Max Manus (Men of War)

[pro-bassoonist]

Set to be released in the United Kingdom on June 1st.

Official site:
http://www.maxmanusfilmen.no/

Review courtesy of Fredrik Gunerius Fevang:

The story of Max Manus and his Oslo based resistance cell during the German occupation of Norway 1940 to 1945 is one of the most notable and important paragraphs concerning Norway in WWII, albeit more for its nationalistic and symbolic value than for its military strategic. This film, scripted by first-timer Thomas Nordseth-Tiller (who wrote the script as an examination paper while studying at Academy of Art in San Francisco), deals conscientiously with the perception of wartime Norway and the most important events in Manus' sabotage operations.

There is little doubt that Max Manus represents the culmination of the enormous increase Norwegian films have seen in technical quality over the past 10-12 years. The production values are top notch and the film looks great; a lot better than it sounds, incidentally. Because despite committed performances from all the major actors, the dialogue makes the film feel a little too much 21st century in the more interpersonal segments. In my opinion, Max Manus would have profitted from more thorough research and coaching when it comes to diction, terminology and body language. The difference would be one of subtlety (and not at all noticable to foreign viewers), but it probably would have given the film more emotional impact.

The action sequences, on the other hand, are brilliantly handled. With more experience, the directorial duo of Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg probably would have provided more suspense and tension to the more important narrative junctures in the film, but their in-debth knowledge of the source material and their vision for the portrayal of the title character himself keeps their work tight and industrious. There is a crisp plainness to the way the some of the more important action scenes are conducted, such as the scene in which Manus escapes from a section of soldiers in the streets of Oslo. And although Max Manus may not deliver fully on a dramatic and emotional level, it is a justifiable and crafty film with national and international relevance.

Pro-B

[Rossmeister2]

All right guys, here it is!

The Norwegian movie Max Manus (English: Man of War) is about the famous Norwegian saboteur and commando Maximo Manus and his exploits and life during WW2.

From serving as a volunteer in the Winter War to the end of the war, Max sees his friends die, his country occupied and his nerves cracking up as he loses more and more.

The movie is a masterful mix of action and sabotage, as well as a well-made set of characters and side plot. Max Manus is definitely not just another war move, and in my opinion it will keep you excited until the very end.

Now, to the specifics...

MOVIE: 4.5
The only reason I'm not giving this a full five, is the dubbing of Captain Linge's character. His original voice is dubbed over with another Norwegian dialect, and it's totally obvious. Silly for such a professional and historical production.

VIDEO: 4.5
This is really hard. I want to say five right of the bat, but I can't quite make up my mind. Black levels are fantastic on my Samsung LE40A656, and detail is mostly superb. Sometimes however, the picture flickers a bit, and you see colour fluctuations. Nothing we all haven't seen before, but it's not perfect. What is incredibly fresh however, is the palette. Unlike most war movies, the palette is not drabbed down dramatically and hints toward sepia (think Band of Brothers) are nonexistant. The colour saturation is incredibly fresh and lifelike, I haven't seen anything like this in a war movie before, to be honest. Since I come from Norway, I recognize the terrain, colours, buildings etc, and I must say I'm completely convinced that this is THE perfect palette for this movie. Saturation is upped a lot during the celebratory scenes in the last part of the movie which breaks the consistence though, I'd be interesting to see how it would've looked if they kept the saturation constant throughout the end. As I mentioned, detail is superb. It varies slightly however, and some shots aren't as clear and "perfect" as the rest. Individual strands of hair, fabric texture and colour are all in perfect detail. The movie might seem a bit dark, but I believe it's the very best choice for this film.

AUDIO: 5
Superb. I am completely satisfied by the audio experience this Norwegian 5.1 DTS-HD MA track has to offer. From the thunder of the war scenes in the beginning, to crisp clear dialogue in all languages (spoken Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and German can be heard) and directional sound effects and ambience in the rear channels. Artillery shells exploding and planes passing by in the beginning are completely immersive. Crisp clear sound effects such as doors shutting, footsteps, metallic bangs and gunshots seem very accurate. I keep the bass turned low (my room is small), but I didn't notice the bass overextending, failing or rumbling at all, which is always a good sign. A very neutral and clear mix, which is so much more pleasant than the cinema mix, which was rumbly (then again, all movies in the cinemas sound like rumblefests to me). Gunshots could have a slightly more aggressive crack in my opinion, but that's how you feel when you are familiar with how aggressive and loud gunshots really are. Volume probably fixes this though. All in all an excellent mix. I did not bother listening to the 5.1 DD track.

EXTRAS: N/A
I haven't viewed the extras yet, but this is what the Norwegian cover says (don't know what extras the English version has):

- Kommentarspor med regissørene...
- Se filmen i VFX-modus- interaktivt innblikk i visuelle effekter
- Bildegalleri
- Kommentarspor med manusforfatterne...
- Visuelle effekter
- "Opptakskrøll"
- Biografier
- Max Manus - Film og virkelighet (dokumentar)
- Bakomfilm
- Teasertrailer
- Intervju med Gunnar Sønsteby og Tikken Manus
- Utelatte scener
- Trailer

So.. quite a bit of extras.

FINAL WORDS: 5

Excellent picture and audio, with a hard, real and moving story of a great warrior and human being. Invest in this movie for your collection, I highly reccomend it.

TRAILER
http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/9...r/Product.html

Also very cheap on this site.

For Norwegians who haven't bought the film yet, do it!
http://www.lefdal.com/is-bin/INTERSH...logCategoryID=

[Rossmeister2]

How the hell did this happen, did you combine the threads?

[Rossmeister2]

All right guys, here it is!

The Norwegian movie Max Manus (English: Man of War) is about the famous Norwegian saboteur and commando Maximo Manus and his exploits and life during WW2.

From serving as a volunteer in the Winter War to the end of the war, Max sees his friends die, his country occupied and his nerves cracking up as he loses more and more.

The movie is a masterful mix of action and sabotage, as well as a well-made set of characters and side plot. Max Manus is definitely not just another war move, and in my opinion it will keep you excited until the very end.

Now, to the specifics...

MOVIE: 4.5
The only reason I'm not giving this a full five, is the dubbing of Captain Linge's character. His original voice is dubbed over with another Norwegian dialect, and it's totally obvious. Silly for such a professional and historical production.

VIDEO: 4.5
This is really hard. I want to say five right of the bat, but I can't quite make up my mind. Black levels are fantastic on my Samsung LE40A656, and detail is mostly superb. Sometimes however, the picture flickers a bit, and you see colour fluctuations. Nothing we all haven't seen before, but it's not perfect. What is incredibly fresh however, is the palette. Unlike most war movies, the palette is not drabbed down dramatically and hints toward sepia (think Band of Brothers) are nonexistant. The colour saturation is incredibly fresh and lifelike, I haven't seen anything like this in a war movie before, to be honest. Since I come from Norway, I recognize the terrain, colours, buildings etc, and I must say I'm completely convinced that this is THE perfect palette for this movie. Saturation is upped a lot during the celebratory scenes in the last part of the movie which breaks the consistence though, I'd be interesting to see how it would've looked if they kept the saturation constant throughout the end. As I mentioned, detail is superb. It varies slightly however, and some shots aren't as clear and "perfect" as the rest. Individual strands of hair, fabric texture and colour are all in perfect detail. The movie might seem a bit dark, but I believe it's the very best choice for this film.

AUDIO: 5
Superb. I am completely satisfied by the audio experience this Norwegian 5.1 DTS-HD MA track has to offer. From the thunder of the war scenes in the beginning, to crisp clear dialogue in all languages (spoken Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and German can be heard) and directional sound effects and ambience in the rear channels. Artillery shells exploding and planes passing by in the beginning are completely immersive. Crisp clear sound effects such as doors shutting, footsteps, metallic bangs and gunshots seem very accurate. I keep the bass turned low (my room is small), but I didn't notice the bass overextending, failing or rumbling at all, which is always a good sign. A very neutral and clear mix, which is so much more pleasant than the cinema mix, which was rumbly (then again, all movies in the cinemas sound like rumblefests to me). Gunshots could have a slightly more aggressive crack in my opinion, but that's how you feel when you are familiar with how aggressive and loud gunshots really are. Volume probably fixes this though. All in all an excellent mix. I did not bother listening to the 5.1 DD track.

EXTRAS: N/A
I haven't viewed the extras yet, but this is what the Norwegian cover says (don't know what extras the English version has):

- Kommentarspor med regissørene...
- Se filmen i VFX-modus- interaktivt innblikk i visuelle effekter
- Bildegalleri
- Kommentarspor med manusforfatterne...
- Visuelle effekter
- "Opptakskrøll"
- Biografier
- Max Manus - Film og virkelighet (dokumentar)
- Bakomfilm
- Teasertrailer
- Intervju med Gunnar Sønsteby og Tikken Manus
- Utelatte scener
- Trailer

So.. quite a bit of extras.

FINAL WORDS: 5

Excellent picture and audio, with a hard, real and moving story of a great warrior and human being. Invest in this movie for your collection, I highly reccomend it.

TRAILER
http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/9...r/Product.html

Also very cheap on this site.

For Norwegians who haven't bought the film yet, do it!
http://www.lefdal.com/is-bin/INTERSH...gCategoryID =

[demoni]

I have to ask; are you Norwegian? Would like to know if such praise of a Norwegian movie is given by a foreigner.

I'm Norwegian myself, and I didn't care all that much for this movie. I'm a huge fan (if one can use such a term) of World War 2, and I had really high hopes for this one. Too much personal stuff for my taste, but maybe I should have expected it... since the movie is called Max Manus?

Great review by the way.

[pro-bassoonist]

I moved your user review here because the UK disc streets in two days and you also linked to the trailer at Play.com.

Pro-B

[pro-bassoonist]

Confirmation

The UK release is Region-Free. However, if you are in North America and using a Region-A player, you will not be able to access its content. You need a TV that handles 1080/50i in order to view the film.

Proceed at your own discretion!

Pro-B

[demoni]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Confirmation

The UK release is Region-Free. However, if you are in North America and using a Region-A player, you will not be able to access its content. You need a TV that handles 1080/50i in order to view the film.

Proceed at your own discretion!

Pro-B

You also need a player that handles 1080/50i. I live in Norway and have a PAL TV that handles 1080/50i, but I have a US PS3...

I had to buy a reagion B player in order to play my 1080/50i movies.

[Hugh K. David]

Picked up my copy in town the other day. It only has the 45min documentary as an extra, but unlike Revolver's release of Female Agents, this time the DVD and the BD have the same extra.

[mathieuhatt]

are there any english or french subtitles for the original language track?

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by mathieuhatt

are there any english or french subtitles for the original language track?

English subtitles.

Pro-B

[The Duke]

Just ordered this yesterday from Amazon UK, based on Rossmeister's user review. Although I have the equipment to deal with 1080i50 (LG BH200 player, Panasonic AE2000 projector), I've avoided 1080i50 titles due to generally poor PQ reviews. But Rossmeister certainly gives it high marks, and it's unlikely Max Manus will have other BD releases.

BTW, Amazon UK certainly has outstanding service - ordered Friday evening their time and it shipped Saturday; I'm still waiting on Amazon.com to ship an order made last Wednesday with free shipping.

[Fightertown]

It's a shame that this movie is not compatible with my U.S. PS3 and LN52A750.

[Fightertown]

Any way to view this film without having to buy a Region B player?

[demoni]

Originally Posted by Fightertown

Any way to view this film without having to buy a Region B player?

Pirate Bay...

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Fightertown

Any way to view this film without having to buy a Region B player?

You would need a Region-Free player because if you are in the US, even if you import a native Region-B player, you sill won't be able to play 1080i/50 content. Only a tiny fraction of North American TV sets could display 1080i/50 content (they have to be multi-system, and you need to pay top $ for that).

With other words, if living in North America and using a standard TV set, you need a Region-Free player. If you get one, the player would do the conversion for you.

Pro-B

[Old Bones]

That really bums me out , I would love to have this film. I have two all region DVD players , but only a region A Blu-ray player (PS3)

[Rossmeister2]

Originally Posted by The Duke

Just ordered this yesterday from Amazon UK, based on Rossmeister's user review. Although I have the equipment to deal with 1080i50 (LG BH200 player, Panasonic AE2000 projector), I've avoided 1080i50 titles due to generally poor PQ reviews. But Rossmeister certainly gives it high marks, and it's unlikely Max Manus will have other BD releases.

BTW, Amazon UK certainly has outstanding service - ordered Friday evening their time and it shipped Saturday; I'm still waiting on Amazon.com to ship an order made last Wednesday with free shipping.

Hey thanks for the props, man!

Would you be so kind as to tell me what you think when you've seen it?

[demoni]

I'm Norwegian, and it's fun to see foreign people talking about the great acting in this movie. Well, it's not. None of the actors are believable as young people living in the 40's. They act and talk like people do in Oslo 2009...

[are1981]

http://www.play.com/DVD/Blu-ray/4-/9...r/Product.html

People write in the comments that the english subtitles are forced. Can anyone confirm this statement?