Blu-Ray Review:
Slumdog Millionaire
By Jason Gillard
*Screen shots are not from the Blu-Ray source.
Movie
Slumdog Millionaire ended up winning 8 Academy Awards at the Oscars this year and I was eager to find out why. I had missed my chance to see it in the theaters and now that it was coming out on Blu-ray this was a perfect opportunity. This was one of those movies that got a lot of hype but I really did not know much about. I knew it had something to do with the Indian version of "Who wants to be a Millionaire" but other than that I did not know much about it. For those of you who don't know, the movie is about Jamal Malik. He is the contestant on "Who wants to be a Millionaire". He is orphaned as an infant on the streets of Mumbai. His whole life has been a constant struggle to survive. Somehow Jamal ends up becoming a contestant on the show. On the show he quickly ends up becoming a hero in India when he wins the grand prize. Officials are skeptical of how a boy from the slums could end up answering all the complex questions. The show has had scholars and other really educated people and none of them could come close to winning. Jamal is arrested and subjected to torture and questions on how he cheated. It is from this point that we see all of Jamal's experiences that armed him with the knowledge to answer the questions on the show. I was very surprised by this movie, it was really good and sad at the same time. You really feel for Jamal or anyone that would have to live this way. If you haven't seen the film you should definitely check it out. Be prepared for some disturbing scenes though! But these scenes are necessary to see all the hardships that Jamal had to endure along the way to his historic win!
9 out of 10
Video
Since Slumdog has won many awards, Fox has given it a high bit rate transfer at the films original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. This is amazing since the film at one point was going to be a direct to video release. This is a gritty film and there is a particular style to it, so I have to take this into account when judging the video. For most of the film there is a brownish colour palette. Also colours appear washed out on purpose. I also noticed quite a bit of grain in certain scenes and again I think this was done on purpose. The movie was shot with film cameras as well as video cameras. Detail is great in some scenes and not in others which again I think has been done on purpose to show a certain style. The transfer does a great job of bringing the streets of Mumbai to life and showing the harsh conditions that these children are subjected to. I did not notice any edge enhancement or other digital noise that would affect the transfer. Fox has done a good job with this transfer and comes highly recommended.
9 out of 10
Audio
Fox has given us a great 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track that faithfully recreates the bizarre soundtrack that Slumdog Millionaire has. There are many scenes in the movie that feature very busy streets in Mumbai and this track does a good job of recreating this with ambient effects. The score is from Indian composer A.R. Rahman. His score mixes authentic Indian music which really adds a great deal of authenticity to the movie. Each song blasts out of the speakers flooding the viewer in the culture of the film. Dialogue comes across nice and clear but some of the accents of the actors might be difficult to make out for some viewers. One thing that I really liked is that every time the film flashes between the game show and Jamal's life there is this swirling surround sound experience that is a ton of fun to listen to. They have done a great job with this track and reproduce the Oscar winning score very well.
9 out of 10
Extras
Here is what you get in the way of extras:
Feature Length Audio Commentary with Director Danny Boyle and Actor Dev Patel
Length Audio Commentary with Producer Christian Colson and writer Simon Beaufoy
Slumdog Dreams: Danny Boyle & The Making of Slumdog Millionaire
Deleted Scenes
From Script To Screen: Toilet Scene
Indian Short Film "Manjha"
Bombay Liquid Dance Music Video
For me the best extra here is one that I usually don't recommend. It's the commentary with Danny Boyle and Dev Patel. They go into a lot of detail, but it's really just fun to listen to. They are actually quite funny as well. I found this to be one of the better commentaries I have listened to. I also really liked the "Slumdog Dreams" documentary because it was very well done. Lots of good information about the challenges of shooting in Mumbai. There are a lot of deleted scenes as well, but nothing that spectacular. I see a bigger special edition coming in the future but for now they have included some well done extras.
8 out of 10
Overall
This is a great movie that has a great transfer and great audio. The extras are decent as well. If you haven't seen it yet I suggest you do. It comes with a high recommendation from me.
9 out of 10
Slumdog Millionaire Blu-ray is available now from Amazon.com