DVD Corner

Under The Skin Blu-ray Review

“Under the Skin” never fully delivers on the concept.

Based on Michael Faber’s book of the same name, “Under the Skin” follows a female woman (who is really an alien) that travels around Scotland in a van trying to seduce and kill men for reasons I will not reveal. While all of this going on, a mysterious and presumably alien male (also donning human form) motorcyclist seems to be following her every move.

It’s not hard to see why “Under the Skin” has received such divise reviews. For every viewer who finds ‘Skin’ to be an artsy masterpiece there’s another movie lover who will find it to be a pretentious film that tests one’s patience. As for myself, I fall somewhere in the middle.

While British writer/director Jonathan Glazer’s surreal vision offers up many breathtaking cinematic visuals, they are lost amdist a vague, rambling, minimalist screenplay. Instead of digging deeper into Scarlett Johansson’s character or the motorcylist, Glazer relies heavily upon repetitive wordless scenes of driving, man traps, and people on the streets. Suffice to say, there’s a lot less happening on screen than there should be. The film is at its best when exploring ideas about internal conflicts, humanity and the hunter becoming the hunted. Unfortunately, those ideas aren’t explored nearly enough.

While the material itself may be mixed, Scarlett Johansson is at the top of her game here. The fan favorite actress simply excels at playing an alien pretending to be a human. There’s a very eerie, inhuman, haunting quality to her performance from start to finish. I only wish she had more to work with.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 1.85:1 1080p. How does it look? Say what you will about the movie, but there’s no denying that the visuals are nothing short of striking. From the Scotland location shooting to the alien “traps,” “Under the Skin” looks perfect in hi-def.

Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? The eerie score tends to do the heavy lifting, but this track handles all of the sound elements well.

Extras include an Ultraviolet Digital HD copy, Lionsgate film trailers, and a whopping 10 featurettes titled “Camera,” “Casting,” “Editing,” “Locations,” “Music,” “Poster Design,” “Production Design,” “Script,” ‘Sound,” and “VFX.” These featurettes contains cast and crew interviews about each subject.

July 11, 2014 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Scarlett Johansson, Under The Skin Blu-ray Review