Blu-ray Review: The Bucket List

THE MOVIE: 3 1/2 stars out of 5
The Bucket List seems to have it all. Two great actors in Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman and a great premise, namely creating a list of all the things you want to do before you die. Despite all their efforts, these two great actors are not able to overcome a lackluster script in what turns out to be a somewhat disappointing film. Don’t get me wrong, The Bucket List has some engaging and funny moments, just not enough of them. The film stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two hospital roommates who are diagnosed with terminal cancer. The two can’t be more different with one being an obnoxious billionaire devoid of a loving family and a thirst for knowledge, the other a thoughtful man with a loving family and a passion for learning. Knowing that they are going to kick the bucket soon, they decide to visit the world and experience places and things they had always wanted to experience. In this regard it really helps that one of them is a really rich guy. Where the film fails for me is that it spends too much time focusing on their illnesses and the pain they experience in the hospital and not enough time on their experiences together seeing the world. The premise is a really good one but is one that really could have been better executed. As an aside, I was really shocked to see some really sloppy editing for such a major film as this one. As an example, check out one of the early hospital room scenes where Morgan Freeman is attempting to read while talking to Jack Nicholson. You see him put on his glasses and look down. The camera cuts to a side shot and low and behold, his glasses are gone. Each time the camera angle changes, the glasses appear and disappear. Someone should have reminded Mr. Freeman to keep his glasses on during the entire shoot as they re-shot the scene from different angles. It is really noticeable and very distracting. Recommended as a rental only.

THE VIDEO: 3 3/4 stars out of 5
The Bucket List is encoded with VC-1 and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1. Frankly, the video presentation here is a mixed bag. On the plus side, color rendition is very good with nice deep and stable black levels. On the negative side, posterization is visible is a few scenes and is somewhat distracting. In addition, the overall image here is on the soft side with a noticeable lack of detail. This was especially noticeable of the faces of the actors which lacked the detail one normally expects from high-def. On the flip side of the same coin, overall clarity was somewhat disappointing. The image here just did not have the clarity and the looking through the window effect that is characteristic of the best high-def. Overall, I was disappointed with the image quality here which is not quite up to the level I have come to expect from high-def.

THE AUDIO: 3 3/4 stars out of 5
Just as disappointing as the video is the audio on this release which does not include a lossless track. The audio here is standard Dolby Digital only. While this is a dialogue driven film, the choice of a lossy track only is quite surprising. On the plus side, the dialogue here is rendered fairly well and is always front and centered in the mix. However, the sound field is very flat lacking much in the way ambiance. The same is true of the musical score, which lacks the spaciousness and sound staging of the best lossless tracks. One can’t help but think that the inclusion of a lossless track would have benefited not only the dialogue track but would have added ambiance to both the interior and exterior scenes as well as greatly increasing the fidelity of the musical score.

IN CONCLUSION
The Bucket List is a somewhat disappointing film which fails to fulfill its potential. The audio and video performance is also somewhat of a disappointment as well. Rated as a rental only.

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