Blu-ray Movie Review: Atomic Blonde
2017 – Atomic Blonde
Universal Studios 2017
PG13 | 1hrs 55 mins | Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
HD | 1080P | DTS-X | DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
4K | 2160P | HDR10 | Dolby Vision | DTS-X | DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
2.40:1 Aspect Ratio
Starring: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman
Directed by: David Leitch
Ratings & Reviews
Please see here for my comments on reviewing movies.
My ratings are simple being marked out of a maximum of 5+. My reviews are biased towards the technical production aspects of the film with brief comments about the story line. Extras, sorry, that’s just not my ‘bag’.
Not having 4K or Immersive audio yet, what did the 1080P24 version look like? Very good, and the sound track was really enjoyable.
Entertainment: 4
Video: 4+
Audio: 4+
Technical Review – HD Blu-ray
Digitally filmed, Atomic Blonde provides an very good quality 1080p transfer, but doesn’t measure up to some of the reference discs out there. The movies darker and bleaker styling, and cold shades of gray and blue, that tend to dominate the movie, don’t let the image ‘pop’ very often. The image is solid, and contains all the key features, such as good black levels and contrast, from the dark night shots to the brighter views of the clubs and city streets. Overall sharpness is good, with just a hint of grain in some low light scenes. However, I felt that the film had been processed to provide a 35mm celluloid feel, being a little soft for large parts of the movie. There are no obvious integration problems with any of the CGI effects (the few that there were). Colors were well saturated, where appropriate, such as the club scenes, neon signs and costumes. Skins tones were not oversaturated, with some excellent facial close ups, showing very good definition, with all colors looking natural and realistic, or as fitting to the films genre and color scheme. Textures and clarity are excellent, from the costumes, to the interior and exterior building and city street shots.
Audio – DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
The Blu-ray version of Atomic Blonde, features a DTS-X and DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack. The 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack carries the movie exceptionally well, providing plenty of accuracy and aggression. The soundtrack provides a great selection of well recorded 80’s pop songs, whose titles have been carefully selected and integrated into the film, in particular some of the intense action sequences. The musical stereo imaging, tight bass lines and vocals providing a great backing to the films action sequences and scripting. The bass is powerful at times, supporting numerous car chases and explosions, with the surrounds providing an immersive sound field and directionality for various effects, such as gun shots, which wiz by your head, to carrying a locales natural atmospheric reverberation. Overall, there are plenty of intense elements and atmospheric support for the various environments. Many of the fight scenes, of which there are plenty, like the relatively well known stair-well scene, being quite spectacular. Dialogue is always clear and well defined, being accurately located across the front mix.
Story Overview
Atomic Blonde is a 2017 American spy film based on the 2012 graphic novel The Coldest City. The novel revolves around a spy who has to find a list of all secret agencies from agencies across the globe, on the eve of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, is to be be smuggled into West Berlin to then be exploited.
The movie is centered around an undercover British Secret Service Agent, Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron), who is sent to Berlin during the Cold War, in order to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a covert list of agents from various agencies. She partners up with David Percival (James McAvoy), the local embedded station chief in Berlin, who is tasked with helping her navigate her way through this deadly spy game. All is not what it seems!
There are many, really high octane, action, fight and driving sequences, where the sensual Lorraine Broughton unleashes her wild savagery upon her fellow men. It is quite understandable why she is considered, by some, to be the female equivalent of Keanu Reeves from the John Wick movie series.
My 2 Cents
There were a few moments, at the begining of the film, where I started to loose my concentration, as it was jumping between scenes quickly. However, it soon settled down and I finally got a grips of the story. Most of my time was spent impressed by the John Wick style of fighting or working out who was double crossing who during that particular scene. Even though it was almost a two hour movie, but ignoring the shaky start, it was engaging, fun, and I loved the music – bringing back memories of my younger years. Although over two hours, it was finished before you knew it. The story isn’t overly sophisticated but it has its own twists and turns, reminiscing on the Jason Borne series, and it’s a good evenings viewing and enjoyable to listen to.
The only version I could find that has the 7.1 soundtrack is the 4k version. Very confusing. Nowhere I can see 7.1 written on any blu-ray case of this movie.
Simon,
Both the HD and 4K versions have DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 and DTS X soundtracks. I did check. This review was also done when I had no 4K projector so I purchased the 4K version for later use and used the HD version for this review.