Mysterious Island Blu-ray offers decent video and mediocre audio in this mediocre Blu-ray release
Escaping from a Confederate prison camp by balloon, five survivors land on an uncharted island
in the Pacific. Far from being a sanctuary, the island is home to carnivorous monsters,
bloodthirsty pirates, and the mad genius, Captain Nemo, who inhabits the mysterious island for
his own strange ends.
No person outside my gates is long for this world.
Finally, a miniseries brought to Blu-ray that is worth watching. Mysterious Island
manages
to capture the imagination and get the heart racing on more than one occasion, and it does so
with
several novel concepts called "fine acting," "well-developed characters," "steady direction," "good
action," and "robust pacing." Who knew? Mysterious Island, like Category 7 and 10.5 Apocalypse,
suffers
from terrible special effects, but when they serve as merely a part of the story rather than the
focal
point, they manage to blend in just a bit better than those found in other series that hedge their
bets on the
effects. Also, like many other miniseries, Mysterious Island offers a far-fetched concept,
perhaps even more so than most. Then again, like the bad special effects, such problems tend to
take
a back seat to the story and don't (often) interfere with the enjoyment of the program,
particularly when the
actors care,
the director stays out of the way, and the script is fairly well-written.
Mysterious Island isn't all that great, but taken at face value, and compared to some of
the other (and lesser) miniseries out there, this one makes for solid entertainment, warts and all.
Thankfully, 'Mysterious Island' was not career suicide for its cast.
Based on the classic tale by author Jules Verne, Mysterious Island tells the tale of a band
of Confederate prison camp escapees that commandeer an observation balloon and manage to
travel via air from Richmond, Virginia, to an uncharted Pacific island 8,000 miles from the United
States. Among
the escapees are Captain Cyrus Smith (Kyle MacLachlan, TV's "Twin Peaks"), former slave Neb
(Omar
Gooding), a Confederate soldier imprisoned for embezzlement named Pencroff (Jason Durr), a
nurse, Helen (Danielle Calvert), and her daughter, Jane (Gabrielle Anwar). Smith is separated
from the group and awakens to find himself in the home of Captain Nemo (Patrick Stewart, X-Men) and his
assistant, Joseph (Roy Marsden). Meanwhile, the remaining survivors struggle to overcome the
terrain and a series of terrifying encounters with giant insects. Nemo has secluded himself on
the island, away from wars and the troubles of mankind, and has developed a powerful weapon
capable of leveling entire cities, a weapon he hopes will be the ultimate deterrent and forever end
conflict among man. He has constructed the weapon using Thorium, a substance found only on
the island, a substance responsible for the grossly oversized insect life found there. It is Nemo's
hope that Smith will return to the United States and tell the world of his weapon, but Smith
believes the weapon too dangerous to make its existence known. After Joseph and Nemo rescue
Smith's
colleagues and reunite them with Smith in Nemo's home, Smith turns down the Captain's
request. Furious,
Nemo sets them loose on the island with no weapons or provisions. It's all they can do to
survive,
and matters are complicated when pirates, led by the notorious Bob Harvey (Vinnie Jones, The Condemned),
arrive to find the island's buried treasure.
Mysterious Island makes for fine miniseries entertainment, but it does suffer from a few
glaring
negatives, the terrible special effects leading the charge. Every single effect sticks out like a sore
thumb, be they the terribly phony-looking creatures or the plethora of green screen shots, but
they
are
generally par for the course for a made-for-television, larger-than-life spectacle.
All things considered, though, Mysterious Island is a winner. The saving grace of the
film is the acting and direction. The noble Patrick Stewart takes
his role seriously, and turns in his usual high quality performance. He seems far overcast for the
film, but a breath of fresh
air nevertheless. Kyle MacLachlan, too, delivers a well above-average performance for this sort of
material. The two share decent chemistry; it's not a memorable pair, but all things considered,
they are amazing in the context of the movie. Vinnie Jones delivers a hit-or-miss performance,
though more hit than miss, thankfully. The other primaries -- notably Jason Durr, Omar
Gooding,
and Roy Marsden -- are all fine in their roles. Veteran director Russell Mulcahy (Resident Evil:
Extinction) also lends steady, sure direction to the film. He might not be the best
thought-of director out there, but for this sort of material, he's fantastic, sure-handed, and
capable. He has a nice, but not distinguished, résumé, and his skills are well served here; he's
more than qualified for this sort of film, and aside from MacLachlan and Stewart, he and his
direction are the film's biggest assets. Thankfully, the film's positives far outweigh the negatives.
Most importantly,
Mysterious Island makes for a fun and fast watch, even straight through with little to no
interruption between the two halves.
Echo Bridge presents Mysterious Island on Blu-ray with a 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer.
The image retains a bit of noise throughout, though rarely does it appear abundantly heavy. Some
edge enhancement is also visible. Blacks are sufficient but slightly lacking, coming off as
a very dark shade of gray in most instances, and flesh tones appear red in most every scene. Colors
are decent, and there are many to be seen. Daytime shots easily fare the best; the introduction of
a red and orange pirate ship in chapter 10 is one of the nicest looking scenes in the film, and all of
the bright, daytime shots around the island look crisp, nicely defined, and sharp. Detail is adequate
in many shots, certainly no great shakes compared to the best of Blu-ray, but at least average; the
numerous plants and vegetation seen around the island, and the many objects scattered
throughout Nemo's home, offer viewers a bit of eye candy in an otherwise average looking transfer.
Listeners may discover Mysterious Island on Blu-ray via either a 5.1 lossy Dolby Digital
track, or a two-channel PCM mix. Neither are particularly impressive; the Dolby Digital track
features a solid presence across the front. Both music and sound effects play adequately; for
example, a rain storm during the escape early on in the film, and the subsequent musket shots that
try to bring the balloon down, sound reserved and lacking in clarity. Almost the entire soundtrack is
focused in the center channel, with some nice ambient effects spilling over to the front right and
left channels. Even though it is a 5.1 mix, the rears are rarely utilized, a missed opportunity to
truly engulf the listener in the experience. Various sound effects don't add much oomph, either; the
film's climax features plenty of loud and varied sounds, but none of them really play with any sort of
strength or clarity compared to the best lossless offerings. The PCM track isn't all that much
different, perhaps slightly more clear, but no more or less impressive. For a made-for-television
miniseries, these audio offerings are about as good as one may expect.
This Blu-ray release of Mysterious Island leaves plenty to the imagination thanks to its lack
of a comprehensive supplemental package. The disc includes standard definition interviews with six
cast members -- Kyle MacLachlan (6:24), Gabrielle Anwar (2:22), Vinnie Jones (3:53), Omar
Gooding (1:39), Patrick Stewart (5:22), and Danielle Calvert (1:06) -- and director Russell Mulcahy
(4:24). The disc also includes Set Design Featurette (480p, 11:03) which takes a closer
look at the locations seen throughout the film and the design that makes them unique. Finally, the
film's trailer (480p, 2:00) concludes this brief supplemental package.
Mysterious Island makes for a fine time-killer. Unlike some of the lesser miniseries out
there, this one features sure-handed direction that stays out of the way, a solid cast that actually
cares about the material, and a story that is far-fetched but entertaining and quite often
engrossing. The film contains many glaring weakness that are easy to overlook thanks to the
many surprising positives. Mysterious Island is not an award winner, but it's good old
fashioned entertainment that doesn't completely embarrass itself. Besides, when a movie has
Jean-Luc Picard and Dale Cooper in it, how can it possibly be bad? Echo Bridge's Blu-ray release of
Mysterious Island is rather weak, but nonetheless sufficient for the price. The video and
audio are
passable for a high definition release, but the supplements are few and far between. Still,
this one is worth the asking price. Recommended.
Echo Bridge Home Home Entertainment has revealed that they will bring four films to Blu-ray this October. Coming first, on October 21st, is the Blu-ray release of 'The Woods Have Eyes'. A week later, on October 28th, they will release 'Cruel World', 'The Final ...
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