Zodiac Blu-ray

Zodiac

 (2007)

Crime | Drama | Thriller



In the late 1960s and 1970s, fear grips the city of San Francisco as a serial killer called Zodiac stalks its residents. Investigators (Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards) and reporters (Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey) become obsessed with learning the killer's identity and bringing him to justice. Meanwhile, Zodiac claims victim after victim and taunts the authorities with cryptic messages, cyphers and menacing phone calls.

For more details about Zodiac on Blu-ray, see the Zodiac Blu-ray Review

Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey, Jr., Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox
Director: David Fincher

Zodiac Blu-ray, Video Quality

 


Paramount delivers Zodiac to Blu-ray with a gorgeous 1080p, 2.35:1-framed transfer. The transfer is simply incredible. It is often difficult not to become dumbfounded by the clarity, depth, and precision of the image. Zodiac was shot digitally utilizing the Thomson VIPER FilmStream Camera, so there is no film grain to be seen, and video noise is minimal. Detail is impeccable, natural, and honest. Check out an exterior scene in chapter four as Zodiac robs, ties, and stabs a couple on a lakeside. Every last inch of the frame is breathtaking in every facet: detail, from individual blades of grass to tree bark, remain impressively clear in both foreground and background locales; colors jump off the screen with remarkable vibrancy; and the depth of field is highly impressive. A garden sequence in chapter 21 is another excellent example of the transfer's strengths. The many interior shots of the newspaper offices, where there is much detail to be seen but not as impressively and naturally lit as the various outdoor scenes, and appearing a bit more sterile, manage to sparkle. Dimly lit interior shots are excellent, featuring a warm color scheme and retaining a high quality look with a depth and breadth that surpass most high definition content currently on the market. Blacks are perfectly dark and inky. Darker scenes, a nighttime shot featuring a car on city streets as seen from overhead, for example, reveals fine attention to detail on the pavement, which could barely look better if the viewer were looking out a window. Zodiac looks as good as the movie plays, and is a reference-quality Blu-ray disc.

Zodiac Blu-ray, Audio Quality

 


Zodiac on Blu-ray features a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This audio presentation is rather basic, front heavy, and not too loud. The disc does an adequate job of sonically recreating the hustle and bustle of the Chronicle's office, but scenes in the building never truly place the viewers inside. Dialogue is occasionally slightly hard to hear over sound effects, but for the most part it is clear and discernible. The rear channels are used sparingly, sometimes seemingly not at all. Atmospherics and environmental support, both in the interior shots alluded to above and in various exterior settings, are mostly handled by the front, and the rear channels rarely carry a discrete effect. In this case, a rather bland sound design is fine; the movie is carried by the strength of the story, the set design, the acting, and the direction, and all the soundtrack needs to do is support those factors, which it does admirably and efficiently. It won't knock the socks off (or even nudge them), but here, that's fine.

Zodiac Blu-ray, News and Updates

• Today on Blu-ray - January 27 - January 27, 2009


• Paramount Catalog Titles Get Specs - October 16, 2008


• Zodiac Finally Announced for Blu-ray - October 6, 2008

Zodiac Blu-ray, Forum Discussions

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