Slumdog Millionaire - Blu-ray Disc Review<http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=14968>
Tags: Anil Kapoor <http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?tag=anil-kapoor>, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar <http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?tag=ayush-mahesh-khedekar>, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail<http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?tag=azharuddin-mohammed-ismail>, Danny Boyle <http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?tag=danny-boyle>, Dev Patel<http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?tag=dev-patel>, Digital Copy <http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?tag=digital-copy>, FOX<http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?tag=fox>, Freida Pinto <http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?tag=freida-pinto>, Irrfan Khan<http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?tag=irrfan-khan>, Rajendranath Zutshi<http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?tag=rajendranath-zutshi>, Saurabh Shukla <http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?tag=saurabh-shukla> [image: Blu-ray Disc Review] [image: 5 out of 5 stars]<http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=14968#slumdogmillionairemovie> *[image: The Movie Itself]* has an average rating of *8.6* on *IMDb*<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/> [image: 4 out of 5 stars]<http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=14968#slumdogmillionairevq> *[image: Video Quality]* 1080p in *AVC MPEG-4* on a *50gb* disc [image: 5 out of 5 stars]<http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=14968#slumdogmillionaireaq>[image: Audio Quality] *DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio* [image: 3 out of 5 stars]<http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=14968#slumdogmillionairebonus>[image: Bonus Materials] are decent with a *Digital Copy* [image: Rated:] - [image: R (Restricted)] [image: Year:] - 2008 [image: Length:] - 120 minutes [image: Studio:] - *FOX* [image: Region:] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Region_codes> - [image: Region 1 (A)] *Overall Verdict* - *A definite MUST-SEE!* [image: Buy it for $25.99 @ Amazon.com] *Buy it for $25.99 @ Amazon.com*<http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSlumdog-Millionaire-Blu-ray%2Fdp%2FB001P9KR94%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Ddvd%26qid%3D1235476465%26sr%3D1-1&tag=highcom-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325> — Review written by: *Justin Sluss*<justinsl...@gmail.com?subject=highdefdiscnews>— *Trailer*: <http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/slumdogmillionaire/> *The Movie Itself* won many “*Oscars*” this year, namely *Best Picture*. “*Slumdog Millionaire*” was Directed by (now *Academy Award* winner) *Danny Boyle*, and Co-Directed by *Loveleen Tandan*, with the writing credits of *Simon Beaufoy* (screenplay) and based on the novel by *Vikas Swarup*. The story tells that of an 18-year-old orphan named “*Jamal Malik*” (played by *Dev Patel*) from the slum streets of Mumbai, India. The boy lives a very rough life along with his brother “*Salim*” on the streets and eventually meets a girl named “*Latika*” who he falls in love with a very young age. The boy’s brother Salim and friend Latika both disppear from his life due to a local crime lord. Fast forward to the present where Jamal is age 18 and becomes a contestant on the Indian version of the popular game show “*Who Wants to be A Millionaire?*“, where he ends up winning 20 million rupees. There’s only one problem here, when the show takes a break for the night, the local police arrest Jamal claiming that he has cheated. The boy claims that he simply knew the answers and it was fate. What follows is Jamal telling his life story of living on the streets, losing his brother and love interest (Latika). Jamal is reunited with both his brother, Salim, and former love interest Latika later on in the film which is very moving. <http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/reviews/slumdog_millionaire/image1full.jpg> Overall, “*Slumdog Millionaire*“, that *Danny Boyle* and his fellow filmmakers have made here is something that is very simplistic and semi-believable but at the same time is something that I cannot really explain in huge detail in my synopsis for the film without having felt I have given away some of the film — in terms of spoilers. I’ll just say that this film deserved all the “*Oscar*” (*Academy Award*) nominations and wins. It’s a definite “*MUST-SEE*” film of last year and is very happily welcomed to *Blu-ray Disc*. <http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/reviews/slumdog_millionaire/image2full.jpg> *Video Quality* on this release is in full 1080p using the *AVC MPEG-4*codec on a *BD-50* (50 gigabyte, dual-layered *Blu-ray Disc*) in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The most important thing to note going in to watching this wonderful motion picture is that it was filmed on many different types of cameras using both film and HDTV digital recording methods. If you’d like to learn a bit more on this, be sure to check out *IMDb’s aspect ratio tech listing*<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/technical>. With this being the case, you are obviously going to see a large variety of video quality from scene to scene throughout the film. A bit of this may have been intentional to convey the unique type of visual style but it does seem to mainly be a case of the variety of source material. The main two things you’ll notice that varies are black level and film noise or grain. Now don’t get me wrong here. I’m not so sure these things could be fixed too much but it is enough to hurt the overall Hi-Def presentation here. The black level (for the most part) is solid, especially in scenes that appear to have been shot in Hi-Def such as the early chase / title sequence. It’s scenes like these that also show off the amazingly vibrant color palette and accurate fleshtones. Aside from the variety of source material causing some consistency issues, there really is nothing to complain about in this Hi-Def transfer. As I said, I’m not too sure how much these problems could have been fixed without totally digitally butchering the source material. All and all, “*Slumdog Millionaire*” on *Blu-ray Disc* earns itself a pretty solid “*4 Star Rating*” for overall video quality. It does the film enough justice to get the wonderful story delivered to the viewer, in this case in the beauty of High Definition. <http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/reviews/slumdog_millionaire/image3full.jpg> *Audio Quality* on this release is presented in English / Hindi *DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio*. Let me first start things off by saying that “*Slumdog Millionaire*” certainly deserves all of the “*Oscars*” (*Academy Awards*) that it received for sound mixing and original music composed and produced by *A.R. Rahman*. The dialogue is delivered very precise throughout and requires no volume adjustments of any sort – as it does contain occasional subtitles or dialogue on screen. The 5.1 soundscape created in this DTS-HD Master Audio mix is easily one of my new favorite choices as a “*demo material*” worthy title to picking off the shelf. This 5.1 mix contains some amazing dynamics, rear channel presence and bass. I mean we’re talking enough “*oomph!*” in it to dust off your speakers and bring back the wood smell that you’ve been missing. As I mentioned earlier, the original music composed by *A.R. Rahman*, gets an amazing audio presentation and is simply awe inspiring at times. Namely the first real music sequence at Chapter 3 (6:30 into the film) where we get the back story of Jamal’s younger slumdog upbringings, running from the police. I could listen to this over and over, as it is the perfect example of what the DTS-HD Master Audio codec is capable of delivering in terms of next-generation high resolution audio. I can’t get over how everything is mixed perfectly and sounds extremely realistic — especially the drums and percussion instruments used which are rather hypnotic. Early on in the film when the police officer punches Jamal in the face, the audience will surely jump out of their seats – even if they previously saw it in theaters – as it contains a very convincing loud monstrous crunch. All of the sound effects here are realistic and the rear channel presence is used wisely to contain audience noises on the set of the Indian version “Who Wants to be A Millionaire?” show and so forth. All and all, I feel the presentation you get here is amazingly solid and definitely worthy of a perfect “*5 Star Rating*” for overall audio quality and also worthy of being called “*demo material*“. Kudos to the folks at * FOX* here on a job extremely well done! *Bonus Materials* on this release are presented in a variety of Standard Definition (SD) and High Definition (*HD*) MPEG-2 video using Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo *...@224kbps* sound — unless otherwise noted. - *Digital Copy* is included on a second DVD-ROM disc which is compatible with both iTunes (Mac) and Windows Media (PC). - *Audio Commentary with Director Danny Boyle and Actor Dev Patel* - *Audio Commentary with Producer Christian Colson and Writer Simon Beaufoy* - “*Deleted Scenes*” (33:51 - SD) include a total of twelve different scenes which you can watch together using the “play all” function or separately. These all feature *Dolby Digital 5.1* Surround sound (* @448kbps*). - “*Slumdog Dreams: Danny Boyle & The Making of Slumdog Millionaire*” (22:58 - SD) is split up into 2 parts, although they both play as one. This “making of” featurette proves to be very much worth watching. Here we get an almost half-hour glimpse at the film’s Director *Danny Boyle* and his journey to get the film made and some obvious behind-the-scenes footage of the movie in production. *Danny Boyle* gives a really nice interview here along with some of the other crew who worked on the film. - “*Slumdog Cutdown*” (5:32 - *HD*) gives you a music video of sorts featuring clips from the film as well as obviously music. This proves to be very much a treat if you enjoyed the music in the motion picture as much as I did. - “*From Script to Screen: Toilet Scene*” (5:25 - SD) takes a look at the transition from written word to film for the very disgusting scene that involves our lead character “*Jamal*” diving into a pile of human waste to get to see his favorite “Bollywood” actor. - “*Indian Short Film - Manjha*” (41:03 - SD) is included which a very cool added bonus for those who enjoy Indian culture and/or “Bollywood” films. It’s not very often a movie gets a 41 minute short film included in it’s bonus materials. This is certainly a nice thing to see. - “*Bombay Liquid Dance*” (3:00 - SD) serves us up another music video for a song featured in the film. Lots of footage of Bombay India here obviously as the title suggests. - “*Theatrical Trailer*” (2:07 - *HD*) features *Dolby Digital 5.1*Surround sound *...@640kbps*. - “*European Theatrical Trailer*” (1:57 - SD) is also included which is nice to see but it sadly doesn’t get Hi-Def video treatment or 5.1 sound. Overall the bonus materials here are pretty nice. They should leave fans of the film pleased for now until the studio eventually decides to “*Double Dip *” on this title in some “Collector’s Edition” or such. The bonus materials total in at almost an hour, without the bonus short film included which runs 40 minutes itself roughly. The inclusion of a *Digital Copy* should also leave fans pleased. http://www.highdefdiscnews.com/?p=14968-- regards, Vithur
