That is not to say it is all bad — the transfer is very good, in particular the inky black levels and generally spot-on colors. There are times that the image is truly three-dimensional and it makes me wish that a full restore was done for this Blu-ray release. Spy Game does look great, it just could easily have been better.
The Audio
Now here is where the Spy Game Blu-ray truly shines. Featuring the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 format for its lossless debut, Spy Games really wowed me in the audio department. Robust but not excessive rear speaker usage pulls you into the scenes with glass, explosions, paper, conversation, and door noises seeming to surround you. Dialogue is well represented out of the front channels and is by and large crystal clear.
Your subwoofer will also get a decent workout as well with ample bass in evidence during the action sequences. I did find that some explosions are more muffled than they should be in comparison to other effects, but overall the immersion is wonderful.
The audio in Spy Game is one of the highlights of the Blu-ray release and shows us what some extra care can do on a transfer. It’s a pity the same effort was not extended to the video transfer.
The Extras
Once again this looks quite familiar. Short of the tacked on BD-Live functionality, all of these extras were on previous DVD or HD-DVD releases. This does not make them bad per se, just argues against buying the Blu-ray as an upgrade. The content is solid and is worth perusing for fans of the movie even though it is mostly presented in SD.
- Audio Commentaries: There are two separate commentary tracks for this release. The first features Tony Scott on his own discussing the film the actors and the editing process. The second has producers Marc Abraham and Douglas Wick discussing all aspects of the shoot and the challenges they faced. A single track with all of them interacting would have been nice, but both are entertaining.
- Clandestine Ops Interactive Track: I initially thought this was a PiP feature that modern films have, but instead it is an icon hunt that opens short featurettes about the scenes. The additional material is pretty vanilla stuff and was actually annoying to view via the film. Making this an hour long separate featurette would have been preferred.
- Deleted Scenes (SD, 6 minutes): Five scenes that were fairly forgettable, but Tony Scott’s commentary is nice as he explains why he did not like or use the scenes.
- Alternate Scenes and Ending (SD, 14 minutes): Five alternate takes are shown and discussed by Tony Scott. Interesting in the fact that they open up more insight into the characters and their evolution.
- Script-to-Storyboard Process (SD, 3 minutes): A short look at Scott’s storyboarding process.
- Requirements for CIA Acceptance: A tacked on article describing admittance requirements for the CIA
- BD-Live Functionality – Nothing to see here other then trailers for games and movies.
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