MidnightWatcher
03-29-07, 11:06 AM
Another great review for the Children of Men HD DVD, this time from DVD Town (http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/childrenofmen/4502/1), giving the PQ 9/10, and the AQ a full 10/10:
"The HD-DVD picture quality is technically very sound and the level of detail is quite high and the subdued hues look very realistic. Every frame of "Children of Men" is visually busy with apocalyptic imagery. This allows for a wealth of detail and the transfer succeeds with flying colors. The outdoor scenes around Jasperīs refugee camp show strong detail for each leaf and pebble and this is done with low lighting. You can read numerous headlines on the newspapers that are plastered and scattered everywhere. The blown out buildings of the concentration city for the foreigners show as much destruction as cities bombed during the Second World War. All of this is highly detailed. Black levels and shadow detail are strong and help delineate the features present on screen. There are no digital flaws to be found and any trace of non-purposeful dirt and grain are practically non-existent. For as ugly as the film is intended to be, it looks very good....
Packaged with only a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack, "Children of Men" is still audibly impressive. The filmīs big climactic moments where Kee and Theo are under siege by a terrorist organization and the British military erupts with gunfire and explosions from every imaginable direction and all six channels help to convey this. The .1 LFE channel is very deep and powerful. This was very evident during this all-out war scene and another moment when Michael Caineīs character turns on the "Zen Music," which brought the film from a relaxing peace to a violent orgy of sound. This film is about the decay of society and the ever-increasing violence and police force that struggles for control. This requires strong sound design and the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix does more than its job in keeping "Children of Sound" up to the task."
"The HD-DVD picture quality is technically very sound and the level of detail is quite high and the subdued hues look very realistic. Every frame of "Children of Men" is visually busy with apocalyptic imagery. This allows for a wealth of detail and the transfer succeeds with flying colors. The outdoor scenes around Jasperīs refugee camp show strong detail for each leaf and pebble and this is done with low lighting. You can read numerous headlines on the newspapers that are plastered and scattered everywhere. The blown out buildings of the concentration city for the foreigners show as much destruction as cities bombed during the Second World War. All of this is highly detailed. Black levels and shadow detail are strong and help delineate the features present on screen. There are no digital flaws to be found and any trace of non-purposeful dirt and grain are practically non-existent. For as ugly as the film is intended to be, it looks very good....
Packaged with only a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack, "Children of Men" is still audibly impressive. The filmīs big climactic moments where Kee and Theo are under siege by a terrorist organization and the British military erupts with gunfire and explosions from every imaginable direction and all six channels help to convey this. The .1 LFE channel is very deep and powerful. This was very evident during this all-out war scene and another moment when Michael Caineīs character turns on the "Zen Music," which brought the film from a relaxing peace to a violent orgy of sound. This film is about the decay of society and the ever-increasing violence and police force that struggles for control. This requires strong sound design and the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix does more than its job in keeping "Children of Sound" up to the task."