Lord of War: 2-Disc Special Edition 1/17

Elijah Sullivan · 01-15-2006, 02:56 AM

Just watched this film, a pretty good one. The DVD presentation, tho, is outstanding. The video is very, very nice... lots of EE, but still damned good...

The DTS-ES track on this disc is absolutely incredible.

A solid hit in presentation, I think.

As for the film... a good effort. I'm glad Lions Gate gambled on this project (as they did with Crash this same year) to help try to get a very political, very revisionist message to the mainstream audience. I hope millions more people see this film now that it's on DVD, because weapons trade is a major issue. And as the movie states... the United States is the biggest offender on the planet, and has been for half a century.

Joel C · 01-15-2006, 01:02 PM

What's the aspect ratio? I read on another forum that this was cropped from the 2.35:1 theatrical to 1.78:1.

Rhoq · 01-15-2006, 01:53 PM

I saw this in theater and can't wait 'til Tuesday to pick it up (I could of had it Christmas weekend, but I didn't want to settle for the single disc version). Excellent film both in it's message and how it plays out as a dark comedy.

Marcel H. · 01-15-2006, 06:10 PM

@Joel

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to post any links until I've posted 15 times here. So look at the axelmusic homepage. There you can find a back cover scan of the DVD that says that the ratio is 1,78:1

Elijah Sullivan · 01-15-2006, 06:38 PM

It is 1.78, but there is no pan-and-scan action that I saw. It is 16x9 enhanced. If anything, I would suggest that it was improperly screened in theaters. At 1.78 the compositions are quite spacious, with no hint of that pan-and-scan stuff.

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Mike Heenan · 01-15-2006, 07:07 PM

How could it have been improperly screened at theaters, when that's the aspect ratio the director and cinematographer chose to release it in?

Mark Lucas · 01-15-2006, 07:30 PM

This is a 2.35:1 Super 35 film. Maybe it was decided to open up the mattes for home video but i'll believe it when I see it.

I think I'll wait for the HD-DVD/Blu-ray release of this.

Jon Martin · 01-15-2006, 08:23 PM

Quote:

This is a 2.35:1 Super 35 film. Maybe it was decided to open up the mattes for home video but i'll believe it when I see it.

That is most likely the case, that it is open matte. Same thing Robert Rodriguez did with ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO.

Nathan V · 01-15-2006, 08:43 PM

That is disappointing news. I will not be purchasing this title. The 2.35 compositions in the theatre (in which I saw the film twice) were gorgeous. I actually thought it had some of the best compositions of the year. This is a real shame for me, esp as a photographer.

Regards,
Nathan

Joel C · 01-15-2006, 10:33 PM

I guess if the director wants it that way I can't complain, but it is odd. Great looking film, all but ignored in theaters despite a few good