Hi-Def Preview

The Company

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Release Date: 10/23/07

Review By: JoeRod

Picture Quality - 4.5/5

Audio Quality - 3.5/5

Special Features - 4/5

OVERALL - 4.5/5

Comments: This AVC Blu ray title (actually 2 discs) has an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The Company will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire movie! And since it has a running time of approximately 286 minutes that is a long time. Right away you can see they did a great job with night scenes. You can see near perfect shadow detail with nice deep blacks. This movie aired on TNT in 1080i this past Summer. It comes to Blu ray in a beautiful 1080p transfer. The fleshtones are very accurate. Colors, though muted some, help put you right into the time frame of the movie. I really like the spy versus spy concept and how they captured it perfectly for this title. It reminds me of those Mad Magazine comics (Spy versus Spy) only in real life. This one is CIA versus KGB. There is plenty of nerve racking moments when you are not sure who will be next! With great detail on close ups you are in for a good treat. What is really amazing is to get to see and hear how it was done back then first hand and how they would out smart each other...

Audio: The PCM 5.1 Uncompressed 5.1 soundtrack sounds much better than its TNT broadcast. You will hear perfect dialouge with nice tonality. I really liked how the gunshots sounded. They did an excellent job of placing them in different speakers. It really helps with the 'edge of your seat" feeling. Your subwoofer will not be overly used but it will get some wake up calls. Considering the soundtrack came from a televison broadcast they did a very good job implementing it to the Blu ray disc.

Special Features: I usually don't get a big thrill out of special features. This is a rare time where I really was drawn in and felt like a learned something. There are only two sections. Declassified: The Origions Of The Company is the first one. This is a really good Ridley Scott interview. The second one is The Hidden Hand. This was my favorite special feature. Uncensored interviews which are focused on the making of the movie and events which occured around that time frame. Very compelling especially if you are any kind of History fan...

OVERALL: I really enjoyed watching this Blu ray title. Not only are we given very good picture quality and sound quality but a true to life story. Spy verus Spy or CIA verus KGB or whatever you want to call it, having a front row seat while the story unfolds is amazing. The Company captures the untold tru story of what it is like behind the scenes during the cold war...