The Movie
Economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner teamed up to write the book Freakonomics with the intention of exposing the hidden side of everything and explain it all with indisputable facts. The secret to this science is to apply basic principles of supply and demand to some unexpected topics--from baby names to Sumo wrestling to high school grades--and find the underlying trends and numerical patterns. It's a closer look that reveals a bigger picture than almost anyone has seen.
For the movie, a team of established documentarians created four main vignettes, each on a different topic. Each has a different mood and style, but every one does indeed reveal some hidden truths and underlying problems intrinsic to man's nature. There are a couple of genuine "Wow..." moments too, most notably the unbiased theory as to why the crime rate in America dropped during the early 1990s.
You may never look at the world the same way again.
The Picture
Detail is good but not exceptional within the 1.78:1 frame, with mild but frequent video streaking and some slight ringing in soft light and transitions. A deliberate effort has been made to move away from the "talking heads" documentary style, people sitting and talking at the camera (although there is a fair amount of that), breaking it all up with clever animations, well-rendered digital effects and even miniatures. There is a bit of twitching in fine lines, but in general the video quality is more than acceptable.
The Sound
The entire movie is driven by a series of narrators, and their voices come clear and authoritatively through the center cannel. Overall, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is rather aggressive, as not just the music but plenty of sound effects have been placed into the rears: a cocking a gun, a police siren, footsteps and more. The score meanwhile discretely positions the well-recorded instruments in different speakers, not just vaguely spreading them around the soundfield.
The Extras
Producers Chris Romano, Dan O'Meara and Chad Troutwine come together for their own commentary, an interesting counterpoint to the "Directors' Commentaries," an intermingling of thoughts from Seth Gordon, Morgan Spurlock, writer Jeremy Chilnick, Alex Gibney, Eugene Jarecki, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady over the different segments.
There are also additional interviews with Levitt and Dubner, the de facto hosts of the movie, with 14 chaptered topics totaling 38 minutes, in HD. "HDNet: A Look at Freakonomics" runs about five minutes in a low-bitrate AVC, containing some insightful red carpet soundbites. The disc is also BD-Live-enabled.
Final Thoughts
After the end credits, I found myself devouring the extras, trying to learn all I could about Freakonomics. Backing bold hypotheses with cold, hard evidence, it's an addictive form of education, and class is now in session on Blu-ray.
Product Details
Where to Buy:
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Movie | |
| Extras |
