Blu-ray Review: Sleuth

THE MOVIE: 3 1/2 stars out of 5

Sleuth is a remake of a 1972 film of the same title starring Michael Caine and Sir Lawrence Olivier which involved a game of wits between crime novelist Andrw Wyke (Sir Lawrence Olivier) and Milo Tindal (Michael Caine). In this new incantation, Michael Caine switches roles and takes on the role of Andrew Wyke with Jude law assuming the role of MIlo Tindal.

Briefly, Andrew Wyke discovers that Milo Tindal is having an affair with his wife. He invites him to his English country estate where they engage in a set of ever increasingly dangerous games of “cat and mouse” trying to scare and humiliate each other and trying to outwit each other until the inevitable results. While the film is well acted by both Michael Caine and Jude Law, I found the film to be rather ponderous and predictable. While watching, I found myself wondering when the film would end. Never a good sign. The ending is also totally predictable. While the premise of the film is solid, a more inventive and imaginative script could have made this a true thriller. As it is, it falls a bit short. Recommended as a rental only.

THE VIDEO: 4 1/3 stars out of 5

Sleuth is encoded with AVC and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:35:1. The transfer itself is good but not distinguish itself in any way. The film has a somewhat blue and gray look about it although the skin tones are very accurate. Detail is good but not great. The same can be said for the clarity of the image. In fact, just about every aspect of the video presentation here can be summed up the same way, good but not great. The image presented in this release just does not make you say wow the way the best transfers do nor does it call attention to itself in a negative way ether. I think that a part of the reason for this is the black levels in the film which I found somewhat lacking. While I would not describe the image as flat, I would not use the adjective deep to describe the depth of field. A bit better black level would have increased both the clarity and depth of the image which would have significantly improved the overall score. I am sure that fans of the film will be pleased by the video on this release, I just thought that it could have been better.

THE AUDIO: 4 1/3 stars out of 5

The high rez audio track here is Dolby True HD and just like the video can best be described as good but not great. On the plus side is the dialogue which is crisp and clear and well recorded. The sound mix here is totally front heavy with little use of the surrounds. However, despite the fact that the mix is front heavy, the recording does capture a sense of space or room acoustics very well. One can clearly hear the echo of the actor voices in the sound mix which gives you a sense of space. This is where the audio on this release really shines. However, the film’s sound design would have been much better served with a more extensive use of the surrounds to give you that immersive feel that makes you fell as though you are in the room with the actors. That is simply not present here.

IN CONCLUSION

In a few words, both the film and the video and audio presentation on this Blu-Ray disc can be described as good but not great. Fans of the film will no doubt enjoy this presentation on Blu-Ray enough to buy it. For the rest of us, a rental will suffice.

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