A LITTLE BACKGROUND:
This film is an adaptation of the Shakespeare play “Titus Andronicus.” Titus returns victorious from war, only to plant the seeds of future turmoil for himself and his family. Who says revenge is sweet?
WE CAME, WE SAW, WE SPENT $30:
Twilight Time has become a bit of a flashpoint for most Blu-Ray enthusiasts. People whine about the price point, but they realize that the native studios weren’t ever going to do much with the titles that they are forking over. It’s a different economy and different era. The blind buy is slowly dying for physical media, as kids are hopping on their iTunes and the digital platforms to download whatever they want. Unfortunately, this means the latest and greatest releases. Older titles get shuffled to the dirt, while we can only get re-releases of the overexposed genre bastions of the last few decades. As I try to catch my breath, you might ask what this means for “Titus”?
Well, Titus has arrived as part of the limited edition Blu-Ray line from Twilight Time. Those that know the film appreciate director Julie Taymor’s first theatrical effort and note her experimental filming style. Taymor has made the original story so interesting for those of us that don’t read Shakespeare for his pie baking scenes. It’s a classic tale of vengeance which helps to widen the appeal. That being said, it’s an aggressively visual movie. When I first heard it was coming to Blu-Ray, I expected to be dazzled by similar HD presentations as on the “Frida” and “The Tempest” Blu-Ray releases.
Much has been made of the A/V Quality presented on this disc. While Taymor does experiment with film stock, that can account for a small portion of the digital noise on the disc. However, I spent the last two days comparing this release to its DVD equivalent that I picked up circa 2001. At best, it resembles an upconverted SD transfer. It isn’t terrible, but I can understand why so many consumers are quick to jump to arms over the issue. Price points for older titles will always be a sore point for most enthusiasts and the slightest bumps they see are going to set them off. Couple that with the fact that reviews were limited to non-existent prior to disc release, it rubbed a ton of people the wrong way. At least, the DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track is superb.
The Blu-Ray comes with an isolated score track, documentary, featurettes, trailers and TV spots. It’s a pretty packed release from Twilight Time. I have to say that the Goldenthal isolated track won the day for me. If you can look past the issues with the transfer, you’re going to enjoy the disc. That being said, the continued push to have so many consumers fly blind into purchases for these titles needs to be addressed. Sure, no one is making these people buy the titles, but they need some assurance that they’re not going to get an under par product.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
TITUS can be purchased here: