Harsh Times (HD-DVD)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B     Extras: B-     Film: B-

 

 

David Ayer’s Harsh Times (2005) brought him back to the same territory that put him on the map, the urban landscape that made Training Day (see my HD-DVD review elsewhere on this site) work so well.  This time, he wrote and directed with results that were more hit than miss.  If not a Training Day, it is still worth a look as my original DVD-Video review of the title explains:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5059/Harsh+Times+(2005)

 

 

The 1080p 1.85 X 1 image is nicely shot in Super 16mm film by Steve Mason, A.C.S., A.S.C., who along with the great editor Conrad Buff, A.C.E., deliver a film that has a substantial look without trickery or gutted color schemes.  This allows the viewer to become more involved and the improvements from the standard DVD-Video are noticeable enough that this is the preferred way to watch this.  It may be somewhat dark and gritty in a stylized way, but it also proved how much Super 16mm offers over the best HD.  The Dolby TrueHD is an improvement over the standard DVD’s standard Dolby Digital 5.1 also included here, but the flaws/limits of the lower-budget production are more pronounced.  Fortunately, the True HD alleviates some compression problems that lesser Dolby has.  Extras are the same as the DVD-Video, all adding up to an HD-DVD better than its standard DVD version.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo