War, Inc. Blu-ray Review

War Inc comes to Blu-ray presented with a 1080p High Definition video rendition in the movie's original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 widescreen. Detail is generally very good, but grain is prevalent throughout - for the most part coming across as intentional (understandable for the war-torn scenery shots) although a few of the interior shots don't look great for it. Softness is kept to a minimum, with no noticeable digital damage, and clarity remains strong throughout. The colour scheme is quite diverse, with all of the myriad tones on the broad palette being represented well and certainly making the most of the potentially bleak locations. Some of the sunset shots looks superb, and allow for lovely light-play in the gloaming. Blacks are solid for the most part, although again they were the most susceptible to the aforementioned grain, but overall it is a decent enough rendition of this fairly quiet little satire.

On the aural front we get a technically superior Dolby TrueHD track that pushes all the right buttons. With dialogue presented clearly at the forefront, you never have to reach for the volume button, everything from Kingsley's drawl to Cusack's mumbling narration and Duff's thick accent coming across coherently. Effects are fairly commonplace, although the track relies more on creating a suitably wartorn atmosphere for the onscreen antics, rather than focussing on the nuances during the quieter moments. As such, the gunfights, explosions and bigger moments certainly get the centre-stage and are the main source of any bass on offer. The score has plenty of good song tracks picked for it (perhaps not as good as those for Grosse Point Blank) as well as a perfectly adequate theme running throughout the rest of the movie. Overall it is a pretty damn good effort for a 10 million dollar movie.

All we get is the Theatrical Trailer, along with a few previews, including one for the lacklustre straight-to-Blu-ray John Cusack/Morgan Freeman thriller The Contract, making this extremely disappointing on the Extras front.
Perhaps it is not to everybody's tastes, perhaps the approach is too heavy-handed, but War Inc. will work for some, whether as a quirky romantic comedy trussed up within the disguise of a political satire, or as an unofficial sequel to Grosse Point Blank. With good performances all round, the film - whilst far from perfect, is also far from a disappointment, and gives us hope that John Cusack can still work his magic and that Hilary Duff might actually be able to act. Technically, the video is above average, the audio is good, but the extras are non-existent, leaving you with a package that will really only entice those who have already formed positive opinions of the movie. Still, it's worth an open-minded rental if you like the sound of it.