Road House Blu-ray Review
Distributor : MGM (US)
Back in 1989 Patrick Swayze was almost at the height of his career and had starred in quite a number of movies, some of which will undoubtedly end up being reviewed here, sooner or later.
So, the first Obscura review for one of his films, just happens to be Road House which comes to Blu-ray through MGM Video in a 2 disc Blu-ray / DVD set, however, unfortunately this Blu-ray disc is locked to region A so people that are still encumbered by that pesky region coding, will need to steer clear of this release.
An action classic of the late 80's, the film is presented in a 1080p 2.35:1 transfer which looks pretty good for an older title. There is no noticeable print damage and considering that the DVD transfers were a lot less than fantastic to begin with, the Blu-ray is certainly an improvement on these previous releases and does look quite sharp throughout the film.
Audio is clear throughout, presented in DTS HD which again presents a huge improvement over the DVD releases although again, there is not a great deal for the rear speakers to do here.
As far as extras go, this is where it gets a little frustrating, on the Blu-ray disc there are none, not unless you count smart menu technology as an extra and the reason for this is probably because all of the extras are present on the DVD disc. This, depending on your point of view, can be a real nuisance as you obviously need to swap discs once you have seen the film if you then feel like watching any of the extra features.
The extras on the DVD disc comprise of a directors commentary, a fan commentary, a “What would Dalton Do?” documentary and a featurette. Considering how many deleted scenes from this movie have popped up on the internet in some form or another, it would have been nice to include some here, but unfortunately that opportunity has been wasted. The DVD disc is in fact, just a copy of the previous Deluxe edition release, so for people who have already purchased that edition, there really is nothing new to see here as far as extras are concerned.
So ultimately, if you already have the deluxe edition DVD the only thing that you are buying this Blu-ray for, would be the improved picture and audio. Although it has to be said that both of these things are greatly improved on the Blu-ray disc, they are in no way spectacular compared to some of the modern releases, so whether the upgrade is worth while or not is dependant on how much you like the film or need to have it on Blu-ray. If of course you don't already have the deluxe DVD then this release is definitely the best package of the film, however personally I would rather MGM have dropped the second DVD disc and put the extras instead onto the Blu-ray disc which then at least would mean you don't have to swap the disc over to reach them.
Anyway, as far as this Blu-ray package goes, it's not bad overall, and I was quite impressed with the improved transfer and audio. That being said I just can't help feeling like everyone else did in the movie...
I thought it would have been...bigger.
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