Gattaca (Blu-ray)

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But let's talk about the acting. Ethan Hawke and Jude Law turn in their usual spot-on performances, though Uma Thurman seems underused as Irene, a Gattaca Aerospace worker who's been passed over because of her own imperfections. A few more scenes with Thurman would have seemed in order, because she's such a pivotal character for the way we perceive things--one who goes from resenting the near-perfect Vincent-as-Jerome to becoming close to him and ultimately changing her mind on more than a few things. Alan Arkin does such a good job as Detective Hugo, who's called to Gattaca after the launch supervisor is found murdered right there near his office, that you wish he also had more camera time. But that's another strength of this intriguing film: it leaves you wanting more, but not in an angry or feeling-cheated way.

Video:
"Gattaca" looks great in 1080p, with a crisp clean pristine picture that's presented in 2.40:1 aspect ratio. Black levels look great-lots of shadow detail--and there's a pleasing 3-dimensionality that comes from extra-sharp edge detail. The only flaws I noticed were a handful of hiccups that went away almost as quickly as they appeared. Overall, a great transfer, with no noticeable compression artifacts.

Audio:
I'm a PCM fan, because the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 never quite seems to match the dynamics. Dialogue drives this film, though, so almost any soundtrack has only the requirement that it match the crispness of the video, and this one does. Don't look for much in the way of rear speaker effects or for sounds traveling across your viewing space, though. In this respect it's a pretty tame soundtrack for a sci-fi/futuristic offering. Additional options are Portuguese and French Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and a Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Chinese, and Korean.

Extras:
There's not much in the way of extras though. A 20-minute feature ("Welcome to Gattaca" is a new-look production but covers familiar ground. The stars are interviewed, but mostly talk about their characters. Things get more interesting when they offer their two cents worth about the overall production and behind-the-scenes anecdotes, but it's still a pretty standard making-of feature. Aside from trailers (previews, really) and a gag "substance test outtake" that runs a scant minute, there are six deleted scenes (including an alternate ending) that run around 10 minutes and a vintage 2004 short-short feature that's really a fluff promo piece and nothing more. You'd think with a film this thoughtful there'd be more from the scientific community, but the closest we come is with another short (under 20 minutes) features narrated by Gore Vidal, who has a small walk-on role in the film. Vidal, you might recall, is the arch-rival liberal to conservative William F. Buckley, and he takes up the issues that are at the core of this film. Are we closer to a Gattaca world? Yikes.

Bottom Line:
"Gattaca" has plenty of character and complex issues to consider, and the plot is just enough to provide a context and make things even more interesting. As sci-fi films go, "Gattaca" goes well beyond the usual by offering a work of real depth. And yes, it looks superb in Blu-ray.