City of Lies (2021)
Blu-ray Review: The Basics
SCREENSHOTS FROM THE TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp2AMScT2zM
DISCLAIMER
City of Lies (2021) Blu-ray was sent to us by Lionsgate Films. The opinions in this review are my own.
City of Lies Blu-ray
Lionsgate Films | 2021 | 112 Mins | Rated R | Jun 08, 2021
Video
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles
English SDH, Spanish
Discs
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UPC 031398327646
Story: The Basics
Russell Poole and Jack Jackson investigate the murders of rappers Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.
Director: Brad Furman
Writers: Randall Sullivan, Christian Contreras
Stars: Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker, Toby Huss
City of Lies (2021) Official Trailer
Video: The Basics
City of Lies certainly has an interesting stylization going on, I'm not personally a fan of its look. However, let's take a look.
One thing that's obvious is that blacks aren't really black, they've been toned with a Blue hue. I really dislike this over-stylized approach, and I think that Blu-ray (as a standard) sufferers in the process. I think that this look could have been pulled off with HDR and 10bit color, but not in SDR like this.
Overall detail is a little soft with some minor ringing around objects. This is okay, but I found one moment that had some heavy ringing that didn't look good.
The colors are quite washed out in an attempt for us to believe the city and the timeline. Again, I think it's been overdone and overcooked.
There's artifacts in the film grain and in the backgrounds of many shots. I'm not particularly impressed with the transfer. The bit-rate needed to be much higher to resolve this issue. I don't think there's a point in holding back the bit-rate on Physical Media, and I will be contacting Lionsgate about this. I want to see maximum bit-rates used on Blu-ray and 4K because it makes a huge difference in my enjoyment of movies.
Overall, a good movie, and I recommend watching it, but I wanted a better quality transfer on Blu-ray.
VIDEO SCORE: 3.5 OUT OF 5
THE BASICS: NOT SO GOOD / WANTED MORE
Audio: The Basics
City of Lies audio is strong, huge bass, and nice use of surround sound. Let's dig in.
Dialogue is mixed on the low side, I dislike this, it needed to be higher. The rest of the audio has been mixed higher than the dialogue. The dialogue needs about 1 to 1.5 db to balance the books here.
The bass on this movie is ultra heavy. Gunshots are tremendously impactful and will test your subwoofer. Luckily I have 2 subs, so at this point, I'm testing the foundations of my house, LOL. The bass is right on the money, a pinch overcooked if anything. However, if you want bass, here it is.
The use of surround sound is noticeable and done well IMO. Music and atmospherics are used to great extent in the surround channels. It's only 5.1 DTS-MA but has been mixed very nicely. Very good.
Overall, I think that this is an excellent-sounding movie, apart from the mixing levels on the dialogue, it's really nice. I highly recommend this movie for audio, very good.
AUDIO SCORE: 4.5 OUT OF 5
THE BASICS: ULTRA HEAVY BASS / NICE SURROUND USE
HOW I REVIEW THE BASICS
REVIEW SCORES
2 - POOR
3 - AVERAGE
4 - GOOD
5 - EXCELLENT
5 - REFERENCE
EQUIPMENT I USE TO REVIEW
- POWER CONDITIONER - FURMAN ELITE-15 PF I
- DENON - X6500H (DOLBY ATMOS, DTSX, AND AURO 3D)
- ELAC - UNI-FI FLOORSTANDERS UF51
- ELAC - UNI-FI BOOKSHELF UB51 (INCLUDING DOLBY ATMOS)
- ELAC - UNI-FI CENTER SPEAKER UC51
- ELAC - TWO SUB3030 SUBWOOFERS
- PANASONIC - UB9000 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY PLAYER
- LG - C9 77 INCH - (ISF CALIBRATED - DOLBY VISION)
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