BLU-RAY REVIEW

Titanic: Blood & Steel

Featured In Issue 175, March 2013

Picture4.5
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):
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
33267
(MPAA Rating):
Not Rated
(Rating Reason):
(Retail Price):
$29.97
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
634
(Color Type):
Color With B/W Sequences
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
A
(Theatrical Year):
2012
(Theatrical Release):
No
(Direct-To-Video Release):
Yes
(Disc Release Date):
12/04/12
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Claran Donnelly
(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):

Belfast, 1909. The Harland and Wolf shipyard has been handed the greatest project in its history. It will build a great, unsinkable ship. And it will be called the RMS Titanic. Titanic: Blood & Steel is the 12-part television miniseries about the untold story of the building of a legend and the many lives it affected during its three-year construction. To its wealthy investors, it was a dream. To the middle class who oversaw the project, it was a challenge. But to the working class who built it, Titanic was the start of a revolution. With Ireland under British rule, and the Protestant and Catholic struggle intensifying, Titanic was more than a ship...it was a symbol of ambition, hope, and unity. (Gary Reber)

Special features include making-of and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

The 1.78:1 1080p AVC picture is beautifully presented with a warm and realistic appearance. While a television mini-series, the production design is superb and enhances the sense of history. The color palette is perfectly natural, with vivid and rich hues. Contrast is excellent with deep, solid blacks and revealing shadow delineation. The combination of color and black-and-white is uniquely blended in some segments. Resolution is excellent throughout, with an occasional soft focus. Fine detail in facial features, hair, clothing, and object texture is superb. This is an extremely realistic lifelike presentation that is engaging throughout. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack sounds dramatic yet nuanced. The soundfield is often fully energized, with a full orchestral music score penned by Maurizio De Angelis. There is significant surround envelopment during the shipyard scenes, with construction and the personal strife of labors and the movement to organize. Frontal soundstage and soundfield directionality effectively enhances the overall holosonic® dimensionality. Deep bass is often strongly energized at sub-25 Hz frequencies in the .1 LFE channel, to heighten the dramatic segments. Overall fidelity is excellent throughout, with intelligible dialogue that sounds integrated spatially. This is a superbly dynamic soundtrack that perfectly complements the realistic storytelling of the era. (Gary Reber)