Perfect picture from Sony but no contrast

[KenThompson]

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/talladeganights.html

Courtesy of Sony, 'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby' comes to Blu-ray as a BD-50 dual-layer disc, which means it has plenty of room for a great transfer and soundtrack, plus tons of extras. And indeed, it delivers on those last two. Unfortunately, the video here just left me really disappointed. It is certainly no fault of the technology, but rather an aesthetic decision made somewhere along the line that makes 'Talladega Nights' just about the flattest transfer I've yet seen on either next-gen format.

Let it be said that there is nothing wrong with the source material, which looks as clean as a whistle. Grain is almost absent from the transfer, with solid blacks and consistent color saturation. I also noticed no chroma noise, compression artifacts or posterization. The film's color palette is quite bright and lively, with sun-drenched exteriors and a fine use of primary colors, in particular blues, reds and yellows. Fleshtones appear accurate, if a bit waxy.

Unfortunately, 'Talladega Nights' suffers from really awful contrast. I have no idea why it looks this way (and I didn't see it theatrically), but it is as if the entire image has been completely flattened out and darkened. There is zero "pop" to the presentation -- it's like watching the video through a pair of polarized sunglasses. As a result, depth and detail appear surreal and washed out, and colors are nowhere near as vibrant as they could have been. There is certainly none of the three-dimensionality I'm accustomed to with great high-def