Blu-ray: The Patriot Extended Cut
By
Jon Liu Video Format: 2.40:1/1080p
Audio Formats: English 5.1 Uncompressed PCM 48kHz/16-bit, English, French, Czech, Polish VO Dolby Digital 5.1
Starring: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Chris Cooper
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
Release Date: July 3, 2007
General
Mel Gibson stars as Benjamin Martin, a quiet, loving father who is regarded as a war hero. During the time of the American Revolution, Martin finds his family thrown right into the middle of it. When a brutal colonel, William Tavington, of the British army kills his second oldest son, he finds himself enraged and vindictive. On a warpath, he fights along side with the Colonial Militia to seek out Tavington and kill him.
While this movie has its moments of historical inaccuracies, I found this movie to be completely entertaining. Gibson plays this type of role so beautifully and many of the other actors, especially Jason Isaacs (who plays Tavington), really bring the proper emotion to the characters to make this a great war film.
Tech Specs Video: This movie touts vibrant colors and a lot of great daytime cinematography. The transfer is slightly on the grainy side, especially noticeable in some of the nighttime shots, but overall the picture quality holds a good amount of crispness and detail that makes it a pretty good transfer. I wouldn’t say that this is quite a reference quality title, but it sure will be pleasing, nonetheless.
Audio: Even on standard DVD, this movie touted one of the greatest surround soundtracks to date. With the inclusion of the Uncompressed PCM track, the track just comes alive. Your surround sound speakers will be used pretty heavily and subwoofer will get a good workout, too. This movie’s sound will definitely be one you throw in to show off that nice, new surround sound set up you got!
Extras
There’s not too much to this release in terms of extras. All it has are a couple of previews, one of which is the standard Sony Blu-ray preview, and also has two other Featurettes, “The Art of War” and “The True Patriots.”
Menus/Navigation
A very simplistic menu system which doesn’t break boundaries in terms of the next-generation menu system.
Overall Impressions
I’ve always been a fan of Mel Gibson’s work and this is without question one of my favorite Gibson films. He definitely pulls this type of role off very well. The story line is good and the war scenes are great. The emotional connection with the characters is great and the aural experience you get from the soundtrack is fantastic. I definitely recommend this to all who are interested!
Linear Mode
