Why So Blu?

2067 (Blu-ray Review)

By the year 2067, Earth has been ravaged by climate change and humanity is forced to live on artificial oxygen. A mysterious illness is slowly killing the worlds’ population and the only hope for a cure comes in the form of a message from the future: Send Ethan Whyte. Suddenly Ethan, an underground tunnel worker, is sent to the future where he must face imminent and unknown dangers as well as the possibility of never returning home. 2067 is now available on Blu-ray & DVD! 

Film

In the near future, humanity is on the brink of extinction, a mysterious message is sent through via top secret means with the simple phrase of: Send Ethan Whyte. As cryptic as that may be, those in charge have no choice but to oblige. Ethan Whyte (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is on the front line as a utility worker for the, at this point, what would be the “government.” The world around him is ravaged by severe lung disease since the deforestation of the world has depleted Earth’s oxygen levels. Once the cryptic message is received, Ethan is plucked from obscurity and is sent on the voyage of a lifetime in order to find a cure for those back home.

On the surface, 2067 has a lot going for it. Production design and visual effects are first rate, and the film moves at a nice pace. It only gets bogged down a bit during the middle portion of the film when it tries to explain the meat and potatoes of its plans. It can meander there for a bit. It’s only when we get to the final act that the 2067 that goes into overdrive.

2067 was never on my radar until I received the Blu-ray for review and I’m glad I did. I’m always down for some science fiction stories filled with optimism, especially in these troubled times of ours. In watching some of the featurettes and seeing the crowdfunding list of credits at the end, I can see that 2067 was a ground roots effort by writer-director Seth Larney. Listening to the audio commentary and watching his interviews, this had been a labor of love for at least ten years before actually getting made.

Having a background in visual effects, director Larney went for the fold on his very ambitious science fiction film that thematically borrows from other bigger budget productions from the past like Blade Runner, 2001, and most recently, even The Prospect. I don’t think 2067 reinvents the wheel but has enough of an entertainment factor that folks could give it a view and not be a bit worse for wear.

 

Video

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 (incorrectly stated as 1.85:1 on the back of the box)

Clarity/Detail: 2067 does not look to have been messed with in post. What you see is what you get in terms of visual aesthetics. Contrast and sharpness are excellent, and any softness in the picture is on purpose.

Depth: Watching some of 2067, there are many scenes that look quite amazing on this Blu-ray. Budget considerations aside, it’s an expansive film.

Black Levels: Black levels are nice and balanced and crush-free.

Color Reproduction: The color palette is one of 2067’s strongest suits in terms of Blu-ray presentation. It’s free of banding and other anomalies that could hinder the color spectrum of its presentation.

Flesh Tones: Flesh tones look nice and healthy. During scenes featuring some of the mining personnel and characters on the future planet, the grime on their features set in.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean.

Audio

Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Dynamics: 2067 on Blu-ray sounds fantastic. It’s primarily a dialogue driven film but there are several scenes featuring some really nice sound design that the lossless DTS track handles with ease.

Low Frequency Extension: The LFE-subwoofer channel is deep and bumps without a hint of rattle or distortion.

Surround Sound Presentation: During some of the scenes of heavier action and the portal jump, you can really get a feel for how three-dimensional the sound stage is.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue levels were nice and balanced.

 

 

Extras

The extras on this Blu-ray add up to just under an hour but what separates these from most is that they are actually helpful in seeing how 2067 came to fruition. The director’s commentary is informative without being dull or self-serving. The individual featurettes are also helpful in seeing what a grand undertaking the film would become. My favorite of the featurettes is the one featuring the music and composer of the film. Funny enough, that one is the longest at just under 15-muntes.

• Director Commentary
• The Story (HD; 03:39)
• The Cast (HD; 00:07:37)
• The Director (HD; 00:06:17)
• The Look (HD; 00:06:31)
• The Costumes & Make-Up (HD; 00:03:30)
• The Time Machine (HD; 00:04:09)
• The Editing & VFX (HD; 00:04:24)
• The Music (HD; 00:14:11)

 

Summary 

2067 was an interesting and ambitious little science fiction film. It was very good in parts but loses some of its way in the middle. The Blu-ray look and sounds great. What was even more of a shocker was that the special features were in-depth as can be, along with the director’s commentary. By all means, give it a go if you must. It’s definitely worth a watch.

 

The images used above within the review are not actual Blu-ray screenshots. They are for illustrative purposes only.

 

2067 is available on Blu-ray & DVD!

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