While much of the focus on the home video release has been toward the Blu-ray, Warner Bros. has done a good job on the DVD release here. Across two discs, this set has a great video and audio presentation that is supplemented by a lot of extras.
| Video: |
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Warner Bros. has done a commendable job with the video track on this release. As expected with a new movie, the transfer here is solid. It has the right degree of brightness and a good color spectrum. At times, the film looks vivid in its tones, such as in the Saigon sequence with the blues and reds that pop. In general, though, the movie utilizes a lot of color filters to give it a more earthy yellow and brown tint, which this transfer captures. The only negative mark is that the movie looks a little overly compressed in parts, especially in contrast to the special features material. This is particularly noticeable during the deep red location titles, which look a little murky. Nothing severe, but what prevents this from getting a perfect score.
Kong: Skull Island is presented in its original
aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and is Anamorphic for widescreen TVs.
| Audio: |
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This disc has a total of four audio tracks, five if you count the director's commentary although that will be covered in the extra features. Two of these audio tracks are in English, both in 5.1 surround. The first of these is the original, theatrical version of the movie. This features some stunning use of directionality, such as during the opening sequence when the dog fights are happening, what feels like, all around the viewer. Other effects, like roars and explosions, also have great sense of scope. Meanwhile the dialogue is clear and composer Henry Jackman's great score is well presented too, as it should be for a modern movie.
The second English track is a descriptive one. This offers the same audio as the other English track, although with added descriptive audio. The additional audio is reminiscent of a book on tape, describing the events on screen. Despite best efforts, though, it's a fairly dry reading and I can't imagine someone who was vision impaired trying to enjoy the movie this way. That said, it is a bonus if someone prefers to watch it in this manner.
Rounding out the audio tracks are two dubbed versions, the first of which dubs it into Spanish and the other dubs it into French. The voice work is subpar, but the audio quality is great, as it is on the English tracks.
The movie can be accompanied by removable English, Spanish and French subtitles.
| Extras: |
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Warner Bros. has packed this set with 51 minutes of bonus material, not counting the commentary track. While the bonus menu found on the second disc is really, really ugly, the features are numerous enough to overlook this.
The first disc includes a director's commentary by Jordan Vogt-Roberts. Being a young director, Vogt-Roberts gives a great, unrestrained commentary. It's full of insight, and also a lot of explanation behind all of the inspirations that the director infused into the movie as well. This includes changes that happened to the movie, but also just how the movie does inspirational nods to King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), Princess Mononoke (1997) and more.
Moving on to the second disc, we are presented with a wealth of bonus material. First up is Creating a King: Realizing an Icon, an almost 12 minute bonus feature. This combines interviews with the cast and staff of the movie that is set to footage from the film while concept art is also shown. This one focuses on the film as a whole, and while it's good it doesn't provide much insight. The second feature, Creating a King: Summoning a God, is a 13 minute feature focused more directly on the special effects. This one hits pay dirt much quicker, adding insight like that the special effects team wanted to have Kong walk on all fours and did concept art as such until the director walked in and shifted it toward the beast standing upright. As expected, most of this feature is devoted to Kong, but does also cover the Skullcrawlers.
Next up is the On Location: Vietnam feature, which focuses on the location shooting in Vietnam. This feature is okay, but at times feels like a tourism video in how hard they push the wonders of the area. This is followed by Tom Hiddleston: The Intrepid Traveler, which is also location focused but does so with the actor working as an anchor for it. This one is much more successful than the Vietnam one, showing all the locations while not coming off too much as a tourism pitch. Through the Lens: Brie Larson's Photography is up after this, and a bit of an odd one. Basically the actress, Brie Larson, was taking real photos during production and, with narration from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, these photos are highlighted during this feature.
The Monarch Files 2.0 is a bonus feature done in the same in-continuity style as those found on the Godzilla Blu-ray. This uses footage, made to look dated, and also concept art, which includes a shot of Sirenjaw from the Skull Island: The Birth of Kong #2 comic. This focuses on the Iwi villagers and the monsters. It even shows material related to a creature called the "Vinestrangler", which was never shown in the film or comics.
The last extra on the disc are the deleted scenes. There are a total of four deleted scenes, which all add up to about four minutes of footage. These scenes include: an intro to Colonel Preston Packard, a scene where James Conrad first meets Packard, a sequence where Packard wakes up Reles after the crash and some additional footage of the cast in the bamboo forest before the Mother Longlegs attacks. Nothing particularly interesting from them, although a strong focus on Samuel L. Jackson's character for fans of the actor.
As a side note, the bonus features have four different subtitle tracks to choose from. These are English, French, Chinese and Thai. Kind of an interesting assortment, since they are different from those found on the film.
| Overview: |
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Bottom
line, Warner Bros. did a great job with this release. While more and more studios start to skimp on the DVD home video market, they put a good amount of effort into providing a nice total package... ugly menus aside.
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