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Released by: Magnolia Films
Released on: 5/10/2011
Director: Christopher Smith
Cast: Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Kimberley Nixon, Carice van Houten
Year: 2010
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The Movie:
Christopher Smith's 2010 medieval epic is set in the 14th century where the Black Plague is wreaking havoc and causing panic across England and other parts of Europe. The film starts in a modest monastery where a young monk named Osmond (Eddie Redmayne) sends his secret girlfriend, Averill (Kimberley Nixon), off to the woods in hopes that she'll escape the plague. She says she'll wait one week for him to join her, but he is conflicted as to what he should do - go with the woman he loves or keep the oath he made to God. He prays for a sign and no sooner do a group of swordsmen show up lead by Ulric (Sean Bean) looking for a guide who knows the very same woods that Osmond just sent Averill off to. He takes this as the sign he asked for and before you know it he's off with these battle weary men who are on a quest to a town where they've heard reports of devil worship to set things right. Apparently a necromancer has set up shop in this village and Ulric aims to nip that problem in the bud.
As they set off on their journey, Apocalypse Now style, they run into some odd occurrences along the way - they see a woman about to be burned at the stake for witchcraft, they lose a man to a pack of thieves living in the woods, and they run into a cross baring group of self flagellating fanatics - but Osmond sees no sign of Averill at their meeting place, only her clothes covered in blood. They eventually make it to the town where a beautiful woman named Langiva (Carice van Houten) throws a massive feast in their honor, but nothing is as it seems as Osmond has to figure out what to do about his broken heart while Ulric most dole out holy justice as he sees fit.
Featuring some very impressive production values and attention to detail, Black Death looks great from start to finish and it really puts you in the thick of it all to the point where you can feel the dirt, the sweat, the disease of the era as the story plays out. While it might not be too hard to see where it's all going and the angle that it's going to take, plot wise, there are still some interesting twists and surprises along the way that keep things interesting. The performances are strong across the board, with Bean fitting into the zealot role rather well and playing his part with plenty of seemingly legitimate conviction. If he's not given much room to actually emote, well, Eddie Redmayne makes up for that as his part, truly the starring role in the picture despite Bean's top billing, is emotionally rather complex. His character is the one who finds himself at a crossroads and who has the tough decisions to make, and who actually has some interesting growth in the film.
Effects wise, the violence in the film (which there is a lot of) hits hard. The film is plenty gory and effectively so, though those with an aversion to closely shot fight scenes might be put off by so much of the shaky-cam/handheld technique employed throughout the film. On one hand, they help to put you in the action, on the other hand, they can be dizzying. That complaint aside, Black Death offers up enough action, intrigue, suspense and horror to prove both interesting and entertaining.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Magnolia's Blu-ray looks as good as it probably should in this AVC encoded 2.35.1 widescreen 1080p high definition transfer. Keep in mind that this is a movie meant to look gritty, dirty and destitute, so the transfer reflects that. There aren't a lot of bright colors here, most of what we see is grey, black, brown and the film is heavy on darkness and earth tones. Skin looks natural enough and detail, when the camera slows down enough for us to appreciate it, generally look pretty solid. Black levels are good, texture is impressive and while the image is very grainy (intentionally so) there are no issues with print damage, dirt or debris.
Audio chores are handled nicely by an English language DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, with optional subtitles offered up in English SDH and Spanish. There's plenty of great surround activity here, not just in the battle scenes where you'd expect it but during the quieter moments as well where you might notice some interesting background noises. Dialogue is well balanced and easy to understand while your subwoofer will offer up a nice low end to anchor things effectively. The swordfight scenes impress the most, but overall this is a nice, immersive and well handled mix.
Magnolia hasn't stacked this one with loads of extras but there are a couple of decent supplements here starting with the eleven minute Bringing Black Death To Life which is an interesting look at the production made up of interviews with Christopher Smith and a bunch of behind the scenes footage showing what went into the sets and costumes and period detail on display in the film. The disc also contains just over half an hour of interviews with the cast and crew here in which they discuss their characters, the movie's themes, and tell some interesting stories from the trenches. A separate eleven minute Behind The Scenes featurette includes more footage shot while the production was underway that is different from that included in the Bringing Black Death To Life featurette.
Rounding out the extras are four quick deleted scenes, a trailer for the feature, trailers for a few other Magnolia release, an HD Net promo spot featuring just under four minutes worth of clips and interviews, menus and chapter selection. All of the extras except for the HD Net spot and the trailers are in standard definition.
The Final Word:
Black Death earns bonus points for trying something different. Some strong performances and memorably set pieces make up for periodically dizzying camerawork and a few cliché moments. The good very definitely outweighs the bad here and Magnolia's Blu-ray release is solid through and through.
Click on the images below for full size Blu-ray screen caps!
