Blu-ray Review: We Own the Night

THE MOVIE: 4 1/2 stars out of 5

We Own the Night is a crime thriller staring Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Robert Duvall and Eva Mendes. Set in Brooklyn in 1988, the story involves the Russian mob’s increasing drug trade and the efforts of a NY police family to stop it. The film boasts wonderful performances by the entire cast and some excellent writing. Recommended.

THE VIDEO: 4 5/8 stars out of 5

Encoded with AVC and presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1, this is a very good looking transfer. The color scheme is skewed to golden hues which seems to be something of a trend in some of the last few films I have reviewed. The color scheme aside (which is not at all natural looking), the film has rich colors and excellent detail. Blacks are deep as well, giving the film a nice three dimensional look, even though most of the film takes place at night or in dark environs. Shadow detail is excellent as well although there is some noise in the dark scenes which caused me to take a minor deduction from the overall score. Overall, the transfer is very good although the actual image is a bit too stylized for my taste. I would really love to see some more accurate and true to life color schemes on more titles. I recognize this is art but still... BTW, this is not a fault of the transfer at all but an artistic choice on the part of the film maker. Therefore, it had no effect at all on my score. This is a fine looking transfer and very true to the look of the film as presented in theaters.

THE AUDIO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5

The only high rez track on this release is Dolby True HD and sounds wonderful. The overall sound is full, rich, open and smooth with excellent bass and excellent use of the surrounds. The film presents a totally immersive sound field, putting you in the nightclub with the crowd and the community centers where part of the action takes place. Wonderful stuff. Dialogue is well recorded as well and well placed in the mix. This is a very natural sounding film. There is really little to complain about with this mix. These high rez mixes are wonderful and a huge upgrade over standard Dolby Digital and even DTS. If you can’t access these tracks in current system configuration, I would urge you to upgrade your receiver or processor if you can. These tracks are that good.

IN CONCLUSION

We Own the Night is a very good police thriller with very good video and an excellent audio. Well worth a look. Recommended.

Note: We Own the Night will be released on Blu-ray on Feb. 12, 2008.

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