Black Rain [Special Collector's Edition]

Video:
"Black Rain" is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen with MPEG-2/1080p mastering. Comparing the "Black Rain" Blu-ray release to the HD-DVD release yields identical results. The MPEG-2 conversion stands up to the VC-1 compression of the competitive format. "Black Rain" looks incredible and considering much of the film´s draw is its change of scenery of Japan, this is greatly appreciated. Paramount has routinely created solid looking Blu-ray transfers. Some of their catalog titles, such as "Reds" have looked absolutely stunning and "Black Rain" is the next in line to show what the studio is capable of. The image succeeds because of very high levels of detail and brightly rendered colors. Japan is a nation where there is a lot of color in its daily life and "Black Rain" should make the nation proud. On the other spectrum, black levels were quite strong. The transfer was surprisingly free of any flaws as a result of source materials. Film grain was negligible, and there were nary any scratches or specks of dirt. At this point, "Black Rain" is one of the better catalog titles released by the studio; or any other studio for that matter.

Sound:
Paramount´s pattern of providing a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX soundtrack and a DTS 6.1 mix continues. The studio also provides French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes and subtitles for all three supported languages. They have been fairly consistent with supplying these sound options and their soundtracks have been consistently strong. "Black Rain" is no exception to the Paramount rule, but the sounds that emanate from the speakers are not quite up to par with the striking visuals that present themselves. The film has good imagery across the front channels and the rear surrounds are noticeable during the film. "Black Rain" doesn´t present a lot of sound information to be overly aggressive and three motorcycle sequences and the final gunfight is essentially where it´s at in "Black Rain" in regards to soundtrack information. The low frequency effects channel is never too dominant, but it does make itself known. Dialogue is clear. Whereas the visuals were amazingly sharp, the lack of much rear information and bass anchored "Black Rain" to its era. Though the HD-DVD release utilizes the Dolby Digital Plus format, I could not discern any differences between the two formats.

Extras:
Billed as a Special Collector´s Edition, "Black Rain" does not contain a large number of supplements, but considering previous efforts on standard definition DVD have been devoid of any value-added content, the material ported over from the recent Special Collector´s Edition DVD are warmly welcomed. The Commentary by directory Ridley Scott is an informative and easy to listen to commentary track that delves into the making of the film. Ridley´s commentary is very scene specific and at times quite technical. I have always enjoyed a Ridley Scott commentary and this was the preferential supplement of the disc.

A documentary on the making of "Black Rain" is presented in four parts. This documentary was created for the DVD special edition of the film and surprisingly finds involvement from pretty much everybody involved in the making of the film. Directory Ridley Scott, Producers Stanley R. Jaffe and Sherry Lansing, Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia and Kate Capshaw are joined by numerous others. The first segment, Black Rain The Script, The Cast looks at the choices made in casting the actors for the film and why some of the decisions were not popular in the early going. It also looks at the script and how the film was intended to be much longer. The second part, Black Rain Making The Film: Part 1 and third part Black Rain Making the Film: Part 2 look at how the film was created – from the motorcycle sequences to American stand-ins for Japan. These two parts were the real meat and potatos of the documentary, but much of it felt repetitive after listening to the commentary track. The fourth and final part, Black Rain Post-Production looked at the editing process and the combining of elements to bring the film to the masses and how it was poorly received are the focuses of this final part. Combined, the four segments run for just over an hour and offer a nice look at the complete process of making "Black Rain." A Theatrical Trailer mastered in high definition completes the offerings.

Closing Thoughts:
Years ago, I rushed to see "Black Rain" in the theaters because I was a fan of "Alien" and "Blade Runner" and figured that anything having to do with Ridley Scott meant the film would automatically join those other films in importance. This was before "Thelma and Louise" and before I could understand the racial divide detailed by the film and the multi-layered plot dealing with the warring factions of the Japanese Yakuza. I was disappointed. However, ten years afterwards I rediscovered the film on LaserDisc and found an appreciation for it. Almost another decade has passed and the film has finally been given a "Special Edition" release and a debut on the high definition formats. The picture quality is astounding, while the soundtracks are average. The Blu-ray release and the HD-DVD release are identical. It really is a beautiful looking catalog title and nobody will be disappointed with how stunning the HD picture is. The supplements are good enough, though my recommendation is the focus on the commentary track. This has been one of the more overlooked Ridley Scott films and it is nice to see the film is finally starting to get some love.

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