Full Metal Jacket HD-DVD Review
By Chris Boylan
The Film
Stanley Kubrick's vision of war, and the training that creates soldiers of war, may not be the best Vietnam war movie ever made. In fact, its second act, set in Vietnam (but shot on location and in soundstages in the United Kingdom), is far less powerful than the first act, set in a military training barracks in the good ole' U.S. of A. But "Full Metal Jacket's" insight into the dehumanizing effects of military training and service stands as a timeless social commentary on just what it takes to create a "lean, mean killing machine" and at what cost.
The Picture
If you never got to experience Full Metal Jacket on the "big screen," Warner Home Video's HD-DVD release of the film will give you that opportunity once again, in the comfort of your own home theater. Unlike previous laserdisc and DVD releases of the film, the HD-DVD's 1920X1080 native resolution can be enjoyed on large projection screens without visible scan lines, or blurring of details. On-screen details such as the text on store window signs and in background banners are clearly legible on a large screen where they were fuzzy and illegible on earlier video releases.
In fact, this high resolution transfer may reveal minor shortcomings in the film's technical execution that were not obvious in previous home video releases, such as the blood escaping from sniper-inflicted gunshot wounds, which is a little too red, and a little too thin to be convincing. Also, the format reveals what seem to be limitations in the print itself, a general softness that was not as obvious in earlier releases but is more visible now under the HD microscope. It is unquestionably the best I've ever seen this film look, but probably not the best the HD-DVD format is capable of producing. But, relatively minor shortcomings aside, the film looked impressive on our 98" reference screen, as projected by a high definition (720p) Sanyo LCD projector.
Unlike earlier versions of the film, which were only available in "full screen" 4:3 aspect ratio (as the director wished, for home viewing), "Full Metal Jacket" is presented on HD-DVD in a native 16:9 widescreen format which makes use of the entire screen of your widescreen HDTV, or will be presented with letterboxed bars on a 4:3 TV. This alone may be worth the price of admission as it more closely approximates the original theatrical presentation of the film. As TVs get larger (and wider), we might speculate that the dearly departed Mr. Kubrick would be OK with this. I know I am.
The Sound
The audio track of this release is as impressive as the video, with a 5.1-channel Dolby Digital Plus audio mix. Oddly enough, this DD+ mix displays as "DTS" on every processor on which we tested the disc, including an Onkyo home theater receiver and an Outlaw preamp/processor. Whether this is an artifact of the HD-DVD player (a Toshiba HD-XA1) or something in the datastream itself is not entirely clear.
[editor's note: it is actually because the Toshiba player remixes all digital audio to PCM format, then re-encodes the multi-channel mix into DTS for output via the player's digital out]. In any case, the multi-channel audio decoded cleanly on existing surround processors, with excellent imaging qualities and a believable frequency blend with plenty of low-end heft. Combat scenes, with mortar fire and gunshots aplenty, were presented with excellent impact and three-dimensional sense of space that draws you into the nail-biting tension of the battlefield.
The Extras
As for the extras on the disc, well there really aren't any, except for one theatrical trailer. In my opinion, with a new format launch, the studios should really try a little harder to add value to the film for collectors, with pop-up factoids, insight into the production process, perhaps interviews - something to make film enthusiasts feel that they are getting their money's worth, and that there is something about the new format that goes beyond current DVD. To be fair, earlier DVD releases of the film were equally light in the extras department. The incremental increase in cost from standard DVD to HD-DVD (about $8) is low enough that the gains in picture and sound quality, as well as the first-ever widescreen presentation of the film will probably be enough to separate prospective buyers from their money.
The menus, with a running time line, visual chapter stops and bookmarking capabilities (all accessible without stopping the film) are certainly cool, but these are really just basic features of the new HD-DVD format and nothing to get excited about on this particular title.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I'd certainly recommend this HD-DVD to fans of the film or of Kubrick's work in general. If you've got the necessary equipment to enjoy it (Widescreen TV and HD-DVD player) then you will not be disappointed in the quality of the video and audio over previous releases of the film. But I would have liked to see more extra features to showcase the possibilities of the HD-DVD format.
Technical Details
- Director: Stanley Kubrick
- Actors: Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Dorian Harewood
- HD-DVD Release Date: May 16, 2006
- US Theatrical Release Date: June 26, 1987
- Feature Film video transfer: 1080p 16:9 HD transfer
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Sound Format: Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 (in three languages)
- Languages (audio): English, French, Spanish
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
- Number of discs: 1
- MPAA Rating: R
- Studio: Warner Home Video
