Sling Blade (1996/Miramax/Disney
Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B
Film: B
Out of
all the titles that we have covered over the past few years, it’s hard to
imagine that we have yet to cover 1996’s Sling
Blade, which has now arrived to us via Blu-ray and we accept with open
arms. The various DVD editions of the
film were always poor in both picture and sound, so we knew that a Blu-ray
edition would eventually arrive and now the question remains…will the film
finally look and sound the way it should?
We shall reserve that answer for later in the review though.
What is
most memorable about this film is the writing/directing and star of the film
Billy Bob Thornton in a truly breakout performance that put him on the map, his
performance as Karl Childers in this film is eerily spot-on. Karl has recently been released from a mental
hospital where he has spent most of his life after being put away for the
murder of his mother and her lover, whom he found them together and killed them
out of rage. He now is released back to
the town where he was born, but now must figure out a new way of life, he
befriends a young boy in town and the two develop a strong friendship bond
together, although Karl soon becomes protective of the boy, especially over the
boys mother and her abusive boyfriend (Dwight Yoakam in a surprisingly good
role).
What is
compelling though about the film and what makes the memorable performance so
engaging is Thornton’s ability to translate a very simple story into a powerful
and enriching story through the use of very little dialogue at times and
engaging narrative that pieces together a heartfelt story without being overly
sappy or clichéd. This is certainly a
large part of the reason why the film received both critical and commercial
acclaim and is certainly one reason to own the film on Blu-ray, especially with
the improvement in picture and sound, along with supplements that really dig
deeper into the production and help form a total package of the film.
Presented
in a high definition 1080p transfer and framed in the films intended 1.85 X 1
aspect ratio the film dramatically looks improved over the previous edition on
DVD, which was drab looking by comparison.
The DVD with it’s limitations and compression created a lackluster
appearance of the film, especially many of the darker sequences which had
issues translating the films deep blacks and reddish hues. For this Blu-ray release, most of those
issues are solved, although the film still has a grainy texture that goes a little
beyond the intention and there are minor moments of softness that jeopardize
the image from being reference quality in terms of it’s resolution. That being said, the film looks great and has
excellent color and contrast throughout that make the film standout and
certainly more like it looked in the theater with a highly saturated
appearance.
The audio
is favorable here as well, offering the film in a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
option, the Blu-ray is certainly more advanced in it’s sonic integrity of the
film than the poor compressed Dolby Digital 5.1 mix offered on the DVD. Now the film comes alive with a freshness and
dynamic range that was never available in the home until now. While the film is certainly more subtle and
creates more mood than it does billowing subsonic activity, the film still has
a score and soundtrack that give the film necessary life and this DTS-HD mix
makes the film sound just about right, placement of everything is natural to
the films design, the overall resolution is more life-like and never seems to
feel out of balance. The surrounds get
moments of activity as well, especially during the more intense moments in the
film.
The
supplements are recycled over and are still good, the commentary by Thornton is
exceptional as he looks back on making the film and dissects the film from his
perspective in a very engaging way, there are tons of little featurettes that
get some depth on the production, there are also discussion pieces with
Thornton, Robert Duvall, Dwight Yoakam, there is also a segment on Billy Bob
Thornton that gives us in-depth coverage on his arrival in Hollywood and the
process in getting this dream turned into a movie reality, all of which really
help give appreciation to the filmmaking process and how hard it really is to
get a project off the ground.
A solid
recommendation.
- Nate Goss
