21 (Blu-ray) Official AVSForum Review [Text View]

Ralph Potts

07-18-08, 02:08 PM

<img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=112065&d=1212604938"hspace="12"align="left">
The Review at a Glance: (max score: 5 )

Film: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109945&d=1210373692">

Extras: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109945&d=1210373692">

 Audio/Video total rating:
 ( Max score: 100 )
<h2>87</h2>
 
Studio and Year: Sony Pictures - 2008
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Feature running time: 123 Minutes
Genre: Drama

Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: MPEG-4 (AVC)
Video Aspect: 2.40:1
Resolution: 1080p/24
 
Audio Format(s): English/French/Portuguese Dolby TrueHD 5.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Subtitles:English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Jim Sturgess, Laurene Fishburne, Aaron Yoo, Jacob Pitts
Directed by: Robert Luketic
Music by: David Sardy
Written by: Peter Stenifeld & Allan Loeb
Region Code: A

Blu-ray Disc release Date: July 22, 2008

 
<center><h2>"When you change the rules, you change the game"</h2></center>

<h4>Film Synopsis:</h4>Inspired by the true story of MIT students who mastered the art of card counting and took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings. Looking for a way to pay for tuition, Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) finds himself quietly recruited by MIT's most gifted students in a daring plot to break Vegas. With the help of a brilliant statistics professor (Kevin Spacey) and armed with fake IDs, intelligence and a complicated system of counting cards, Ben and his friends succeed in breaking the impenetrable casinos. Now, his challenge is keeping the numbers straight and staying one step ahead of the casinos before it all spirals out of control.

<h4>My Take:</h4> My daughter saw 21 in the theater and basically said that it was just alright. I took that with a grain of salt because she and her other 16 year old friends only saw it because the they missed the start of the film they had intended to see. I had seen the trailer for it and thought that it looked interesting. The film was inspired by the true story of a group of M.I.T students who developed a card counting system and went to Vegas and cleaned up. There was a book written by Ben Mezrich called “Bringing down the house” which details their exploits. I found the film to be well paced and written. Conceptually this has been done before in various forms but that shouldn’t be held against it. The screenplay had enough clever dialogue and strong character development that I didn’t have the feeling of having been there and done that. At two hours it moved right along and never felt like it was dragging. It had a little bit of everything as it contained some humor, romance, excitement, suspense, violence, and a small plot twist. I never seem to tire of Kevin Spacey as I find him appealing as an actor. The cast members who portrayed the MIT elite all came off quite well. I thought that Jim Sturgess did a commendable job as his character needed to anchor the rest of the younger characters in the story. I didn’t feel as though Kate Bosworth stood out in her performance as Jill although the role certainly afforded that opportunity. I found 21 to be an entertaining film that captured the essence of what life must have been like for the students depicted in Ben Mezrich’s book.

<h4>Parental Guide:</h4> The rating is appropriate as the film contains brief sexual content, violence, and language.

 AUDIO/VIDEO - By The Numbers:
REFERENCE = 92-100 / EXCELLENT = 83-91 / GOOD = 74-82 / AVERAGE = 65-73 / BELOW AVERAGE = under 65 

**My audio/video ratings are based upon a comparative made against other high definition media/blu-ray disc.**

(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)

<h4>Audio: 86</h4>
<ul>
<li>Dynamics: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109946&d=1210373692"></li>
<li>Low frequency extension: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109945&d=1210373692"></li>
<li>Surround Sound presentation: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109946&d=1210373692"></li>
<li>Clarity/Detail: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109948&d=1210373699"></li>
<li>Dialogue Reproduction: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109948&d=1210373699">
</li></ul>

<h4>Video: 88</h4>
(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)

<ul>
<li>Resolution/Clarity: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109947&d=1210373699"></li>
<li>Black level/Shadow detail: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109947&d=1210373699"></li>
<li>Color reproduction: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109947&d=1210373699"></li>
<li>Fleshtones: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109946&d=1210373692"></li>
<li>Compression: <img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109947&d=1210373699"</li></ul>21 comes to Blu-ray Disc from Sony featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 24 mbps and lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 channel audio that has an average bitrate of 1.4 mbps.The video presentation was about what I expected in terms of detail, color reproduction and resolution. The majority of the film has a polished, vibrant and noise free quality that looked superb. The level of detail was high in all but a few of the wide angle shots where it fluctuated. During those scenes the image took on a smooth texture which impeded the perception of the finest details. Blacks were rich with ample dynamic range which made dark scenes, like those shot of nighttime Las Vegas, look stunning. I noticed that color reproduction had a distinctly different look depending on the shooting location. The scenes shot in Vegas displayed colors that were well saturated, vivid and very pleasing. The majority of the sequences shot in Boston had a more reserved and less saturated chromatic appearance in both the clothing and settings. Contrast levels were elevated to the point where it washed out white detail in bright scenes. This negatively affected visible structure within objects and character features. It gave the video a dynamic aura that I felt made it look less film like sometimes. The lossless Dolby TrueHD audio presentation was excellent and readily handled the various sonic elements contained in the film’s soundtrack. Dialogue had rich, articulated intonation with crystal clear presence that made it easy to discern even during the busiest sequences. Audible detail was rendered with subtle distinction and appeared to be perfectly placed within the sound field. The musical quality of the score was captured and conveyed with precise imaging and dynamic energy. I appreciated the tracks ability to create the open feeling of being in a busy casino environment as its associated sounds filled the room. This was a quality audio mix that mated perfectly with the source material.

<h4>Bonus Features:</h4>

The bonus supplements consisted of three featurettes, a commentary track, and a Blu-ray Disc Exclusive virtual 21 game. The Advantage Player piece is a short 5 minute feature hosted by the MIT student cast members that looked at the history of Black Jack and provided some inside info on basic game strategy. The Basic Strategy piece is a 24 minute Making Of documentary that covers the film from development and casting to production. It features interviews with the Director, production staff, cast, author Ben Mezrich and one of the original MIT students who inspired the book. The last feature, Money Plays: A tour of the good life discussed the shooting locals and visual look of the film. The 21 Virtual Black Jack game is an interactive game that is played using the remote control. It features a game tutorial and provides hints (via an accessible pop up) during game play. My wife and I played it for about a half of an hour and found it to be addictive (imagine that). Lastly there are BD Live features for players that can access them, that will be enabled by release date. The bonus features are all offered in high definition (woo hoo !) 

<ul>
<li>Filmmakers commentary </li>
<li>(HD)The Advantage player: Featurette </li>
<li>(HD)Basic strategy: A complete film journal - Featurette </li>
<li>(HD)Money plays: A tour of the good life - Featurette </li>
<li> Blu-ray Disc Live</li></ul>Blu-ray Disc Exclusive:21 Virtual Black Jack Game<img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=115581&d=1216403793"hspace="6"align="right">

<h4>Final Thoughts:</h4>

21 is an entertaining film that delivers an interesting look at how a group of young people were able to infiltrate the world of high stakes gambling in Las Vegas and “Bring down the house”. Strong performances by the cast elevated the story and seeing and hearing it in high definition made it all the better. If you are looking for a decent film to rent I would put this one at the top of the queue. 

<img src="http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=109949&d=1210373731" align=left>
 
 Ralph Potts
AVS Forum Blu-ray Reviews

 Reference Review System:


Sony VPL-VW50 SXRD 1080p High Definition Front Projector
Carada Precision Brilliant White 96" Screen
Oppo 970HD universal disc DVD Player (480i HDMI)
Toshiba HD-XA2 HD DVD Player (HDMI Audio/Video)
Panasonic DMP-BD30 Blu-ray disc Player (HDMI Audio/Video)
Sony Playstation 3 Blu-ray disc Player (HDMI Audio/Video)
Marantz DV7001 Universal Disc Player
Denon AVR 5308CI THX Ultra 2 Preamp/Video Processor
Outlaw Audio Model 7700 seven channel amplifier
B&K Reference 200.7 Series 2 seven Channel amplifier
Canton "Ergo" Series speakers
Axiom Audio QS8 Quadpolar speakers
SV Sound PB-13 Ultra (Rosenut finish)
APC AV S15BLK Power Conditioner/Surge Protector
Wireworld, VizionWare, Audioquest, Best Deal Cables - Audio/Video/Speaker Cabling
Cool Components - CP-CP102 cooling package