This movie has grown on me over the years. My expectations were way to high the first time I saw it and it initially let me down; but I’ve leveled those expectations into and realized it is a very good disaster movie with great special effects. The story of the movie revolves around global warming and the effects it has on the planet. It has gotten so bad that it has caused extreme weather such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods throughout the entire planet. It is setting us back into another ice age. A scientist played by Dennis Quaid figures this out and tries to share his grim findings with the vice president but is ignored until it is to late. His son, played by Jake Gylennhal is trapped in New York when the massive storms start to hit. Dennis Quaid decides to journey to New York to save him.

The special effects in this movie are great. There are certain scenes that are reference disaster and destruction scenes that all other movies can use as a guide. When a half dozen tornadoes hit the Los Angeles area it tears the towns to shreds. The Hollywood sign flies away like it?s paper and the rest of the town is cut through like a hot knife slicing through butter. The same happens when the massive flooding engulfs New York. It is such a big movie with broad shots that truly show the damage that the Earth is receiving. If you?ve got a nice TV and Surround system then this is the kind of movie you?ll enjoy watching on it.

Video

The video codec used is MPEG-4 AVC with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and the picture on this disc is very good. There was either a very good master or they did a great job cleaning it up. Any scenes where special effects are used look extremely sharp and bright; they look extremely real and blend in well to the point where they could pass as real footage if it wasn?t major monuments that were being destroyed. The only thing that kept this thing from being perfect was a slight softness on certain scenes in offices where only people were in it. Not bad and not often by any means. The scene on the ship where the wolves were chasing them seemed to look even better on this disc then when I saw them in theatres or DVD. Overall I was I very impressed with the picture quality.

Audio

The audio used on this 50 GB disc is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English) track, and the audio was slightly better then the picture. There are certain movies where I think the base isn?t important but in this one is it. The audio gives the feeling of huge ominous events occurring and set to occur; it?s not overdone but used right. The audio levels are perfect and aren?t drowned out at all even with rain, hail and thunder sounds constantly happening. The random weather noises were heard throughout all the front and rear speakers and did a very good job giving you the feel that the specific weather was occurring right outside your house. This is the kind of disc that can be used to show of your sound system.

Special Features

A bit of a disappointment in the special features department for those of you that are interested. They used most of their time and energy concentrating on the video and audio which is the most important thing to me but they could have put a little more extras on here. There are two commentaries on here that were a little dry and uninteresting. Both of the commentaries only included directors, producers and others who were involved with the technical aspects of the film. There were about 15 minutes of deleted scenes that weren?t bad – a couple of which could have stayed if the film wasn?t already over 2 hours. No making of features made there way over on this disc which is surprising since there were so many special effects shots they could have discussed. The most potentially interesting feature is a global warming trivia game that spans the course of the entire film. You play it and answer questions as the movie plays and you can turn the game on and off if you want. There is also an option to use a search function on any topic from the actors name, character?s name or topic from the movie, and by clicking on that topic it will take you directly to the scene that showcases it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I?d say Fox is really starting to show their support for the Blu-ray format. The picture and sound are excellent on this disc, and while the special features aren?t great, there are some included which is a change from many of the earlier fox releases. You wont be disappointed by this disc and is definitely worth a purchase.