BLU-RAY REVIEW

Unforgiven

Featured In Issue 110, July 2006

Picture4.5
Sound3.5
WSR Score
Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
(Studio/Distributor):
Warner Home Video
(Catalog Number):
80948
(MPAA Rating):
R
(Rating Reason):
For language, and violence, and for a scene of sexuality.
(Retail Price):
$28.99
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (HD-30)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
127
(Color Type):
Color
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
1
(Theatrical Year):
1992
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
05/16/06
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Clint Eastwood
(Screenplay/Written By):
(Story):
(Music):
(Director Of Photography):
(Production Designer):
(Visual Effects):
(Costume Designer):
(Editor):
(Supervising Sound Editors):
(Re-Recording Mixers):
(Executive Producers):
(Co-Producers):
(Producers):
(Academy Awards):
(Principal Photography):
(Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
(Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
(Disc Soundtrack):
Dolby Digital+ 5.1
(Theatrical Sound):
(Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
(DTS Bit Rate):
(Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
(Additional Languages):
(French Language):
(Spanish Language):
(Chinese Language):
(Subtitles):
(Cantonese Language):
(Mandarin Language):
(Japanese Language):
(Italian Language):
(German Language):
(Portuguese Language):

Eastwood produced and directed this modern Western which rode off with four 1992 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director. Eastwood and Freeman play retired, down-on-their-luck outlaws William Munny and Ned Logan, who pick up their guns one more time to collect a bounty offered by vengeful prostitutes for the defacing of one of theirs by a drunken cowboy.

The nicely designed menus from Warner direct you to special features likened to what was on the previous DVD. Features include audio commentary by director Richard Schickel, the theatrical trailer, the 23-minute All On Accounta Pullin' A Trigger, a 24-minute making-of featurette, the 16-minute Eastwood...A Star featurette, the 69-minute Eastwood On Eastwood documentary, and the 49-minute classic Maverick episode: Duel At Sundown.

The high-definition HD DVD picture, framed at 2.35:1, exhibits very nicely rendered image quality that far surpasses any previous version of the movie for home viewing. Detail and definition are impressive, and the picture is smooth and clean with virtually no distractions in the way of VC-1 compression artifacts. Colors have a natural appearance that is complementary of the setting. Viewing in a completely blackened room is recommended due to the dim scenes often only lit by fire or candlelight. The source element is quite clean, although some film grain and dirt is inherent. There is no obtrusive edge enhancement that plagued the DVD, only an occasional object that appears merely "edgy." (Suzanne Hodges)

While the Dolby® Digital•Plus soundtrack provides more fluidity to the sonic character, the 5.1-channel mix is not very inspiring, with very low level ambience, and music being the main fixture of the corner full range channels. Even across the front stage, there is little in the way of phantom imaging between loudspeaker pairs. Fidelity is slightly limited, and a shuffling background noise can be heard. In the end, however, this easily outperforms the DVD version of this title. (Danny Richelieu)