DVD REVIEW: THE HOST
DVD REVIEW:
MANOLIA [ 2007 ] 119'
DVD REVIEW:
DISC FORMAT: REGION A / BLU-RAY / DUAL LAYER / 1080p
DVD REVIEW:
SUPPLEMENTS: 480i
WTFFILM RATING:
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It's strange, to say the least, that a monster film could ever draw such positive critical approval from the international film community. That goes double for one originating from South Korea, home of YONGARY: MONSTER FROM THE DEEP and co-producers of APE. That director Boon Joon-Ho's THE HOST managed to captivate so many audiences across the United States when it was theatrically distributed by Magnolia Films this past year leaves WTFFILM hopeful that maybe, just maybe, the American film-going public is not as ignorant as once imagined.
The film itself is difficult to describe - it's a downright moving family drama centered around the unlikely appearance of a truck-sized mutant amphibian. The basic story follows the exploits of the unlikely Park family, the eldest of whom owns a riverside food stand and tries to keep his drunken son and under-achieving daughter in line. Complicating the already complicated family ties is the dimwitted Gang-du, who works for his father at the stand (at least when he's not sleeping) and dreams only of buying a less embarrassing cell phone for his middle-school aged daughter, Hyun-seo.
It is on a sunny summer day that the beast of the title comes galloping out of the Han river, stealing away Gang-du's daughter and leaving behind a swath of destruction and a lengthy list of victims. The Park family, brought together by the supposed demise of Hyun-seo, is forced to mobilize against both the monster and the oppressive authorities, convinced that the creature is the host of some deadly new virus, when Gang-du receives a phone call from his daughter, who has been trapped in a sewer. What ensues from there is a collection of impressively staged action sequences, warm and often funny family drama, and more than a few moments that will hit any feeling person right in the gut.
I only recently saw the film, having avoided it up until now due largely to its overwhelming popularity (pride can be such a silly thing), but in the time since my first viewing it has become one of my all-time favorites. Director Joon-ho manages to present a perfect blend of touching comedy, heart-breaking drama, and awesome monster action the likes of which this viewer has never seen before. It's an amazing film, to say the very least.
THE FEATURE PRESENTATION:
Magnolia's 1080p hi-def transfer for THE HOST is, for all intents and purposes, absolutely flawless. It's progressive in the original theatrical 1.84:1 ratio and faithfully reproduces the color, contrast, and detail of the print from which it was sourced. Fine film grain is visible throughout the feature (as it should be for anything produced on 35mm) and damage is expectedly absent (the film was produced nary 2 years ago, after all). Audio options are plentiful and include Dolby Digital 5.1, 2.0, and DTS-HD tracks in both the original Korean or dubbed English. All of these tracks sound positively fantastic, speaking strictly on the grounds of overall fidelity, but the Korean is definitely the way to go - the English dubbing is average at best and does little to preserve the original tone of the performances on screen.
The feature on this disc takes up 34.3 GB of the total 39.1 GB - no encoding issues in the least were noted during playback.
One minor caveat I have with the feature is with the subtitles, presented in a slim white font with an even slimmer black border. While I doubt this is an issue on sets with higher resolution, I had serious issues reading them at times on the SD set I viewed the disc on. It would have been nice if a slightly thicker border had been provided for the subtitles as even if the feature is meant to be viewed at 720p and above, I suspect many a humble blu-ray player owner has, like myself, yet to drop the $500+ necessary to get a nice new television set. That minor issue aside, this feature presentation is practically perfect.
The captures below were ripped in their original 1920x1080 resolution and are presented as such for this review. Just click on the thumbnails below to see them in their original resolution. Keep in mind that all of these captures are .jpg converted and, as such, will not provide a 100% accurate reproduction of the source video.
THE EXTRAS:
Extras are plentiful on this disc, though not quite so much as on Magnolia's 2-Disc SD release of the title (for those wondering, that release currently retails for around $10 less than this BR release). While I find the exclusion of some extras from that release perplexing, to say the least, what is offered up here is more than enough to satisfy my curiosity - if only they had been produced and presented in HD as well!
First up is a feature-length commentary track from Joon-ho (in English) that is, simply put, a must hear for fans of the production. Next up is a brief Making-Of featurette hosted by the director. Interviews with the cast and crew, deleted scenes, a gag reel, and the original theatrical trailer for the film round out the extras dealing with the feature. Also included are several trailers for other Magnolia BR titles.
THE OVERALL PRESENTATION:
I rented this disc from NetFlix and, as such, am not at liberty to judge the packaging itself, though images online show that it is both attractive and expectedly in line with that of the 2-disc Collector's Edition SD release.
The menus for the disc are very well designed and are intended to evoke the sewer that plays such an important role for much of the film. All of the functions are easily accessible both from the startup menu or during playback of the feature itself. I am incredibly limited in my ability to play BR on my PC at the moment (hopefully that will change in the near future) and, as such, cannot provide captures of the menu designs. Suffice it to say that Magnolia has done a fantastic job in the overall presentation of this disc, and I am entirely complaint free.
THE VERDICT:
While it's a pity that some of the extras from the 2-disc SD weren't ported over (those interested should be able to find that edition used for around $4-$5 online), this is a very solid release all told. The supplements, while somewhat limited, certainly hold their own, but the real winner is in the flawless feature presentation. BR capable fans should definitely pick this one up, those of you who haven't seen the film are definitely recommended to rent it ASAP. This is a fine disc and, even though it was only a rental for me, I see myself picking it up for my own collection in the very near future.
