...this is the best looking and sounding version of the film available on any home video format.
The special effects and battles scenes look superb. The digital navy is most impressive and I absolutely loved the flyover sequences of the Naval aircraft approaching Iwo Jima. Sequences of the mighty battleships laying waste to Mount Suribachi were also visually stimulating and when the bellows of fire rolled from their magnificent guns, it provided the warmest colors of the film. Eastwood relied heavily on digital effects for these sequences of the massive might of the United States military and when utilizing the desaturated hues of "Flags of Our Fathers," the CGI looks all the more realistic. One wonders how long it will be until Hollywood produces a big budget black and white film. I´d love it, but maybe this is just my dream and my hope. Back to "Flags of Our Fathers," the combat sequences are perhaps a notch below what was seen on "Saving Private Ryan," but the film is still one of the better looking war movies that you will ever pay witness to.
The 2.35:1 VC-1 transfer brings the 2.35:1 image to life in an impressive manner. The level of detail of this HD-DVD release is astounding and while I was impressed with the standard definition release, I am simply floored by the high definition variants. The Blu-ray release features an AVC MPEG-4 codec mastered transfer. Comparing the two, I consider this HD-DVD transfer to having a slightly more natural look to the film than the Blu-ray transfer. The difference isn´t great, but it is noticeable. Though the film is nowhere near as colorful as most modern films, its dated and period look is well done and nicely rendered by the digital transfer. With a length of over two hours, "Flags of Our Fathers" does not share any disc space with supplemental materials and the film benefited in having all of that space to wholly dedicate to the visual presentation of the film. What colors were left to thrive by the filmmakers are clear and clean with solid contrast. In a few moments when yellows and reds appear, it is easy to see that "Flags of Our Fathers" is a top-notch digital transfer. With an appearance that falls between modern coloring and old black and white, "Flags of Our Fathers" requires strong shadow detail. The disc has that in spades. Black levels are equally strong and considering the dark appearance of much of the sequences in this film, "Flags of Our Fathers" never falters. The source materials are pristine and this is definitely a great looking picture.
Sound:
With "Letters from Iwo Jima" getting most of the love from the Academy, "Flags of Our Fathers" is not forgotten. It was nominated for an Oscar in both "Best Achievement in Sound Editing and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing. "Letters from Iwo Jima" share an Oscar nod for the Sound Editing category, but the Oscar was won by "Letters from Iwo Jima." There is a reason that "Flags of Our Fathers" earned a nomination for both sound categories. It is impressive sounding and very aggressive. As I said earlier, war is hell and the soundtrack does every little thing it can to help root you in the center of combat during the scenes that take place on Iwo Jima. It also does the best job it can in having you stand along side Gagnon, Bradley and Hayes as they find themselves surrounded by massive crowds and hungry press and photographers. This soundtrack rivals nearly every film released and perhaps only the technically impressive beach landing at Normandy from "Saving Private Ryan" surpasses the sounds of war that are provided in "Flags of Our Fathers."
"Flags of Our Fathers" is empowered with a clean and powerful Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Surround mix. French and Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mixes are also included. The Blu-ray release of "Flags of our Fathers" is an update over the already stunning DVD release. Compared to the Blu-ray release´s Dolby Digital 5.1 transfer and lower bandwidth, the HD-DVD ever so slightly flatter than the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack found on this version. This is simply an awe inspiring sounding film and the more bit rate allotted to the sound, the better it sounds. As was the case with the standard definition release, the rear surrounds are in constant use during "Flags of Our Fathers" and though they are more so used during the combat sequences, there are times during the War Bond drive when sounds such as Camera shutters are easily heard in one or two of the surround speakers and the moments in Yankee Stadium and Chicago´s Soldier Field, the crowd noise can be deafening in a full 360 degree sound space. Dialogue is fully intelligible, even during the most hectic and hellacious battle sequences. Stereo imaging is perfect. There is a reason that this film and its bookend companion were nominated for Academy Awards in the sound fields and the HD-DVD release drives those reasons home with the best sound of all available formats.
Extras:
The 2-disc release of "Flags of our Fathers" contains a decent set of featurettes detailing the making of the film and the true heroes behind the historic flag raising. While not attached to the beginning of the film, An Introduction by Clint Eastwood (5:06) finds the iconic director discussing his involvement as the director and what he went through to bring the story to the big screen. Only five minutes in length, Eastwood manages to deliver an impressive amount of detail to his picture. The second feature, Words on the Page (17:02) featured the author of the novel in which the film is based upon and son of "Doc" Bradley, James Bradley. Bradley talks in great lengths about his father and the research in telling his father´s story. During his father´s life, James Bradley was never able to get any detail on Iwo Jima from his father, but Bradley found some cardboard boxes and put together a captivating story. The third supplement, Six Brave Men (19:51) finds Clint Eastwood and others discussing the real heroes detailed in the film and thoughts from the actors on the real men they portrayed. This was a very nice supplement that added even more information about the real men.
The Making of an Epic (30:12) is your typical making-of feature, but watching Clint Eastwood work and hearing about the director from his longtime crewmembers is worth a half an hour of time. Filmed for high definition, this is also one of the better looking making-of documentaries you´ll see. The featurette, Raising the Flag (3:25) is short, but looks at the efforts made to make the flag raising as authentic as possible to the actual historic event. The Visual Effects (14:54) takes a look at the visual effects used to bring the film´s breathtaking battle effects to life. Some of the comparisons between the original plates and the digitally enhanced final plates were very nice to see. Special Effects have come a long way, and "Flags of our Fathers" uses them to nice effect. The final short feature on disc is titled Looking into the Past (9:26). This was the closest to the History Channel feature I had mentioned hoping for in my initial review and with a running length of less than ten minutes, I´ll be waiting for the eventual three disc release for a meaty historical documentary on the stories told in "Flags of our Fathers." This was nice and it contained materials from the War Bonds drive, but I still think there are better materials out there to pay honor to these men. A Theatrical Trailer completes the supplements.
Closing Thoughts:
War is hell. War has an effect on the men that serve in it and the heroes that take part in any conflict. Doc Bradley was a hero. He did some amazing feats as a field medic. Ira Hayes did the duties befitting a Marine and served the military honorably. He was as much a hero as most men that take part in actual combat. Rene Gagnon was a messenger. He was there and witnessed the hell, but did not do anything that is typically considered "heroic." "Flags of Our Fathers" takes a look at the effects that war has on a man and dances around the question of what defines a soldier to be a hero. It also takes a look at the armed conflict that occurred on the beaches of Iwo Jima and especially on Mount Suribachi. Clint Eastwood is still going strong at seventy five years old and after this film and its companion piece, I hope he has some good years left in him for a few more amazing pictures. As far as Hollywood should be concerned, Eastwood is a hero. The man deserves all the praise he can get and even though this film is only nominated in the sound categories, "Letters from Iwo Jima" will hopefully earn him some more little gold statues.
This high definition releases features an improvement over the already superb visuals and amazing and aggressive sound from the DVD releases and raises the bar one notch higher. The Blu-ray and HD-DVD releases also contain all of the supplements found on the second disc of the 2-disc DVD set, which features about an hour and a half of bonus materials that detail the making of the film and the historic events surrounding the true stories of Bradley, Gangnon and Ira Hayes. These are nice supplements, but still feel a bit rushed and not as deep as one has come to expect from multi-disc sets. The moments with Clint Eastwood and his cast and crew are nicely done, but this HD-DVD set doesn´t dig too deep into historical materials based upon the actual events. I know I´m being picky, but when a second offering of a film is released and it is billed as being special, I like it to be special. I fully expect this film to be revisited a couple of years from now with a superior special edition presentation. When compared to the DVD standard definition release and the similar, but slightly inferior Blu-ray transfer, this is the best looking and sounding version of the film available on any home video format.
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[release]20742[/release]