A History of Violence appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a problematic presentation.
Sharpness became compromised due to a few factors. The transfer suffered from a fair amount of digital noise reduction, which tended to rob shots of detail.
In an apparent attempt to compensate, the movie came with prominent edge haloes. All these issues meant that the film came with a weird mix of exaggerated sharpness and mushy shots.
No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects materialized. Print flaws failed to become a distraction.
Colors leaned stylized, with an emphasis on greens and ambers. These seemed well-rendered within the choices made by the filmmakers.
Blacks tended to seem crushed and too dense, while shadows felt thick and overly heavy. This turned into a disappointing, overly processed presentation.
Since A History of Violence offered a quiet experience punctuated by a few brief scenes of action, the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 worked along the same path. This meant the soundfield usually stayed fairly restricted.
Music showed good stereo presence and I heard decent environmental material as well. For the most part, there wasn’t much to make the mix lively.
That changed during the smattering of violent scenes, though, and those managed to open up the spectrum well as they created quick but involving pieces. The surrounds came into action during those sequences and helped make this a more interesting mix.
Audio quality was always satisfying. Speech seemed natural and concise, with no edginess or other problems.
Music sounded bright and full, while effects were concise and accurate. Bass response appeared appropriately warm and deep. Though this wasn’t a standout track, it lived up to expectations.
How did the Blu-ray compare with the DVD version? The soundscape offered similar scope, but the lossless TrueHD mix boasted somewhat improved fidelity.
As for the visuals, the Blu-ray seemed a bit better defined and vivid. However, it came with so many issues that I can’t endorse it as an obvious step up, especially since the format’s superior capabilities make the image’s deficits more glaring.
The Blu-ray replicates the DVD’s extras, and we start with an audio commentary with director David Cronenberg. He offers a running, screen-specific chat. Cronenberg discusses story, themes, and interpretation, characters and performances, sets and locations, cinematography and the movie’s visual style, deleted segments, and a few production topics.
Cronenberg offers an unusual introspective and rich look at his film. He really digs into the movie’s meaning and what it tries to say. This adds texture to the material and makes this a useful and informative view of the movie.
Next we get a documentary entitled Acts of Violence. It runs one hour, six minutes, 17 seconds and includes notes from Cronenberg, screenwriter Josh Olson, director of photography Peter Suschitzky, makeup supervisor Stephan Dupuis, producer Chris Bender, assistant set decorator Danielle Fleury, editor Ron Sanders, first assistant director Walter Gasparovic, on set dresser Greg Pelchat, composer Howard Shore, key hair dresser Mary-Lou Green-Benvenuti, SPFX supervisor Neil Trifunovich, costume designer Denise Cronenberg, production designer Carol Spier, dialogue coach John Nelles, gun wrangler “Frenchie” Berger, and actors Viggo Mortensen, Greg Bryk, Stephen McHattie, Ashton Holmes, Ed Harris, Maria Bello, and William Hurt.
The show covers Cronenberg’s approach on the set, casting, characters and the actors, sets and visual design, stunts and effects, the movie’s depiction of violence, Cronenberg’s crew and his history with them, makeup and costumes, and script issues.
As with the commentary, “Acts” presents an unusually intelligent look at the film. We get many fine notes about the actors’ work and Cronenberg’s choices, and we also find plenty of the usual nuts and bolts material.
The shots from the set are particularly interesting, as it’s fun to see them work on the shots. This is a strong documentary.
Violence’s History: US Version Vs. International Version goes for one minute, 24 seconds. Cronenberg details the minor changes made to keep an “R” from the MPAA. We see the European shots and get comparisons in this helpful clip.
The eight-minute, 54-second Too Commercial for Cannes follows Cronenberg as he wanders through different duties at the famous film festival. We see various aspects of that experience in this short piece. It’s a moderately interestingly little program.
One deleted scene appears. Called “Scene 44”, it runs two minutes, 47 seconds. Most of that focuses on a dream sequence. It’s not anything stellar, but it’s interesting to see.
We can watch the scene with or without commentary from Cronenberg. He provides some background and lets us know why he cut it.
In addition to the movie’s trailer, we finish with The Unmaking of Scene 44, a seven-minute, five-second view of the deleted scene.
It provides remarks from Cronenberg, Harris, Bender, Trifunovich, and Dupuis. They provide some information about filming the deleted segment and give us another nice look behind the scenes.
A History of Violence may be one of those movies that impresses more on subsequent viewings. I thought the film had interesting moments but failed to coalesce into anything memorable. Although I reserve the right to change my mind, that’s how I feel at first blush. The Blu-ray offers good audio and some fine supplements but picture seems subpar. The movie could use a new transfer to correct this one’s flaws.
To rate this film visit the DVD review of HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
