Release Date: March 11, 2008
Film Rating: 3/5
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Alan Arkin, Jude Law, Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine and Gore Vidal
Written & Directed by: Andrew Niccol
Gattaca is an ethical science fiction drama centered on questions of genetic manipulation versus human free will. It’s certainly well-intentioned and it has a solid cast, led by Ethan Hawke and a young Jude Law, along with a rare appearance by Gore Vidal, all giving appropriately moody performances. (It must be said that the picture is practically stolen by Alan Arkin’s old school detective.) It’s impeccably designed and filmed, with a vaguely futuristic sensibility wedded to retro wardrobe and concrete architecture. The quiet string score by Michael Nyman is properly mournful. And yet, the film never quite gels. This is partly due to the fairly dense backstory the viewer must absorb in order to understand the basic plot. The story is based on a future society where parents can genetically pre-figure their children, and where those citizens are then preferred to the children created naturally. Once you have that down, the film has you follow Hawke’s character (a natural child or “invalid”) as he impersonates a willing member of the upper tier. Once you have that down, the film presents you with the main character’s dilemma, where his status may be revealed as the result of a murder investigation. This is a lot for anyone to absorb, and coupled with some thinly written characters and a few too many leaps of logic, the resulting weight threatens to capsize the whole affair. But if you can go along for the ride, there’s an appeal to the film that goes beyond my description of it. It may touch you in spite of itself.
Gattaca has been released in prior years in standard definition DVD, both in regular and Superbit editions. The new Blu-ray release improves on the video quality with a splendid 1080p transfer and the audio with Dolby True HD sound. Most of the extras from the original DVD have been preserved here, aside from the theatrical trailer and a photo gallery. In their place, there are two new and helpful featurettes.
Gattaca is presented in a handsome 1080p AVC transfer that brings out much detail and color and makes for a truly pleasurable viewing experience. The color palette ranges wildly in the film from heavily warm amber images to extremely cold blue frames. The transfer takes this, and the various flesh tones in stride. The colors and picture details are appropriately lush. As just one example, the color difference between Ethan Hawke’s eyes between his contact lense look and his “natural” look is clear and striking.
Gattaca is presented in a 2+ mbps Dolby True HD 5.1 mix in English, French, and Portuguese. A 640 kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is available in Spanish. This is a quiet film for the most part, so the higher bitrate simply provides a higher base quality of the sonic environment. There isn’t a lot of use of the surrounds other than for music and occasional effects. The subwoofer kicks in here and there, in the first few moments of the film for a massive close up of objects hitting the floor, and in later moments for the rumble of massive engines. Other than that, though, the sound here is fairly quiet, with Michael Nyman’s strings heard clearly through the dialogue and effects.
The Blu-Ray presentation of Gattaca includes the deleted scenes, an outtake and the original featurette from the standard definition DVD, and then adds two new featurettes and some HD previews of other films and DVDs. The special features are presented in English and subtitled in English and Spanish.
The usual pop-up menu bar is present and can be accessed during the film. The movie itself starts automatically when you put the disc into the player. There is a thorough chapter list. When the disc is first inserted into the player, previews are played for Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, The Company and the current Blu-ray trailer..
IN THE END...
Gattaca is a lot to absorb for the first-time viewer, but its fans will certainly enjoy the sumptuous Blu-ray video and audio presentation available on the new disc. This is certainly a unique vision, and between the superior audio/video transfers and the extras, it’s a must purchase for fans of the film. Ethan Hawkes, Uma Thurman and Jude Law fans will likely want to purchase this one right away. For those who haven’t seen this film, I recommend renting it first.
Kevin Koster
March 4, 2008.
