Blu-ray Review: Broken Arrow
By
David Miller Video Format: 2.35:1 1080p
Audio Formats: English DTS HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Starring: John Travolta, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Delroy Lindo, Frank Whaley
Directed by: John Woo
Release Date: February 13, 2007
General
Broken Arrow(a military term for losing a nuclear weapon) is the story of stealth pilot, Vic Deakins (John Travolta), who intentionally crashes the bomber that he is flying with fellow pilot and friend, Riley Hale (Christian Slater). Deakins then steals the nuclear warheads with the intention of getting them into terrorist hands. Deakins plots to work with the terrorists to blackmail the U.S. government in order to get their big payoff. However, this is where Riley Hale comes in. After crashing, a park ranger (Samantha Mathis) finds him and they do everything they can to foil Deakins awful scheme. It's interesting, a film like this deals with themes that are more relevant today than when they were made.
Tech Specs
Video: This Blu-ray Disc wasn't the best looking HD presentation I have ever seen but it did look pretty darn good. I noticed some grain in here and there but never too bad or distracting. The disc's colors seemed to alter a bit sometimes when bouncing from interior to the exterior shots. Other times the transfer looked very detailed like the scene with the butterflies on the lake comes to mind. This movie didn't look that dated given it was originally made in 96 and over all an improvement from the DVD.
Audio: The sound track really shines where it counts. Gunshots, bombs, crashes, etc. Overall the sound still retain a very nice edge with strong deep low bass. Dialogue comes through loud and clear most of the time there where a couple spots where it seemed to drop off. Surround use is predictably limited to action sequences, but two are real corkers -- the stealth bombers and the zippy car chase. Overall I thought it could have been tweaked a little but I was satisfied and again was an improvement from the DVD release.
Extras
Trailers… That’s it, nothing more.
Overall Impressions
This is one of my favorite movies. If you like evil John Travolta this movie is a classic. I thought this overall was a decent Blu-ray with an enough of a upgrade from the DVD to make it worth it if you get it for a good price. This movie has some of the greatest one-liners of all time in it everyone needs to see it at least once.
