Blu-ray Review: Leatherheads - Page 2

Part of: The Wild Blu Yonder

Leatherheads comes to Blu-ray looking phenomenal. Razor sharp, with strong color (despite being fairly muted in browns stylistically overall) and wonderful contrast, this is a jaw-dropping transfer. Detail is stunning, and every scene delivers in terms of depth. Whites can occasionally come off slightly overblown, although this seems part of the source and intentional. Black levels never waver, artifacting is never an issue, and the video couldn’t be any clearer.

Sadly, this DTS-HD track doesn’t deliver like the video. While a few stadium scenes liven up the sound field, other potential opportunities (such as a bar brawl) remain entirely front-loaded. Bass is flat, only kicking in with the soundtrack. One would think a train could deliver something on the low end. That said, the dialogue is always clear and never too low.

The film had a rough go at the box office, which may explain why the disc is barren of features. A commentary with George Clooney and producer Grant Heslov is the only thing in the extras menu. For the rest, you’ll need to sift through the entire film scene by scene to utilize the aggravating U-Control. Universal uses this far too often, and why these brief featurettes and interviews are not available any way other than picture-in-picture is baffling. That, and many of the features aren’t worth the time anyway.

The script was originally written in 1993, but was submitted to Universal production president Casey Silver. Unfortunately, he left the studio and the script sat around until Steven Soderbergh approached Clooney with the project who then accepted for a 2008 release.

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Article Author: Matt Paprocki

Matt Paprocki is a 12-year movie and game critic. He currently freelances for Blu-ray review site DoBlu.com and video game site MultiPlayerGames.com.

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