BLU-RAY REVIEW

44 Inch Chest

Featured In Issue 148, May/June 2010

Picture5
Sound5
WSR Score5
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):
Image Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
MGL6409BD
(MPAA Rating):
R
(Rating Reason):
Pervasive strong language including sexual references and some violence
(Retail Price):
$35.98
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Single Layer (BD-25)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
95
(Color Type):
Color
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
A
(Theatrical Year):
2009
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
04/20/10
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Malcolm Venville
(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):
DTS HD Lossless 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):

"44 Inch Chest" is a story that contemplates the nature of love and revenge, and asks what it takes to be a man. Colin Diamond (Winstone) is suffering from betrayal after he breaks down over the dissolution of his marriage. He kidnaps his wife's lover, and his rage pushes him to the brink of murder as his motley crew of buddies urges him to exact brutal revenge. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary with Director Malcolm Venville, a making-of-featurette (SD 15:20), an interview with Venville (SD 22:56), epilogues (SD 04:40), and the theatrical trailer.

The 1080p 1.85:1 AVC picture is terrific. Photographed mostly in a darkened, dungy room with occasional nighttime London street scenes, the shadowy imagery is wonderfully delineated. The scenes appear absolutely real and natural, with shades of darkness and spots of highlights from dimly lit room lamps and street lights, and from more contrasty dream sequences. The picture is gutsy and finely resolved with sharp delineation of objects such as chairs, tables, and walls. Fleshtones are absolutely accurate and finely hued. The color palette favors browns and Diamond's subdued green shirt and reddish suspenders. Blacks are deep and solid. Image depth is impressive. Close-ups of facial features are starkly real and unflattering. This is a wonderful cinematic experience that oozes with refinement. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is a masterpiece with respect to dialogue presentation. And this is a writer's film focused entirely on dialogue delivery and presentation. Spatial integration is perfectly balanced with dimensional realism within the room, where six actors deliver their honed craft. Every actor's position within the room and relative to each other is discernible and spatially presented, effectively bleeding into the surrounds, to create spatial dimension. Intimate shots deliver every nuance of speech timbre. The intelligibility is impressive, and subtle dialogue characteristics of the actors are perfectly delivered. While the film is dialogue focused, there is a terrific music score, which appropriately interweaves throughout. The orchestral recording is rich and full-bodied, with a solid low-frequency foundation that extends deep and uses the .1 LFE channel for subtle support. Bass extends to below 25 Hz at times. Atmospheric sound effects also are impressively injected appropriately, which enhances the realism of the London setting. This is a wonderful soundtrack that gets dialogue right and uses virtually no ADR. If only big-budget movies could do as well. (Gary Reber)