HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Gattaca

Kevin EK · 03-05-2008, 01:35 AM

Blu-ray Disc REVIEW

GATTACA
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION

Studio: Columbia Pictures
Film Year: 1997
Film Length: 1 hour 46 minutes
Genre: Science Fiction/Ethical Drama

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

BD Resolution: 1080p
BD Video Codec: AVC @ over 25 Mbps
Color/B&W: Color

Audio:

English Dolby True HD 5.1 (@ over 2 Mbps)

French Dolby True HD 5.1

Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (@ 640 Kbps)

Portuguese Dolby True HD 5.1

Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Chinese, Korean

Film Rating: PG-13

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.

VIDEO QUALITY: 4/5

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.

AUDIO QUALITY: 3/5

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.

SPECIAL FEATURES: 3/5

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.

Deleted Scenes – (10:43 Total, 480p) The deleted scenes from the original DVD release are included here in standard definition format. There is some interesting additional material with Ernest Borgnine and an abandoned coda for the film that spotlights individuals who might never have existed if the film’s world was a real one, including Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

Substance Test Outtake (:36) (480p) – This outtake was included on the original DVD release. This may be the single most horrifying outtake I’ve ever seen. Or it might be the funniest outtake I’ve ever seen. I can’t spoil it or even describe it. If you watch it, you’ll see what I mean...

Original Featurette – (6:52) (480p, Full-Frame) The original featurette from the original DVD is included in standard definition format. There are the usual intercuts of film clips with on-set footage. This feels like an EPK promotional piece, with very little substance.

Do Not Alter? (14:52) (480p, Full Frame) – This is a new featurette in standard definition regarding genetics and DNA, narrated by Gore Vidal. Among other things, this featurette makes clear where the title of the film and the central company originates. There’s a lot of interesting information in this featurette, which echoes the original coda of the film, as seen in the deleted scenes.

Welcome to Gattaca (22:00) (1080p) – This is the primary new featurette included on the Blu-ray disc, presented in 1080p and featuring interviews with Ethan Hawke and several production personnel, along with more on-set footage than was seen in the original featurette. Curiously, writer/director Andrew Niccol does not participate and is only seen in footage from the set.

Previews – (6:52) (1080p) Six HD previews are presented here in 1080p MPEG-2 transfers, including Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, the current Sony Blu-ray trailer, The Company, Damages: Season 1, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, and Dragon Wars.

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.

**HTF Ads**

JonZ · 03-05-2008, 07:27 AM

Thanks for the review. This is a must have.

Craig Beam · 03-05-2008, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonZ

Thanks for the review. This is a must have.

Hell yes. Can't wait!

Paul Arnette · 03-05-2008, 09:35 AM

I appreciate the review, but, for whatever reason, this film immediately clicked for me. I never felt overburden by the backstory, and this is simply one film that always makes me feel great after having watched it like I could accomplish anything. I guess it truly did "touch me in spite of itself".

Anyway, this is one of my favorites, and, while I was disappointed that it wasn't released way back in Blu-ray Disc's beginnings, I think it will be worth the wait based on the video score and additional supplemental features added.

Ron Reda · 03-05-2008, 10:23 AM

Definitely picking this one up. For some reason, the story has always stuck with me and in this day and age, seems very relevant.

DaveF · 03-05-2008, 12:04 PM

Is the audio given a 3/5 because it's a mediocre presentation or because artistically it's not flashy enough? That is, do only big, loud action movies get a 4 or 5 for audio, or is there something lacking in the Blu-Ray presentation of Gattaca's soft soundtrack?

Kevin EK · 03-05-2008, 12:27 PM

Dave, I struggled with that. Yes, it's a softer soundtrack. I wasn't sure how to phrase that without it coming across as an insult that I didn't intend.

The reason I didn't go higher on the scale was simply that the there wasn't enough to the mix for me to do so. It's not a matter of needing to hear explosions or jet blasts for me; it's that the surrounds and the subwoofer were simply not that present here. The subwoofer does kick in a little at the beginning and the ending of the film, but that's about it. I feel that the 3 is not a denigration of the sound - it's a perfectly good soundtrack, just not that active of one.

Travis Brashear · 03-05-2008, 01:27 PM

I see how this is gonna go...I'm going to have to keep hundreds of Columbia/Tri-Star/Sony SD-DVDs along with the new Blu-ray counterparts just so I can keep the f-ing trailer for the movie proper. Great...so much for slimmer Blu-ray cases saving me storage space...

I wonder if these studios that have been scaling back trailer inclusions would consider slapping about 3-4 hours' worth of them on a Blu-ray and selling that?

DaViD Boulet · 03-05-2008, 02:35 PM

Looking forward to picking this up.

ChrisCAB · 03-06-2008, 09:34 AM

This is a favorite.

One question - does the lack of a DD 5.1 English mix mean that if I won't be able to listen to this one in surround sound (I connect blu-ray to preamp via coax)? I recall this happening with Across the Universe which caused me to watch it in Portugeuse (I don't speak it) and skip to the songs. Incidentally, I hated that movie.

Seppo · 03-06-2008, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisCAB

TOne question - does the lack of a DD 5.1 English mix mean that if I won't be able to listen to this one in surround sound (I connect blu-ray to preamp via coax)?

If I'm not mistaken the Dolby TrueHD track contains a regular DD 5.1 "core" mix as well (either 448 or 640 kbps).

DaViD Boulet · 03-06-2008, 09:52 AM

Quote:

does the lack of a DD 5.1 English mix mean that if I won't be able to listen to this one in surround sound (I connect blu-ray to preamp via coax)? I recall this happening with Across the Universe which caused me to watch it in Portugeuse (I don't speak it) and skip to the songs. Incidentally, I hated that movie.

Chris, *ALL* Dolby TrueHD tracks on Blu-ray contain a core (old fashioned) Dolby digital stream for using over coax. That was the case with Across the Universe as well (in fact, selecting the TrueHD stream should have automatically routed that core Dolby stream to your SPDIF output, though some players will send the lossless decoded stream out in 2.0 PCM form if you have "PCM" enabled instead of "bitstream" for your SPDIF output). Incidentally, I loved the movie.