Dual (Blu-ray Review)
In DUAL, upon receiving a terminal diagnosis, Sarah (Karen Gillan) opts for a cloning procedure to ease her loss on her friends and family. When she makes a sudden and miraculous recovery, her attempts to have her clone decommissioned fail and lead to a court-mandated duel to the death. Now she has one year to train her body and mind for the fight of her life. DUAL is now available on Blu-ray!
Film 
In what looks to be the near future the populace has the option of having a clone made of themselves should they have a terminal disease. The clone will be replicated to their exact likeness and it will spend time with the terminally ill patient until they have absorbed their traits and nuances.
Sarah (Karen Gillan) is diagnosed with a terminal disease and has a clone made of her. When she miraculously recovers, she petitions to have her clone destroyed, but the court of law denied the request and instead orders a duel to take place one year from the day. A duel to the death in front of an audience between the original and the clone. Whoever wins gets to live out the rest of their lives as “Sarah.” Karen Gillan shines in the “dual” role, as does Aaron Paul as her weapons trainer. The training scene is my favorite scene of the film and it transported me back to my childhood on the playground – sound effects and all. “Pew-pew, boom, boom!”
I did not know what to think about Dual going in but I enjoyed the final result tremendously. I was not at all familiar with writer-director Riley Stearns’s films (The Art of Self-Defense), but I did enjoy his take on cloning and the ethics of it going into the future. The duels are literally set up like Surviving the Game or even the recently released The Hunt. Choose your weapons and let ’em rip.
* I have to go watch The Art of Self-Defense now!
Video
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Clarity/Detail: Dual looks clear and detailed throughout. This is par for the course when it comes to an RLJE Blu-ray release. Their Blu-rays tend to always look (and sound) awesome. Dual is no exception.
Depth: The exteriors have that cold overcast vibe since I’m sure it was quite cool when filming took place. The interiors looked boring and flat on purpose. Make no mistake, the world in Dual is not be shiny and happy. It’s very sterile and this transfer highlights those things.
Black Levels: Black levels are normal. I did not notice any scenes filled with crush.
Color Reproduction: The color palette looks fine. It is a bit on the neutral side, with exception to Gillan’s red hair, but the overall colorful flair is scaled way back.
Flesh Tones: Flesh tones look natural enough in the Tampere, Finland air. Outside of Gillan looking sickly, as she battles her illness, no one looks horrid or pasty.
Noise/Artifacts: Clean.
Audio
Audio Format(s): English DTS HD-MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Dynamics: Dual has a lossless 5.1 soundtrack that shines on this Blu-ray. It’s not a traditional action or science fiction film. It only has a few instances of action beats and the Blu-ray audio specs handle it with ease.
Low Frequency Extension: The LFE subwoofer channel handles the scenes involving action with ease and gives those scenes some added kick. There are a couple of scenes involving music that the LFE also kicks up a notch.
Surround Sound Presentation: The rear channels get some nice ambience sounds in there, with it amping up during the duels.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dual is dialogue driven film for the most part and the vocals come through nice and clear. I never had issues with what folks were saying.
Extras
Dual on Blu-ray comes equipped with a short making-of featurette that highlights the really cool filming locations in Finland. The audio commentary by writer-director Riley Stearns is informative and not boring. Aspiring filmmakers take note — this is how you do a commentary track.
- The Making of Dual
- Director Audio Commentary
Summary
Dual is a science fiction film, there’s no doubt about that, so I appreciated what was done with the material. It has a great cast and does ask more questions than it answers, with exception to that fantastic final shot, which I will not spoil. The Blu-ray looks and sounds terrific. The making of featurette is short and sweet and the audio commentary is entertaining and informative. Oh yeah, this Blu-ray is getting recommended!
Dual is now available on Blu-ray!
ORDER NOW!
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Gerard Iribe
Gerard Iribe is a writer/reviewer for Why So Blu?. He has also reviewed for other sites like DVD Talk, Project-Blu, and CHUD, but Why So Blu? is where the heart is. You can follow his incoherency on Twitter: @giribe
