|
Search DVDBeaver |
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
|
|
Lord of the Flies [Blu-ray]
(Harry Hook, 1990)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: Castle Rock Entertainment Video: Olive Films
Disc: Region: 'A' (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player) Runtime: 1:30:16.452 Disc Size: 23,038,678,324 bytes Feature Size: 22,887,530,496 bytes Video Bitrate: 30.009 Mbps Chapters: 8 Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: April 28th, 2015
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio English 2081 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2081 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles: • None
Extras: • None
Bitrate:
Description: Lord of the Flies stars Balthazar Getty
(Lost
Highway) in an adventure tale based on the classic
novel by William Golding. When an aircraft carrying a group
of military school cadets is forced to crash land in an
uninhabited Pacific jungle, it is survival of the fittest,
man against nature, and boy against boy as sides are drawn
when the hunters become the hunted.
The Film: Harry Hook directed this second screen adaptation of William Golding's cult novel about a group of British schoolchildren who revert to savagery when marooned on a deserted island. The new adaptation replaces British school children with a group of American military cadets and instead of a shipwreck, their plane crashes into the sea. The children swim ashore onto an island and try to fend for themselves, with the only surviving adult wracked with fever and crazed with pain. As the children get the feel of the island, the group separates into two different camps: Ralph Balthazar Getty and his followers prefer to act civilized and want to expand their efforts toward finding a way off the island; on the other hand, Jack Chris Furrh and his band revert to painting their faces, carrying spears and exploiting the island for survival. When the chances for rescue become less and less likely, the two factions go to war with each other, with tragic results. Excerpt from Barnes and Noble located HERE
In this second version of William Golding's novel, a group of cadets from an American military school are stranded on a desert island, along with the wounded pilot, after their plane crashes. Eventually the camp divides; Ralph (Getty) and Piggy (Pipoly) represent the values imposed by adults and civilisation; while they struggle to maintain a signal fire, Jack (Furrh) and his band of hunters, giving way to more primitive impulses, run rampage and turn murderous. The film, simplistically assuming the book's central metaphor to be imperialism - hence the military slant - retains the bare bones of Gollding's narrative, but that's all. There's little attempt to hint at the deeper issues, while the revelatory moment when the impaled pig's head looms in the clearing to reveal man's inner darkness, is merely flat. Executive producer Lewis Allen also produced Peter Brook's superior 1963 version; he took on the project after learning that TV producers planned a remake with an 'upbeat ending'. This is better than that, but not nearly good enough. Excerpt from TimeOut located HERE
Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. Harry Hook's 1990 Lord of the Flies is a striking film - shot in Hawaii. Olive's new Blu-ray transfer has impressive colors. This is only single-layered but the film's beauty, and Martin Fuhrer's cinematography, are exported dynamically in the higher resolution. There are some consistent textures and detail is acceptable. The outdoor sequences, naturally, dominate and produce some extremely pleasing visuals. There is some minor depth. The Blu-ray video gets high marks - with kudos to the film's eye-candy brilliance.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :Olive use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel at 2081 kbps The film has plenty of 'nature' sound effects (wind, rain, ocean, fire) and it seems a deep transfer without flaws. The original music is by Philippe Sarde (Tess, The Tenant, Quest For Fire). He is a thoughtful composer and the rich score benefits the film experience and sounds excellent via the lossless. There are no subtitles and m y Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A'-locked.
Extras : No supplements - not even a trailer which is the bare-bones route that Olive are going with the majority of their releases.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze April 25th, 2015
|
|
About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 5000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. 60-Inch Class (59.58” Diagonal) 1080p Pioneer KURO Plasma Flat Panel HDTV PDP6020-FD
Oppo Digital BDP-83 Universal Region FREE Blu-ray/SACD
Player APC AV 1.5 kVA H Type Power Conditioner 120V Gary W. Tooze ALL OUR NEW FORMAT DVD REVIEWS
|
CLICK PayPal logo to donate!
|
Gary Tooze
|
|
Thank You!
