Sony, using the TriStar label, offers the first method to get Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis on Blu-ray. While this isn't a bad release, it's lacking in several key areas, first and foremost being the video and extra presentation. In fact, the only area it excels in is the audio presentation, offering up two pretty good surround options for the film.
| Video: |
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TriStar really dropped the ball on the video presentation here. First and foremost is that the video just doesn't look sharp. While it certainly blows away anything on DVD, it feels like such a let down for what the format is capable of. The only positive aspect is that noise from grain and digital inconsistencies appears minimal, likely due to the lack of sharpness in the picture quality. The colors are also far from vibrant, appearing on the more muted side.
Metropolis is presented in its
original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Sadly, the image has been cropped here, which is overt when compared to the Mill Creek Entertainment Metropolis Blu-ray. I'd recommend opening that review in a new tab in your browser and contrasting a few of the similar stills.
| Audio: |
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The Blu-ray offers two audio tracks to choose from. Both are 5.1 surround tracks with DTS-HD. The first is the Japanese track while the second is the English dub track. Both sound stellar, with no inconsistencies to note. The surround aspect creates a good dynamic range, when the material permits, and there is great clarity on the sound effects. Although both sound good, of the two the English dub definitely sounds more robust here.
The disc contains two, removable English subtitle options.
One option is a subtitle track for the Japanese audio, translating it into English, while the other is for the English dub, acting like closed captions.
As a side note, the disc removes the wealth of other language options that were available on the two disc DVD set from TriStar. This includes a French audio track along with subtitle tracks in langauges like Spanish and Korean.
| Extras: |
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While not totally devoid of them, this release is pretty light on supplemental content. First up we do have a high definition trailer for the movie. Sadly, this is only the US trailer from TriStar. The original Japanese trailer is no where in sight. Second up we have a full screen, 8 minute "Filmmaker Interview" with director Rintaro and writer Katsuhiro Otomo. This extra has removable English subtitles and covers topics like why director Rintaro wanted to make the film and why writer Otomo wanted to work on the project as well. What's puzzling is the fact that TriStar included this but passed over a wealth of other bonus content that was originally on their two disc DVD release, such as a 30 minute feature on the film which is far better than the interviews they included.
As a side note, this disc does not contain a dedicated menu. The movie will start to play immediately, and one will have to access the pop-up menu found in most Blu-rays to access things like the extras.
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This disc has a stellar audio presentation... but is otherwise a let down. While it was the first offering on the movie on Blu-ray in the US market, since then the Mill Creek Entertainment Metropolis Blu-ray was released and is the better purchase here. For those debating which release to get, the Mill Creek Entertainment one is the obvious choice.
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