BLU-RAY REVIEW

Mighty Heart, A

Featured In Issue 126, December 2007

Picture3
SoundNR
WSR Score3
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):
Paramount Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
13176
(MPAA Rating):
R
(Rating Reason):
For language
(Retail Price):
$39.99
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (HD-30)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
108
(Color Type):
Color
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
1
(Theatrical Year):
2007
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
10/16/07
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
Michael Winterbottom
(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 TrueHD 5.1, 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):

After her husband, Daniel Pearl (Futterman), is kidnapped by terrorists in Pakistan while on assignment for The Wall Street Journal, Mariane (Jolie) mounts a frantic campaign to find him. It takes A Mighty Heart to continue looking for clues as to who has kidnapped her husband and to face the reality that may lie at the end of her search. Based on the book by Mariane Pearl. (Stacey Pendry)

Special features include up front previews, which are forced, and the following featurettes: A Journey Of Passion: The Making Of A Mighty Heart (30 minutes) and Committee To Protect Journalists (nine minutes); a Public Service Announcement—Pearl Foundation with Christiane Amanpour; and more previews.

The anamorphically enhanced 2.30:1 DVD has a desaturated look, awash in earthy hues of brown. Resolution is generally good, but the imagery often looks somewhat smeared and soft. Black levels are slightly milky, with the entire image often looking somewhat washed out. Shadow delineation is not great, as the near-black portions of the video can look crushed. Edge enhancement is not overly obtrusive, and the print is very clean. The VC-1-encoded HD DVD looks much the same, and while details are resolved better, they are not as impressive as the best high-definition releases. The color scheme is just as desaturated, but noise in the darkest scenes that could not be noticed in the DVD are apparent. (Danny Richelieu)

The Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel soundtrack is generally dominated by the front three screen channels, but dialogue generally sounds natural and articulate. Fidelity is generally good, but there are times when dialogue intelligibility is underwhelming. The lack of true surround envelopment is most noticeable in the more quiescent scenes and music, when the subtle atmospheric effects and instruments noticeably collapse the soundfield to the front stage. The HD DVD's Dolby Digital Plus encoding sounds exactly like the DVD, without much improvement in overall fidelity. (Danny Richelieu)