Broken Arrow

[gettodamoofies]

"Broken Arrow" (1996). Directed by John Woo and starring John Travolta, Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis, this title is released by 20th Century Fox here in Australia.



My review

A solid if not spectacular action film, "Broken Arrow" serves as a warm-up for John Woo on his way to re-teaming with Travolta and directing "Face/Off". Both the leads and supporting cast fill out their roles well, even managing to deliver the sometimes cheesy dialogue in a way that comes off as more humourous than bad. The action set pieces are classic Woo with everything completely over the top but it makes for an entertaining if not thought provoking experience. This is definitely a turn it up loud, turn off your brain and enjoy type of film but with that in mind it does exactly what it aims to do. This one is a slightly guilty pleasure of mine. 3.5/5

Video
An earlier catalogue release, the film looks fair but ultimately falls a little flat due to the appearance of it being an older master. This in conjunction with the film using the outdated MPEG-2 codec and being placed on a BD-25 ultimately add up to it being a serviceable but uninspiring transfer. Colours are stable but again are slightly flat in appearance. They do get an opportunity to shine in some instances where lush greens of vegetation are shown or one of the many explosions take place. Detail is fine but again not exceptional. Facial features have some additional detail but the main benefit is the increased detail in the various shots of the deserted landscapes the majority of the film takes place in. Black levels and contrast in general are good, but again not great. The transfer overall is consistently above average but nothing more. 3/5

Audio
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is very effective for the most part and capably delivers plenty of punch throughout the many action sequences. Dialogue is well prioritised and generally integrates well into the mix. The sound design on the whole is good although not quite as impressive or immersive as more recent titles. Of the entire presentation the audio is where this disc earns it's highest marks. 4/5

Extras
Trailers for "Broken Arrow" and a few other Fox titles are present. They are presented in 1080p. No other supplemental material is provided. 1/5

Overall
Reasonable video and good audio combined with an above average film make this a recommended watch if you're after an entertaining but not thought provoking two hours of film watching. An easy rental or a purchase if found for the right price. 3.5/5

Please note: Title is region B locked.

[gettodamoofies]

Screenshots: click spoiler tag to reveal.

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Disclaimer: These screenshots have been taken directly from the disc with no post processing other than the placement of a watermark. They are PNG format so the file size is larger however this retains the original image quality. They are of course only intended as an indication of the quality of the title. As always, a motion picture should be viewed in motion.

[gettodamoofies]

BDInfo scan:

                                                                                                                Total   Video                                             
Title                                                           Codec   Length  Movie Size      Disc Size       Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track                          Secondary Audio Track
-----                                                           ------  ------- --------------  --------------  ------- ------- ------------------                        ---------------------
00000.MPLS                                                      MPEG-2  1:48:21 22,804,930,560  23,668,808,490  28.06   20.37   DTS-HD Master 5.1 4424Kbps (48kHz/24-bit)

DISC INFO:

Disc Title:     LOGICAL_VOLUME_ID
Disc Size:      23,668,808,490 bytes
Protection:     AACS
BD-Java:        No
BDInfo:         0.5.6

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   00000.MPLS
Length:                 1:48:21 (h:m:s)
Size:                   22,804,930,560 bytes
Total Bitrate:          28.06 Mbps

VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-2 Video            20368 kbps          1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
DTS-HD Master Audio             English         4424 kbps       5.1 / 48 kHz / 4424 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS Audio                       Italian         768 kbps        5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit
DTS Audio                       Spanish         768 kbps        5.1 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit

SUBTITLES:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
Presentation Graphics           English         22.159 kbps                     
Presentation Graphics           Danish          15.752 kbps                     
Presentation Graphics           Finnish         17.042 kbps                     
Presentation Graphics           Italian         20.609 kbps                     
Presentation Graphics           Italian         0.354 kbps                      
Presentation Graphics           Norwegian       20.769 kbps                     
Presentation Graphics           Spanish         21.578 kbps                     
Presentation Graphics           Spanish         0.271 kbps                      
Presentation Graphics           Swedish         17.211 kbps                     

FILES:

Name            Time In         Length          Size            Total Bitrate   
----            -------         ------          ----            -------------   
00000.M2TS      0:00:00.000     1:48:21.328     22,804,930,560  28,062

[gettodamoofies]

Screenshots added

[Cevolution]

Out of curiosity why the review now, it's been out for over 3 years on blu-ray here in Australia, did u just buy it recently?

[gettodamoofies]

I bought it fairly recently (a couple of months back) but I intend to go through and review most (if not all eventually) Australian titles I own, regardless of whether they are recent releases or not. There are a lot of people that have an interest in the spec differences between Australian and international releases and the general quality of titles. As Australian reviews on various sites are few and far between and some are only basic I felt that a reasonably comprehensive overview of a title would assist in giving someone considering purchasing/renting a film the opportunity to make an informed decision. Hopefully these mini-reviews will do just that.

[wesslan]

Is this out in vc-1/avc/bd50 anywhere? Don´t like buying mpeg2 discs.

[LordCrumb]

Originally Posted by wesslan

Is this out in vc-1/avc/bd50 anywhere? Don´t like buying mpeg2 discs.

Nope

[kopkiwi]

A guilty pleasure watch for me.

Love it.

[stevo4264]

Thanks for the review atexp80, appreciate it.
It's now on my buy if the price ever drops low enough

[gettodamoofies]

^ No worries. I got it for $12 from Kmart a while back. I'm sure it'll get back to that price (if not lower) again soon enough.