Blu-ray Review The Wolf of Wall Street Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Neil Middlemiss]

The Wolf of Wall Street Blu-ray Review

Hold on tight. The Wolf of Wall Street is a marathon but breezy three hour epic from Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Goodfellas) chronicling the rise and deserved fall of Jordon Belfort, in spectacular fashion. Bawdy, drug-fueled lives pursue wealth at the expense of ethics and decency. Leonardo DiCaprio delivers an electric, riveting performance and is surrounded by a fine supporting cast at the top of their games. The Wolf of Wall Street is a superbly crafted film.

Studio: Paramount

Distributed By: N/A

Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA, Spanish 5.1 DD, French 5.1 DD

Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, French

Rating: R

Run Time: 2 Hr. 59 Min.

Package Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy, UltraViolet

Standard Case

Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)

Region: A

Release Date: 03/25/2014

MSRP: $39.99

The Production Rating: 4.5/5

“On a daily basis I consume enough drugs to sedate Manhattan, Long Island, and Queens for a month. I take Quaaludes 10-15 times a day for my "back pain", Adderall to stay focused, Xanax to take the edge off, pot to mellow me out, cocaine to wake me back up again, and morphine... Well, because it's awesome.”

Jordon Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) is hungry for wealth and excess. A gifted salesman able to spin compelling stories of worthless stocks to purchase to eager clients, Belfort enjoys a startling rise of power as an upstart on Wall Street. Boundlessly accumulating money and material goods, the methods and practices he evangelizes to his employees don’t pass the muster of the letter or the spirit of the law. Yet his meteoric rise continues, his relationship with his broker buddies deepens, but his relationship with his wife – whom he met before striking gold on the bull market – falters. His appetite for money, drugs and women is insatiable. His rise caught notice of the Securities and Exchange Committee, but still he continues his ways. Eventually the F.B.I, by way of Agent Patrick Denham Kyle Chandler), become interested in his ways, for possible criminal infringement, and soon Belfort’s undoing deservedly on the way. Through his rise and ultimate fall, Belfort’s story is proves to be both repulsive and extraordinary.Based on a true story, recounted by Jordon Belfort himself in his book, The Wolf of Wall Street is a magnificently produced film; slick, brisk and bright. Scorsese may have replaced the criminal types, mobsters, from his Casino and Goodfellas Days with white collar criminals less inclined to take a baseball to a foes head and more inclined to insult or yell at them, but the underlying twisted moral compass is still a clear fascination for his directorial eye. Some controversy of the film was not unexpected. A sensitivity to Wall Street excesses, stimulated by the financial crisis of 2008 and the ongoing political barb-trading over executive pay and the concentration of wealth among the ‘one-percent’, along with Belfort himself profiting from the film, were all ripe ingredients to look scornfully upon the film. Some consternation is reasonable, but Scorsese’s work here is simply too brilliant to be ignored, and the palpable greed on display by the characters – none more the Belfort – would seem to stand as testament to the kind of behavior and damaged morality that we all can agree is damaging to everyone and everything. Some reports indicate that Belfort’s proceeds from this film will go to further restitution of his victims, but how much that could be, or how accurate that reporting, remains to be seen.Director Martin Scorsese has long, and rightfully, been lauded as a giant of American filmmaking and over the last decade he has been more prolific (and perhaps slightly more commercially amiable) that ever before. An incredible energy runs through every frame of Wolf, zinging from drug fueled trade to drug addled day, as if the movie itself were high on the drugs used by the broker criminals. Here, subject to Scorsese’s attention, are characters reduced to animalistic urges induced by the pursuit of materialistic gain. The adoration of money, the addiction to gain, and the surge of adrenaline from ferociously targeting client’s money is unabashedly on display. And there’s precious little by way of a protagonist for whom the audience should root. In essence, Scorsese goes whole-hog, supplanting a morality tale – at least in its traditional framework – for an unadulterated retelling of the pernicious exploits of Belfort and his underlings. It is in perhaps in the excess Scorsese displays; the drugs, the sex, the heartlessness of this form of wealth accumulation that serves as the warning. A display of such shameless indulgence should dismay us enough so that we don’t need the vacillation or evolution of a character questioning the turpitude of what’s going on.Performances are all top-tier, with Leonardo DiCaprio giving everything he has to this portrayal. It is mesmerizing. An electric and fierce display of power and weakness, a fantastic embrace of the Faustian foibles (for which is rightly was recognized with a Golden Globe for Best Actor). Jonah Hill stands out in his award winning supporting role, Donnie Azoff. With a well-earned humor he imbues his soft, mothered character with equal parts social sap and haughty hubris- and it’s brings a terrifically entertaining result. Matthew McConaughy’s brief encounter as Mark Hanna, an influential broker early in Belfort’s career is memorable, Rob Reiner’s role as Belfort’s father, Max, is likeable, and Kyle Chandler’s presence as the FBI’s investigating Agent Dehnam sturdy. Others in the cast, notably the close crew of Belfort’s friends, deliver most capably as an almost slacker group transformed into financial sharks.The Wolf of Wall Street is another superb American film by one of cinema’s masters. Uniformly excellent performances, a remarkable energy, and despite the despicable tactics and plethora of excesses that should make you shake your head in bemusement, the film is entirely entertaining.

Video Rating: 4.5/5 3D Rating: NA

Framed at 2.35:1, The Wolf of Wall Street bows on High Definition media with stunning results. Perhaps the most colorful of Scorsese’s pictures (Hugo included), the film has a bias toward the warmer, richer tones. Gold, yellow and warm browns tend to dominate. Though blues and blacks (typically suits) do pop. The sun seems to shine all the time and the glitz and shine of money lavished on homes and offices is apparent. Flesh tones are generally natural but again tend toward the warmer end of the spectrum.Filmed on 35mm, the texture of film is superb, untarnished by noticeable digital tinkering, it positively glows. I also tested the accompanying DVD version of the film on my 72” display and I was very impressed, though clearly the Blu-ray is head and shoulders above.

Audio Rating: 4.5/5

Scorsese may not rely upon traditional scoring for most of his pictures – instead relying on a mix of existing music (songs, tracks) to accompany his work, he always seems to create a memorable soundtrack (Shutter Island’s being the most compelling for this score fan). Here, the throb and pulse of energetic songs propels the images and the English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track handles it superbly.Generally a heavily dialogued film the center channel carries that off without a hitch, beautifully crisp, evenly balanced and without fault. The party scenes tend to fill up the audio, rumbling and kicking alive and so the end result is a very active audio.

Special Features Rating: 1/5

Not much by way of special features have been included, which would seem to indicate a possible special edition later this year, though I can’t confirm that.The Wolf Pack: Cast and crew discuss making The Wolf of Wall Street.DVD version of the filmDigital HD Copy: iTunes or Ultraviolet

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

The Wolf of Wall Street is wicked and wickedly funny. Though moral debasement is in almost every frame, it’s hard not to be entertained by the mastery of Scorsese’s of filmmaking and the vigor of his storytelling. Excellence abounds in this film and while the story lacks a protagonist with whom we can follow into and then out of the abandonment of ethics (as we were able to in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street through Charlie Sheen’s Bud Fox character), the point is made nonetheless in Wolf that Belfort’s practices are despicable and that what goes around, comes around…eventually.

Reviewed By: Neil Middlemiss

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[Tina_H_V]

I truly enjoyed this film. It is, to me, one wild ride, indeed. I look forward to seeing this one again soon--this time, on Blu-ray Disc!!!! Thanks for the review, Neil.

 

[Mark VH]

Best film I saw in 2013 by a good, wide margin. So much greatness in this that I expect it'll just play and play through the years. Can't wait to watch the Blu.

 

[Vincent_P]

Good review but one small correction- while THE WOLF OF WALL STREET was mostly filmed in 35mm, several different digital cameras were used for certain scenes, for example the aerial shots.

Vincent

 

[Michael Elliott]

I'm going to hold off for the Special Edition, which I'm sure will come soon.

 

[John Maher_289910]

I thought it was utter crap. Scorsese, thinks he doesn't require an editor, and he absolutely does. Even HUGO (which I like, requires better editing). This film is too long at 90 minutes, let alone 3 hours. Performance-wise, everyone is just fine. Film making-wise, I find it horrid. Incredible, imo, what passes for a great film, these days.

 

[TravisR]

Best film I saw in 2013 by a good, wide margin. So much greatness in this that I expect it'll just play and play through the years.

Absolutely.

 

[John Burton]

I liked the movie, didn't love it. To me, didn't seem to long. I will say, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill blew me away. Great performances by both, but Hill's performance was Oscar worthy.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Just saw the movie i rented from the library and to me Martin Scorsese just did his first porn film. It's Goodfellas and Animal House put together and alot of it is Scorsese repeating himself. He had a chance to do a good film about Wall Street but instead goes overboard and way too long. To me one of his worst films.