Blu-ray Review Comedy

'Downsizing' 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review: The Incredible Shrinking Mr. Ripley

March 25, 2018Ben MK



FEATURE: 
When Norwegian scientists discover the potential solution to Earth's overpopulation crisis, it seems like problems such as climate change and food shortages might soon be a thing of the past. But as director Alexander Payne's latest shows, it’ll take more than a scientific revolution to get humanity to change its ways.

In Downsizing, Matt Damon plays Paul Safranek, a man whose life hasn't exactly gone as planned. Sure, Paul has a decent job as an occupational therapist at Omaha Steaks, and he's married to a great woman named Audrey (Kristen Wiig). But he still lives in his childhood home, and frankly, money is tight. Luckily, there's the procedure known as downsizing, which was conceived as a solution to humanity's overpopulation problem, but which also comes with the added bonus of allowing the middle-class to live like multi-millionaires. After all, money buys a lot more when you're only 5 inches tall.

To read The Reel Roundup's review of the film, click here.

AUDIO & VISUALS: 
Despite its premise, Downsizing is more comedy/drama than CGI-fest. Nonetheless, this 2160p image certainly makes it easy to pick out the tiniest detail, whether it's everyday objects or a miniature person in the same frame as a regular-sized individual, and HDR brings a more lifelike realism to the film's color palette, from suburban Omaha to the wilds of Norway. And although there's no Dolby Atmos track this time around, the disc's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 sound mix is plenty capable of handling the movie's largely dialogue-driven sound design, which is at its most full-bodied with the pulsating musical rhythms of an apartment party.

EXTRAS: 
Paramount's two-disc Ultra HD Blu-ray release includes an iTunes/Ultraviolet digital copy and a Blu-ray copy of the film. There are no special features on the 4K disc, but the following extras can be found on the Blu-ray disc:

  • Working with Alexander (12:22) - The cast and crew talk about working with director Alexander Payne, and vice-versa.
  • The Cast (11:30) - A look at the casting of Matt Damon, Hong Chau, Kristen Wiig, Christoph Waltz, Jason Sudeikis, Neil Patrick Harris, Laura Dern, Margo Martindale, Rolf LassgÃ¥rd and more.
  • A Visual Journey (14:02) - Production Designer Stefania Cella, Property Master David Gulick, Director of Photography Phedon Papamichael, Set Designer Liane Prevost, Costume Designer Wendy Chuck, Makeup Department Head Julie Hewett and Art Director Kim Zaharko discuss their work on the film.
  • A Matter of Perspective (9:06) - Visual Effects Supervisor James E. Price talks about the CG and visual effects used to bring the downsized environments of Downsizing to life, and the various challenges along the way.
  • That Smile (6:27) - The cast and crew talk about working with Matt Damon, who also talks about his work with the charitable foundation water.org.
  • A Global Concern (6:39) - The cast and crew talk about the little things they do to help the environment.

Downsizing is available from Paramount Home Entertainment as of March 20th, 2018. The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray features English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, French, Spanish and Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, and English Dolby Digital 5.1 Descriptive Audio tracks. The film is presented with English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The total runtime is 2 hrs. 15 min.






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