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The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and looks superb from start to finish. Crisp, bold colours and a delight for the many action sequences. For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 50″ Plasma TV with a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
It’s difficult to comment on the quality of the print, though. No, I haven’t suddenly lost the use of my eyes, but it’s filmed in Super 16 and with an intentionally grainy look to it. The problem with this is that for the majority of the time, you may as well be watching a DVD.
That said, there’s some very interesting camerawork, in the way that it stays on Max. We learn in the extras that this is down to the Snorricam unit, which the actor is wearing.
The sound has a DTS HD 5.1 option, but while I selected that, it hardly gets used, save for some split-surround audio around 9 minutes in, the rest of the time feeling like a standard stereo soundtrack.
The extras on this disc are as follows and none of them have subtitles:
- Gag Reel (2:26): Does exactly as it says on the tin, and it’s alright but very short.
- Epic Ensemble (6:58): A puff piece where everyone blows smoke up the director’s arse, and then each other. The title of this segment, however, relates to the large cast in this.
- Under Surveillance: The Making of Olympus Has Fallen (11:36): Unlike most Blu-rays and DVDs, this one seems to have started with the shortest extra and work its way up. Here, we get a rather standard ‘making of’. Everyone gives brief pieces-to-camera, saying nothing you don’t expect.
- Deconstructing the Black Hawk Sequence (3:30): This relates to a scene from late in the film with CGI choppers. As they say, it is a great sequence, but this is also an incredibly short extra.
- Ground Combat: Fighting the terrorists (3:02): Choreographing the fisticuffs. Again, way too short to be of any real use.
- Creating the action: VFX and design (7:03): Another mention of how almost everything you see was CGI – as if you haven’t guessed already.
I bemoaned Rebellion for having a complete lack of extras, but is that worse than a disc which has some, but which are very disappointing short? There are six pieces here but nothing goes into any real depth and you don’t feel like you’ve learned much.
The menu features clips from the film against a short piece of the music. Subtitles come in English and the chapters are the usually lame 12 across the 120 minutes.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
8 10 9 2 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 120 minutes
Year: 2013
Released: August 26th 2013
Chapters: 12
Distributor: Lionsgate
Cat.no: LBG95031
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS HD 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Producers: Gerard Butler, Ed Cathell III, Antoine Fuqua, Mark Gill, Danny Lerner and Alan Siegel
Screenplay: Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt
Music: Trevor Morris
Cast:
Mike Banning: Gerard Butler
President Benjamin Asher: Aaron Eckhart
Forbes: Dylan McDermott
Kang: Rick Yune
Speaker Trumbull: Morgan Freeman
Secret Service Director Lynn Jacobs: Angela Bassett
Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan: Melissa Leo
Connor: Finley Jacobsen
Leah: Radha Mitchell
Roma: Cole Hauser
Vice President Charlie Rodriguez: Phil Austin
Admiral Nathan Hoenig: James Ingersoll
Diaz: Freddy Bosche
O’Neil: Lance Broadway
Ray Monroe: Sean O’Bryan
Lee Tae-Woo: Keong Sim
Cho: Kevin Moon
Lim: Malana Lea
General Edward Clegg: Robert Forster
Yu: Sam Medina
Margaret Asher: Ashley Judd
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.