From Russia With Love Blu-ray Review

From Russia With Love

Blu-ray Review
MGM Home Entertainment
Released: October 21, 2008

From Russia With Love was one of the six films MGM Home Entertainment put out prior to the release of Quantum of Solace on Blu-ray, and it is damn impressive!

Sean Connery plays James Bond in From Russia With Love, a film which carried out the notion that Connery was virtually made for this role.  The whole way in which the plot plays out with the Soviet agent played by Daniela Bianchi and others will have you on the edge of your seat.  From Russia With Love packs plenty of thrills and will have you smiling from ear to ear as you check out this classic all over again.

The video quality for From Russia With Love on Blu-ray is impressive as it has been presented in 1.66:1 aspect ratio encoded in AVC.  The transfer is virtually flawless as the black levels are extremely deep and strong, while the colors and contrast are also spot-on.  There is a great level of detail here and the flesh-tones are also very natural.  Some of the scenes which are wider shots are a bit unclear and not as of high-quality.  Overall though it looks great on Blu-ray.

The audio is presented in a DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless Audio mix and for the most part resides on the front channels.  Some of the sound effects clearly needed to be re-done here for the rear channels and such.  The dialogue and musical score both come across extremely clear though.  Don’t get me wrong, it sounds great, I just wanted more out of it.

From Russia With Love got a nice set of extras which kick off with a audio commentary from Director Terence Young and many of those on the cast and crew.

The next extra is a very cool black-and-white interview done with Ian Fleming on CBS.  There is a lot of cool stuff here to check out.

There area also a few other Ian Fleming pieces here, such as his audio interview with Raymond Chandler for BBC, as well as another talking about his time in the British Navy.

A feature known as 007 Mission Control is a cool one as it gives you access to scenes in new ways, allowing you to check out different scenes from the film.

A history of the film is presented in Inside From Russia With Love, which runs for nearly 25-minutes and talks a great deal with the cast and crew.

Other cool additions are the biography of producer Harry Saltzman, 3 trailers, TV broadcasts, radio promos, and an image gallery.

Also included is e-movie cash to go and see Quantum of Solace to get a free ticket up to $10.50.

From Russia With Love is a no-brainer for those who do not own this film on DVD or Blu-ray already.  The new audio and video transfers look and sound great on high-def, and the disc is stacked with extras.  A great buy for Bond fans.

Film: 9.0 Just a tremendous Bond film from start to finish, creative and thrilling.

Video: 8.9 The video transfer is really well-done as the film has never looked better.

Audio: 8.5 The audio is a bit too front-heavy, but very clear.

Extras: 9.5 Tons and tons of stuff here!

Final Score: 9.0

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