Chernobyl (2019)

[MooneyRara]

Chernobyl (2019) Blu-ray

[Steedeel]

Please be region free!

[mredman]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Please be region free!

if its warner/HBO i do not see why not.

[DukeTogo84]

Sweet. Was worried this would be DVD only. Glad it's getting a Blu-ray release.

[Cremildo]

This will be the first TV series not called Twin Peaks to enter my collection. A monumental achievement.

[Darrin88]

An outstanding miniseries. Russia didn't like it, so they plan to make their own. Yeah, that'll be factual.

[mredman]

Originally Posted by Darrin88

An outstanding miniseries. Russia didn't like it, so they plan to make their own. Yeah, that'll be factual.

yeah like anyone would believe them after the whole World seen this horrifying masterpiece

[James Luckard]

This is truly the most brilliant program I have ever seen on television, on every level. It's astonishing work.

Jared Harris revealed in an interview that he replaced Daniel Day-Lewis, who dropped out when he retired form acting. the fact that Day-Lewis was originally involved shows the monumental level of the material.

[imsounoriginal]

Really hoping this gets a UHD release, otherwise obviously I'll buy the BD.

[theater dreamer]

I've watched The Wire, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Shield, Sherlock, Mad Men, Better Call Saul, Band of Brothers, etc. The criminally underrated Billions. Nearly all the highly-rated dramatic series and miniseries. I've loved them all in their own way. But Chernobyl...five episodes, each an hour or slightly longer. Each one, impossibly, better than the one which directly preceded it.

Chernobyl, in my humble opinion, is peerless in the annals of television.

If you are reading this discussion, this post, and have not yet watched Chernobyl for whatever reason-maybe you didn't feel compelled to tune in. Or, maybe you don't have HBO. Please take my word. Just. Watch. This. Bug a friend or family member to borrow their HBO Go login info. Or sign up for a month. If you place a premium on brilliant storytelling, meticulously constructed scripts, masterful acting, and production design that enhances, not overpowers the story, do not put off watching Chernobyl. It is must see television.

It's riveting from the very first moment when Valrey Legasov (Jared Harris, son of the late Richard Harris), in voice over, with a pitch black screen, asks the audience,

"What is the cost of lies?"

[Show spoiler]He briefly recounts the arrogance, ineptitude and gross negligence of the principal characters responsible for the meltdown. Then, after mailing a collection of audio tapes with every recollection from two years of research, testimony and soul searching, he returns to his apartment, and takes his own life. The narrative then jumps back two years earlier. Lyudmilla Ignatenko walks out of the bathroom after a bout of morning sickness. A moment later, as she walks from the kitchen, off in the distance, you see the first flash from reactor 4 lighting up the night sky, followed by the massive explosion when the oxygenated reactor core goes. A brief moment later, the shock wave blows through nearby Pripyat. The duality of that instant, the sheer scale of the massive nuclear catastrophe, and the foreshadowing of the very human cost, is brilliantly balanced.

Chernobyl is the rare television event that not only lives up to the hype preceding it, it exceeds it. The three principle actors-Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, and the brilliant Emily Watson, all deliver pitch perfect performances. The pacing is spot on.

The mark of a great film, or show, is that it leaves you wanting more. When the credits finally rolled after the brilliant final episode, and the catastrophe's epilogue, I wanted more. Much more, even though I've watched each episode three times.

[XavierTheaterPotato]

Supply and Demand. Can't have the Supply without the Demand.

I'm kind of certain this'll be Dolby Atmos, correct? Though it's a curiosity since most of it is going to the Bass of the atmospherics and (obviously)the Explosion. Just a few notable things that will be enhanced by it if it's the case.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

I've watched The Wire, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Shield, Sherlock, Mad Men, Better Call Saul, Band of Brothers, etc. The criminally underrated Billions. Nearly all the highly-rated dramatic series and miniseries. I've loved them all in their own way. But Chernobyl...five episodes, each an hour or slightly longer. Each one, impossibly, better than the one which directly preceded it.

I couldn't agree more.

This series is on a level miles beyond anything else I have ever seen on television in my entire life.

I highly recommend the podcasts with the creator/writer of the series, Craig Mazin. There's one for each episode. They're fascinating, explaining exactly which elements are true (almost everything) and which had to be fictionalized, and why.

What's staggering is that almost everything in the series is 100% true. Almost every incident, almost every word spoken in the control room, the words of the general commanding the biorobots, huge sections of the series are simply a document, much like United 93.

Those parts that are fictionalized (mostly the scenes with Emily Watson, and the scenes at the trial) are done with an artistry that astounds me, so that this isn't just a historical recreation, it finds a powerful message that's terrifyingly relevant.

[theater dreamer]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I couldn't agree more.

This series is on a level miles beyond anything else I have ever seen on television in my entire life.

I highly recommend the podcasts with the creator/writer of the series, Craig Mazin. There's one for each episode. They're fascinating, explaining exactly which elements are true (almost everything) and which had to be fictionalized, and why.

What's staggering is that almost everything in the series is 100% true. Almost every incident, almost every word spoken in the control room, the words of the general commanding the biorobots, huge sections of the series are simply a document, much like United 93.

Those parts that are fictionalized (mostly the scenes with Emily Watson, and the scenes at the trial) are done with an artistry that astounds me, so that this isn't just a historical recreation, it finds a powerful message that's terrifyingly relevant.

The adage "truth is stranger than fiction" is apropos here. It's often stranger, and far more frightening. Chernobyl didn't need to take a lot of artistic license because what happened, what really happened, is terrifying beyond my comprehension.

[Show spoiler]Core 4 exploding was disaster enough. When they allude to what would happen should the cement support structure beneath the core be breached by the liquefied nuclear fuel, instantly superheating and vaporizing all the water stored there, setting off a two-to-four megaton thermal explosion, destroying the other three operational reactors at Chernobyl....I'm literally stupefied. They talk about Kiev and the majority of Minsk being instantly destroyed. The fallout meaning catastrophic loss of life over the majority of Eastern Europe, and beyond that, God only knows. A plot of land occupied by ninety million being rendered uninhabitable for over a century.

The radioactive material released by core four was greater than that released by the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that's just in the first few hours after the meltdown. That radioactive release would remain constant. Consider the amount of radioactive poison released if all four cores were instantly destroyed. Good God.

And the whole story is terrifyingly relevant today. From the opening lines of Valrey Legasov's soliloquy, I couldn't help but wonder if that wasn't meant to serve as a portent for those in positions of power today.

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by theater dreamer

And the whole story is terrifyingly relevant today. From the opening lines of Valrey Legasov's soliloquy, I couldn't help but wonder if that wasn't meant to serve as a portent for those in positions of power today.

I don't want to drag this conversation into a political direction, but suffice it to say that Mazin has made it abundantly clear in every interview that, yes, that was precisely his intention.

He sees absolutely no reason to make a film about a historical event unless it can speak to the world today. Otherwise it would just be homework, he said.

[Skrazem]

Day 1, best edition possible.

[LMFAObros]

Any chance HBO might release this in 4K. I could see it being a great release even if it's upscaled

[TheHutt]

I'm drinking to that!

[Pieter V]

Originally Posted by LMFAObros

Any chance HBO might release this in 4K. I could see it being a great release even if it's upscaled

Would not worry about that.

Originally Posted by Pieter V

I just got word back from the DP. Shot in 3.2K and delivered in 4K.

I am rooting for a 4K Blu-ray as well., we want more. Already glad we got a Blu-ray in the end. Hopefully with Dolby Atmos.

[Alister_M]

Originally Posted by Steedeel

Please be region free!

It's getting a UK release anyway.

[andjar01]

What a masterpiece! I'll definitely get the Blu-rays.UHD doesn't make much sense for this one in my opinion but i'd be glad to get it if available.
My expectations for this one were high but it still over delivered, it brought back some faded memories even though i was only 4 in '86 ,living in Romania (south of Chernobyl).My parents were very cautious.I had to spend that whole summer indoors, mostly drawing , coloring and looking out the window.I've had my iodine pills as well. Luckily for us the radioactive cloud went NW. Worst summer of my childhood.