Blu-Ray Review:
Goldfinger
By Jason Gillard
*Screen shots are not from the Blu-Ray source.
Movie
When I think about Bond films that star Sean Connery, my favorite has to be Goldfinger. Goldfinger seems to have it all when it comes to the world of Bond. Beautiful locations, plenty of cool gadgets, M, Q, beautiful Bond girls, Aston Martin DB5 and the list goes on. It also has my favorite Bond line which is Bond: "Do you expect me to talk?" Goldfinger: "No Mr Bond I expect you to die". The Plot of Goldfinger is that James Bond is hot on the trail of Auric Goldfinger a criminal who makes his money by smuggling gold across the world's borders. While Bond is investigating Goldfinger he finds out that he is involved in more than smuggling gold. Goldfinger plans on detonating a nuclear bomb on American soil. It's not just Goldfinger Bond has to deal with but also his right hand man Oddjob. Oddjob has one of the most interesting weapons to take a man out. As Goldfinger sets his sights on Fort Knox Bond meets up with Pussy Galore. She is a ruthless criminal as well and works with Goldfinger as his personal pilot. Can Bond stop Goldfinger before he detonates the bomb, could the girl be the key to stopping Goldfinger? This movie is a lot of people's favorite bond and it's easy to see why! If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and give it a watch. I am sure you will be glad you did.
9 out of 10
Video
Once again Lowry Digital was given the job to completely restore this film. Shown in its original aspect ratio of 1.67:1 this transfer is almost perfect. It's safe to say that Bond fans have never seen Goldfinger look this good. It's stunning what they are able to achieve. Other than the dated clothes you might think it was shot today! Colours are sharp and vibrant. Black levels are deep and dark. Detail is especially good. When the girl gets covered in gold, the sheen and detail of her and the room is spectacular. The only scenes where the picture starts to show its age are when special effects are used. You will notice that detail seems to drop off in the scenes. But this is really a problem with the original film and not the transfer. Out of the Bond films I have seen on Blu-ray so far this is definitely the finest example. If you want to show someone how good an old film can look on Blu-ray pull out this disc and let your friends be amazed.
10 out of 10
Audio
Again with this film you are given two choices for audio. One is a mono soundtrack that I am sure the purists will love. But most people will go for the newly remixed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. I think that have done a fine job with this track. I am sure the original elements that they had to work with were not good and the lengths they probably had to go to to make the track sound good were many. The film is now 45 years old! They have produced this track to sound like the original mono track but they have added more bass and surround elements to the mix. They did a good job to remain faithful to the movie and none of the effects sound cheesy or out of place. Goldfinger definitely won't sound like a film made today, but they have done a great job to liven up the track.
8.5 out of 10
Extras
Here is what there is in the way of extras:
- Feature-length audio commentary with director Guy Hamilton
- Feature-length audio commentary with Sean Connery and various cast and crew members.
- The Making of Goldfinger
- The Goldfinger Phenomenon
- On Tour with the Aston Martin
- 1963 Promotional Film
- Screen Tests
- Honor Blackman Open-Ended Interview
- Image Database
- Theatrical Trailer
- Original television advertisements
- Radio promos
- Audio-only interview with Sean Connery
Again MGM has assembled a great collection of extras porting everything over from the Ultimate edition release. My favorite extras here are "The Making of Goldfinger" where I found out that the actor who played Goldfinger didn't speak a word of English and did all his lines in German. They later dubbed another actor's voice over his. It's amazing that I didn't notice this! I also liked "On Tour with the Austin Martin". This feature brings a lot of information about the car which I thought was cool. Overall there is a lot to like in these extras.
8 out of 10
Overall
This is a great Bond film and they have done an amazing job with this disc. Amazing picture, great sound and great extras. This is the one to buy folks!
9 out of 10
Goldfinger Blu-ray is available now from Amazon.com