HD DVD Review: Inside Man

THE MOVIE: 4 stars out of 5

(Will be released on HD DVD on Oct. 23, 2007)

An attempted bank robbery, or is it? This action thriller directed by Spike Lee stars Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster and Christopher Plummer in an intriguing film about a bank robbery that is more than just a robbery that spirals into a possible game of cat and mouse between a criminal mastermind and a determined police detective and a power broker with a hidden agenda. I enjoyed this film in the theater and on its prior DVD release. Recommended for lovers of thoughtful action films.

THE VIDEO: 4 1/4 stars out of 5

Let me start off by stating that I wrestled with what grade to give the transfer of this film. The film is encoded by VC-1 and presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1. This is another excellent transfer by Universal. The print looks pristine without evidence of dirt or other imperfections. The film has a very natural color palette albeit somewhat subdued with excellent blacks and shadow detail. The shadow detail is important as large segments of the film take place in a bank where most of the lights are turned off. I had no difficulty making out details and action taking place in the shadows. Skin tones are very natural looking.

The only exception to this are interview sequences with the people taken hostage by the bank robbers which have a very stylized overblown and grainy look. These sequences have a very different look from the rest of the film which is obviously totally deliberate on the part of the director and which in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the transfer. I would have given this transfer a 4 1/2 star score if not for what I perceived as an overall soft look to the transfer which was most visible on close-ups which did not have the fine detail visible that I see on the best transfers. Having not seen the actual master, I have no way of knowing whether this slight softness was deliberate on the part of Mr. Lee. Despite of this, I still consider this to be an excellent transfer and a huge leap over the prior DVD release.

THE AUDIO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5
I have no reservations at all about the audio encode on this disc. It is excellent. Two high rez versions are presented, Dolby True HD and Dolby Digital Plus. The default audio is the True HD track which I used to view the film. The dialogue is clear and distinct and well presented in the mix. This is important as this is a dialogue driven film. In addition to the clear dialogue, all of the little audible details in each scene were clearly able to be heard, things such as footsteps, the sound of barrier tape being deployed, rustling of papers, even the biting into a slice of pizza were clearly audible. The music presented during the film was clear and smooth with a very open sound and deep bass and very well recorded. The limited gun fighting scenes sounded totally involving and really grabbed your attention especially in juxtaposition with the rest of the film. Whether low sounding dialogue or explosions and gun shots, this track handles them all with great fidelity and aplomb. This is an excellent audio presentation of this film. Well done Universal.

CONCLUSION

I really enjoyed this movie as well as the visual and audio presentation on HD-DVD. It is definitely worth a look.

For more high-def news and views, please click: TVPredictions.com.