We Are Marshall (Blu-Ray)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Rated: PG (emotional thematic material, a crash scene and mild language)
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
HD Encoding: 1080p
HD Video Codec: VC-1
Audio: Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1; Dolby Digital: English 5.1, French 5.1
Subtitles: English; Spanish; French
Time: 131 minutes
Disc Format: 1 SS BD
Case Style: Keep case
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Blu Ray Release Date: September 18, 2007
When a plane carrying the Marshall University football team, its coaches and fans, crashes killing all aboard, the head of Marshall, Donald Dedmon (David Strathairn) is left with the unenviable task of trying to rebuild the team. Not only does Dedmon have a challenge for the school itself, but the town is trying to cope with the loss of their families and friends. Dedmon goes through numerous candidates for head coach and he finally finds Jack Lengyel (Matthew McConaughey). Lengyel knows just how hard it will be to recruit senior players, and Dedmon gets the NCAA to allow Marshall to play freshmen. Lengyel and his assistant coach, Red Dawson (Matthew Fox) begin to train a rookie team to heal the wounds of the players, the school, and the town.
I usually go into further depth when it comes to plot synopsis, but there really wasn’t much more to say about it. We Are Marshall drew a very good cast (including the usually intense Ian McShane, playing the role of a grieving father reserved) who do a good job of conveying the grief everyone went through. Fox comes across as the focal point of the transition between the old team and the new one. With each day, Fox’s Dawson must deal with his grief while still trying to lead the team, and Fox’s performance is very convincing. McConaughey’s Lengyel almost seems to ignore the past as a way to drive the team to the future, using his passion and abilities to heal everyone. His physical acting (bent over, talking out of the side of his mouth) makes us forget the free spirited slackers he is known for.
In the end, while I still felt the tragedy of the plane crash and the pain the town went through, I almost thought this was a cheap way to get a picture made. These inspirational type sports films are a very common formula for Hollywood and the same message is always conveyed. I question the motives of the film makers in touching this story, especially since the football team never really made an impact until the 80’s. It becomes a very typical type of story that plays on the emotion of the audience to try and make it seem like it is more than it really is. The main compliment I will pay is to director McG who tones down his usually hyper direction (see Charlie’s Angels) and concentrates on some good storytelling.
Video:
Note: I am watching this title using a Marantz VP 11-S1 DLP projector, which has a native resolution of 1080p. I am using a Panasonic DMB-BD10A Blu-Ray player and utilizing the HDMI capabilities of both units.
The picture is in VC-1, encoded at 1080p and it is framed at 2.40:1. This disc had a very inconsistent image, especially the black levels. From scene to scene, sometimes even shot to shot, blacks would change in their level of intensity, going from inky and deep, to washed out, flat and noisy. There were even a couple scenes where it looked like it was shot on no better than a home video camera. I don’t think I’d even attribute this to a stylistic choice on McG’s part. Even when the black levels are solid, there is little to no shadow detail, and they bleed into the colors of their surroundings. Colors seem to have their contrast boosted in some scenes, making the greens look electric and hot, and the yellow of the sunlit scenes will taint the skin tones. I even went so far as to adjust the blue gains and bias, as well as the tint control on my projector, to compensate for this annoyance. I had a very similar experience with the recent HD-DVD release of Next, causing me to go back and check my projector settings, which were accurate to begin with. I am beginning to wonder if the way these pictures were filmed enhanced the colors so it looked more dynamic on film, but now that they are in a home, HD environment, our displays are drawing out these boosted levels.
The colors in the light, outdoor scenes, however, show some strengths in this transfer. The sharp details of the environments and the close ups of the actors and their clothing are excellent. Edge enhancement was not noticed, and this is a picture that is free of any film dirt. Another thing I noticed on close inspection of the image was that it was quite grainy, but when I moved to my regular viewing distance, it was not as noticeable.
Audio:
Note: The Dolby TrueHD soundtrack was attained by a 5.1 analog connection.
I noticed the main disc menu does not give you a language option. Instead, I had to switch on the Dolby TrueHD track by cycling through the audio tracks via my remote. There is also no subtitle option on the main menu.
I watched the movie with the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track engaged. The main thing I noticed about this track was it had an excellent soundstage. During one scene with Ian McShane and David Strathairn in the foundry, and another of the football scenes, sounds of the environment seemed to be placed perfectly between my fronts and rears. This provided for a very convincing environment to be drawn into the story itself. The soundtrack is front centered, with the surrounds being utilized for ambience and the few localized effects I noted above. The Dolby TrueHD track is very warm, tight and balanced. Highs and mids rule the show, and the LFE blends seamlessly with the rest.
Bonus Material:
With the advent of Blu-Ray, we are faced with several different audio and video codecs being used on each disc. Due to this, I have begun adding the encoding details as part of the explanation of bonus features when applicable and relevant. For this release, the extras are in MPEG-2, 480p unless otherwise noted.
The beginning of the picture features what could best be described as a commercial for West Virginia. McConaughey, Fox, the WV governor and others talk about how great WV is set to film of the state’s attractions.
Legendary Coaches: How Coaches Overcome Adversity (37:00): McG introduces us to coaches past and present, including Bobby Bowden, George Horton, Pat Summit, Lute Olsen, and John Wooden. Jack Lengyel explains the real life story he faced and there is some vintage footage of practices and games. The doc goes on to have each of these coaches explain some of their philosophies of coaching intermixed with more vintage photos and video. This is a good doc for sports fans in particular.
Marshall Now: A Look at the University of Marshall Campus Today (1:00): A commercial for Marshall featuring former alumni.
Theatrical Trailer
Conclusions:
While an informative and emotional story about the tragedy that hit one school in one town, the movie itself plays on the emotions to try and make us accept what turns out to be an average result. While some of the actors are quite good in it, I couldn’t help but thinking I’d been here before and with better results. The Blu-Ray suffers from some video problems, but it provides a nice audio side. The extras are barely relevant to the movie itself, but some of the sports fans out there may enjoy them.
