrow is an eight minute look at the stylistic choices made for the film. Kevin Conran says it best here. "This picture is a comic book brought to life." This little documentary does a great job of describing the visual style of the movie. The Original Six Minute Short is the segment created to market the idea and secure the funds to get the film produced. This little short is great all its own and looks like it came right out of the early Fifties. Two Deleted Scenes, a Gag Reel and three Theatrical Trailers mastered in high definition complete the nice bit of extras contained on the disc.

Quick Notes: "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is an intriguing little film. Produced for forty million dollars, it is homage to the serials of the Forties an Fifties and represents a modern interpretation of those films. Its visual style is something that only this film can claim. The movie was shot in twenty nine days on sets that were entirely blue-screen sets. Every element of the picture was added in post-production by computers. For as much as the film pays tribute to yesterday, it is an exercise in tomorrow. It is a complete digital picture that one could say is more animated than it is live action. Part of the fun in watching the movie is to find all of the theatrical influences and “Easter Eggs� that are hidden within its frames. Lines of dialogue are repeated. Famous apes climb famous skyscrapers and names give hint to trivial personalities. This is a very entertaining picture for various reasons. The Blu-Ray release of "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" features very good sound a good picture. The supplements are nice additions that chronicle the interesting nature of the film's production. Not many people are familiar with the picture and it has been largely ignored. That is unfortunate.

Story: 8
Video: 9
Sound: 7
Extras: 8

Final Words:

Paramount becomes the second studio to provide content on both of the formats competing to become the next-generation format for home theaters as television moves into the realm of high definition. The first three releases by the studio are nothing terribly exciting and questionable if you look at the picture quality of the releases. "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" is neither a good film, nor looks terribly good in its high definition clothing. I loved "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," but I know that many others do not share my enthusiasm for the quirky title. The picture quality of the film is intentionally blurry and desaturated. "Four Brothers" is the best release of the initial three, however, it is far from being an audio/video tour de force and the film is good, but not quite the blockbusters needed to help drive a new format.

What is impressive is that Paramount has nearly duplicated their efforts by brining these titles from their 30GB HD-DVD homes to their smaller constrained 25GB Blu-Ray platters. The image quality is so close, that it is hard to tell if one is better than the other. I'm not going to even attempt to pick a winner between the two formats on picture quality. To fit the films into a smaller space, Paramount has squeezed in smaller Dolby Digital soundtracks. This does result in a slightly less vibrant sound experience, but the difference is not all that dramatic. If anything, HD-DVD comes out the slight winner in this comparison based upon the soundtrack differences. Supplements are identical between the two releases. I would have preferred for a different set of three titles, but this is only the start of support for the format from Paramount. It is comforting to see that Paramount has released high quality Blu-Ray releases that are not as marred by poor quality as the initial efforts by the Blu-Ray only studios.

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