The Film
Bravo to Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman; bravo! They have taken an unapologetically maudlin and unlikely screenplay by Justin Zackham directed with no sense of delicacy or wisdom by Rob Reiner and turned in two exceptional performances -- even if they were only playing character types we've seen them play a dozen times over. Jack Nicholson plays the brash billionaire Edward Cole, and Morgan Freeman the wise, blue-collar mechanic, Carter Chambers. The two men meet in the cancer ward of a Los Angeles hospital as they are both undergoing chemotherapy.
The film gets off to a good start as we see the two characters, at first wary of each other, slowly let their guards down as their physical strength falls away and they begin to bond with one another. From there, the film takes a turn into clichéd sentimentality as the two devise a plan to write a "bucket list" of ten things to do before they "kick the bucket". This comes about after they each get word that they have a year or less to live. From then on it's all skydiving, racecar driving, safaris -- with terrible chroma key “greenscreen” effects, I might add -- and the typical discussions about family, faith and, oh yeah, death too.
The character development is so poor in this film, as is the dialogue, that it's difficult to comprehend why these two men are even together. We get philosophical gems like "Everybody is everybody," from Freeman's character. Ouch! Chambers is in an inexplicable state of malaise over his forty-five year relationship with his wife, but we don't know why. We hardly ever see his wife on screen. Cole is stubborn and arrogant, yet he's suddenly being influenced by this mechanic he hardly knows. I guess we're just supposed to accept that it's because they are coming to terms with their deaths.
The film does admittedly have its touching moments, such as when Cole finally crosses off the "kiss the prettiest girl in the world" item from the list, and both actors do an admirable job with the material they are given. Unfortunately, it's becoming a bit tiring seeing Freeman play the "wise old black man doing the voice over" (Shawshank anyone?) and Nicholson doing the arrogant and rude routine, but the two do have a lot of chemistry onscreen. If you're looking for a film that deals with dying, you want a couple of tear-jerking moments, and something that never strays far from the "feel good" idea of what it means to come to terms with one's own mortality, then this is the film for you.
The Picture
The Bucket List comes to Blu-ray Disc with a 1080p/24 high definition VC-1 encoding in its original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio. The Bucket List is not a film that will wow anyone visually, but it is full of bright colors and inky blacks captured perfectly by this transfer. Daylight scenes have their contrast set a bit too high, causing a slight bit of blooming and loss of detail in the brightest of scenes. The source is spotless, which is to be expected for a film so current, and detail, though good, is just slightly soft. The high definition transfer also exposes the awful chroma key effects used in the film; so don't scrutinize them too closely.
The Sound
There is not much to say about the sound of The Bucket List on Blu-ray Disc. Warner haven't even bothered to offer any form of lossless or uncompressed option, instead providing only Dolby Digital 5.1 in English and dubbed French and Spanish versions.
The mix itself isn't much to speak of either. Mostly dialogue driven, it remains heavily weighted to the center channel only, vaguely utilizing the surround channels for ambience. Even during the film's more lively sequences, such as when Chambers and Cole are skydiving or racing each other on a closed racetrack, the surround channels barely come alive, and the LFE is practically nowhere to be found so ".1" may as well be a misnomer here.
I'm sure the sound designers felt a more subdued mix was better suited to the subject matter, but the nearly complete lack of any surround presence results in a dull, closed mix, and the absence of any lossless/uncompressed option on a Blu-ray release is unforgivable, regardless of the type of mix. The only plus with this mix is that dialogue, so important to this film, is never lost in the mix (how could it be), but it does sound somewhat veiled.
The Extras
Warner continue their practice of providing the supplemental materials in no better than standard definition for this release, but they have thankfully spared us the obligatory audio commentary track instead opting for what is becoming the ubiquitous In-Movie trivia track instead. The best of the extras on here are the two separate Rob Reiner interview segments with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. I suggest anyone with this disc give them a look.
Extras provided on this release are:
Final Thoughts
I'm sure many will find the saccharine sentiments explored in The Bucket List touching, and it's hard to argue with the quality of performances from Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, but ultimately The Bucket List as a film is middling at best. This Blu-ray Disc release certainly has an acceptable video transfer, but its audio options aren't anything special rendering the entire release nothing better than average.
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Product Details
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