DVD reviews: Bullet, The Getaway

By Glenn Abel

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Warner Bros.' release of "Bullet" and "The Getaway" in HD-DVD was big news in guysville: Hand us a Steve McQueen action flick in a trick video format and life is very, very good.

It's hard to watch the old DVDs after seeing the high-def presentations, but as with most older films that have been processed for HD, there are a few issues.

These movies come from a dicey period for film stock, especially "Getaway," so they don't have the punch, pop and clarity of, say, older Technicolor titles like "Mutiny on the Bounty." Skin tones tend to be ruddy, contrasts are jacked up and some detail is lost to the darker bias. On "Getaway," the audio sounds over-processed -- the regular DVD's sonics are almost preferable. The HD "Bullet" audio nails it, though, with warm, realistic voices, great environmental detail and big bangs.

These are quibbles because an A-B comparison is no contest at all. The existing DVDs look flat and lifeless compared with the HD-DVDs. (The older discs were decent DVDs, special editions from just a year ago.) The high-def discs port over the extras. "Bullet" has an additional extra about editing for 1080p HD. "Getaway" adds several more bonus features about the movie.

Now that the studios have run through a lot of the easy-sell titles, we can expect more adventurous titles like these. Now is a good time to jump into high-definition. Think: What would Steve McQueen do?

(Glenn Abel's new home-video blog can be found at www.dvdspindoctor.com)

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter