StereoNET: Blu-ray Review - Logan

JULY 2017

LOGAN BLU-RAY REVIEW

BLU-RAY / REVIEW / LOGAN

LOGAN REVIEW FORMAT / BLU-RAY ASPECT RATIO / 2.39:1 AUDIO / DTS-HD MASTER AUDIO 7.1 48K GENRE / ACTION AVAILABLE FORMATS / DVD, BLU-RAY, 4K ULTRA HD RATING / M15+ STRONG BLOODY VIOLENCE RELEASE DATE / 07 JUNE 2017 LABEL / 20TH CENTURY FOX RUN TIME / 137 MINUTES DIRECTOR / JAMES MANGOLD CAST / HUGH JACKMAN, PATRICK STEWART, BOYD HOLBROOK, STEPHEN MERCHANT

Overview Logan marks Hugh Jackman’s 9th and final appearance as the gruff, yet likeable Wolverine.

Logan picks up in 2029, sixteen years after the events depicted in 2013’s The Wolverine.

Like the world around him, Logan has changed.

The grizzled and greyed mutant doesn’t heal as fast as he used too and relies upon alcohol for pain relief. No new mutants have been born in the past 25 years.

Also, mysteriously absent (except for Charles Xavier) are the other X-Men. Age has also taken its toll on Xavier, and with his wits failing him he needs to be medicated to avoid seizures. This can be catastrophic for those around him.

REVIEWER / TONY 0’BRIEN

“We always thought we were part of God’s plan.

Maybe… maybe, we were God’s mistake.”

Video

Wrapping Up

PICTURE QUALITY

Logan features an excellent, although highly stylised colour palate.

Logan may just be my favourite Wolverine movie. It’s both a sad and violent film.

SOUND QUALITY

For example, the scenes in New Mexico tend to favour a slight sepia tone, whereas some night scenes lean toward blue, the city’s neon lights contrasting strongly against the gloomy background.

Nonetheless, it’s an excellently crafted story and a very mature look at ‘Old Man Logan’.

MOVIE RATING

These colour choices serve to enhance Logan’s dark noir vibe.

If like me, you’re a fan of the franchise, there’s also a limited edition black and white version (Blu-ray only) of the film availabe, entitled Noir.

Black levels remained solid during the film, yet never obscured detail.

Extras

Despite the stylised colour palette, flesh tones remained natural.

• Deleted Scenes

Resolution was excellent, with plenty of fine detail evident.

• Audio Commentary (James Mangold)

• Making Logan • Theatrical Trailers

Audio Much like the video, Logan has a cracking 7.1 DTS-HD soundtrack.

The surrounds are used to great effect for environmental cues and create a sense of ambience.

While there’s no discrete overhead information in the soundtrack, DTS Neural decoding helped to create a convincing sense of height and space in my home theatre.

At times the soundstage was also very wide, seeming to defy the confines of my

home theatre. All of this comes together to create a very immersive soundtrack, which places the listener smack bang in the middle of the action.

Logan’s DTS-HD 7.1 soundtrack has some serious wallop. Bass was not only heard, but often felt from the primary listening position.

The Casino scene is a perfect example of this, which I suspect has the potential to damage some home theatre systems when played too loudly.

Not just brutish, the DTSHD 7.1 soundtrack was loaded with detail. Dialogue remained clear, never drifting into intelligibility, regardless of what was happening on the screen.

Logan’s DTS-HD 7.1 soundtrack is both immersive and dynamic.

This is a soundtrack that is well and truly up of the task of showing off the audio capabilities of your home theatre system.