The Film
Gattaca is set in the not so distant future where babies are genetically engineered to minimize flaws. Those "naturally born" offspring whose parents leave genetics to chance are shunned by society as inferior and not worthy of professional consideration. Into this world are born Vincent (Ethan Hawke), one of "God's babies" (naturally conceived and born), and his genetically tailored brother Anton (Loren Dean).
When it becomes clear to Vincent that he is not the favored son, he leaves home to strike out on his own. And strike out he does with his professional opportunities severely limited by his biological "impairments." But all this changes when Ethan finds a fine specimen of humanity (Jude Law) whose genetic identity he borrows in order to make his way in the world and (hopefully) one day to another world courtesy of employment at Gattaca Aerospace.
Gattaca is a "message" film teaching us that any form of discrimination is bad, and that actual human potential is more than just the sum of one's genetic parts. Although its vision of the future is, at times, fairly bleak, it is on the whole an optimistic film, celebrating the possibilities of life beyond expected limitations.
The Picture
One of the best things about Blu-ray Disc is being able to re-discover films you haven't watched in a while and notice details you may have missed on standard DVD or even in theaters. Gattaca on Blu-ray Disc is a good example of this. A little over ten years after its theatrical release, the film still holds up well, perhaps mostly due to its focus on strong story-telling as opposed to the latest hard science fiction gimmickry.
The film's clean - almost sterile - depiction of the future was made for high definition and the 1080p video transfer, presented letterboxed in the original 2.4:1 cinematic aspect ratio, leaves little to the imagination. The Blu-ray Disc isn't as detailed as some more recently shot films, but both its bright daytime shots and its dark interior scenes are represented well with few artifacts. Expressive details in the eyes and faces of its main characters come across well, even on a large screen.
The Sound
Gattaca on Blu-ray Disc sports no less than three high quality lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1-channel tracks (one each in English, French and Portuguese). It is a dialog-rich film, and most of the film's audio emanates from the center channel speaker, and it does so clearly and articulately. The sweeping score by Michael Nyman is effective at reinforcing the moods of the film from despair to hope, tense anticipation to cold calculation. And this score sounds wonderfully rich in Dolby TrueHD. The surround channels are not generally full of whiz-bang sound effects but are used subtly to reinforce the feeling of a real three-dimensional soundstage on which this story plays itself out.
The Extras
The extras, while nothing exceptional, are certainly enjoyable and educational. Extras include a few deleted scenes, a funny out-take, trailers for other films now on Blu-ray Disc or coming soon and three featurettes "Making of Gattaca," "Do Not Alter" and "Welcome to Gattaca" the latter two of which are new to this Blu-ray Disc with new interviews and updated content. The featurettes help to give some insight into the film-making process and the science behind genetic engineering, all of which enhances one's enjoyment of the film.
Final Thoughts
As a film, Gattaca has held up well to the test of time and is, if anything, more a propos and timely today than it was ten years ago when it was first released. It's a conscientious morality tale which will challenge your views of discrimination and of our own role in influencing the evolution of the human race.
As a Blu-ray Disc, the audio and video are captured and presented here well enough, and certainly better than anything previously available. The supplemental materials are fairly minimal, but to me the more important part is the quality of the film itself and the transfer and in these areas, Gattaca on Blu-ray doesn't disappoint.
Where to Buy:
Product Details:
- Actors: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Gore Vidal, Xander Berkeley, Jayne Brook, Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine
- Writer/Director: Andrew Niccol
- Languages: Dolby TrueHD 5.1: English, French, Portuguese, Dolby Digital 5.1: Spanish
- Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
- Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only)
- Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 (letterboxed 16:9)
- Number of discs: 1
- MPAA Rating: PG-13
- Studio: Sony Pictures
- Blu-ray Disc Release Date: March 11, 2008
- Run Time: 106 minutes
- List Price: $28.95
- Extras:
- Deleted scenes
- Out-take
- Previews/trailers
- Featurette: "Making of Gattaca"
- Documentary: "Do Not Alter"
- Featurette: "Welcome to Gattaca"
