Body Heat Blu-ray | Conclusion

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Body Heat

Conclusion
November 15, 2008

Body Heat: Introduction / The Movie • Body Heat: Screencaps
Body Heat: Features & Specifications • Body Heat: Conclusion

Body Heat
Features: Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby TrueHD soundtracks, along with French and German 1.0, and Spanish 2.0. Subtitles for all languages.
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Movie Release: August 28, 1981
This Release: October 7, 2008
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hr 53 mins
MSRP: $28.99
Current Price: Check Price / Purchase

Pros

Video quality is better than the SD DVD
Audio sounds pretty good and when listening with Dolby TrueHD, it sound damn good when particular effects of the movie happen such as explosions, glass breaking, and chime flicking
Menus are easily accessible and intuitive to navigate
For those who aren't familiar with Body Heat, it is a classic of a previous classical film genre, remade for the 80's with more sexual themes and explicit scenes

Cons / Disadvantages

None observed

Observations

First half of the film is "soft"

AUDIO
VIDEO
CONTENT
EXTRAS

RECOMMENDED

Audio

The audio on Body Heat isn't anything overly amazing and we shouldn't expect anything amazing due to the type of film this is. Voices still seem a little muffled at times, and fading in and out of voices which occur occasionally, requires the volume to be turned up more than usual to compensate for the lower volume areas. At least the volume of the music isn't extremely higher than the vocals, and I'm being a little picky, so don't be turned off by these comments. The audio is pretty damn good, considering the type of movie.

I can't emphasize how many times in modern films, we have soundtracks so unevenly mastered, you'd think a 2-year old did it while materializing in his diaper. So when listening to Body Heat, I'm rather impressed on how overall the actors' voices were on-par with music.

Now a word or two about the audio effects. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track at 640kbps sounds darn good, even when comparing it against the Dolby TrueHD track which has approximately twice the bandwidth. Once again, this is nothing extraordinary, and if we were listening to an action track with tons of effects, the Dolby TrueHD track would probably win. There are a few parts in Body Heat, where the Dolby TrueHD track is superior. Around the 15-minute mark, Ned Racine plays with the wind chimes, and then the "intruder" scene following soon after (you'll know what I mean when you hear it). In TrueHD, this sounds so crisp, my ears were quite delighted. About an hour into the movie, the first explosion, and then in the end with another explosion. The explosions are much more pronounced with the Dolby TrueHD track.

Video

Body Heat is a title which is going to turn Blu-ray owners off if it's one of their first HD titles to view in their homes. This is not to say Body Heat is inferior, but it's not a reference High-Def title, and since many who are getting into High-Def these days want to be Shocked & Awed, it is difficult to expect every single title to be spectacular.
As noted previously, there does seem to be a clean-up period, where Kasdan doesn't use as much afterglow on the characters and the scenes in general — however interesting enough, we get a pumpload of it in the last scene with Matty on the beach. Go figure. Maybe this is indicative of how the film was shot and what elements were created at particular times. Unfortunately, I don't know. However, I did notice about half way through the movie, the film clears up somewhat significantly.

Content

Body Heat was one of those movies which sparked the erotic film noir fascination, and lasted well into the 1990's. The term has changed somewhat since then, but Body Heat is a classic in the sense of what it spawned. Today, I still enjoy watching William Hurt and Kathleen Turner together. Kathleen was just a sexy little femme fatale back in the 80's and her performance in Body Heat was pretty good, considering her debut on the screen. Hurt and Turner had some chemistry, but not so much you didn't believe it.
Over the top? Well, this was the 80's, but more specifically, the beginning of the 80's which began to define what was to come later. Body Heat is still a movie which grabs my attention when I want something with a little more class than what can currently be found today.

The Extras

While I do not own the last edition released of Body Heat (although it was viewed as a rental), all the extras have been ported over from the Deluxe Edition SD DVD which was released in August 2006. While appreciating all the extras on this Blu-ray edition, there just isn't as much information about the film. This isn't to say the extras are not informative — they certainly are — but I wanted more. Regardless of my own wishes for additional material, the featurettes are enjoyable and if you want to know more about Body Heat, you'll be fairly satisfied.

Conclusion

Body Heat appears to be a pretty good upgrade from the SD DVD version but fence-sitting HD adopters may want to rent this title first before purchasing. If you're an HD movie enthusiast, you'll appreciate the presention without hesitation. Due to the the film's natural theme, the picture is a little soft and more noticeably in the first half of the movie. In any case, Body Heat is a solid Recommended. This isn't a title which will pop at you in HD, but considering the price and the reasonably better video with some darn good audio moments, it's worth adding to your Blu-ray and HD collection.