Why So Blu?

Film  

The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box aka Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box outside of the U.S. is the latest YA (young adult) literary property from British author G.P. Taylor to be adapted for the silver screen by movie studios. The film stars a plethora of familiar faces and a couple of newcomers. Anuerin Barnard, who I’ve never heard of, is Mariah Mundie who has to locate his kidnapped brother and use his wits about him. His parents have also vanished under mysterious circumstances, too. Enter the mysterious and whacky “Charity” play by Michael Sheen in a somewhat delirious role and fashion. He becomes Mundi’s mentor of sorts.

With Charity’s help Mariah can now go forth and try to rescue his young brother while also outwitting the evil Otto Luger (Sam Neill) who is the owner of the mysterious Prince Regent Hotel that Mariah is sent off to work in. Luger is interested in a mysterious artifact known as the Midas Box, which grants the beholder of the box the powers of turning any physical object into gold, and also heals and destroys at an instant. That’s a very a efficient box if I do say so myself.

Along the way Mariah will encounter evil goons, Luger trying to kill him, and a deliciously campy Lena Headey that will try to cut him down where he stands. The overall story of Curse of the Midas Box is a bit muddled, because it’s a novel and it doesn’t translate very into a just-over-90-minute film. It needs to breathe a little, which is why it could have been a tad longer – maybe an extra 10-20 minutes or so. What we do get is an okay ensemble piece with some very fun performances by the veterans involved.

The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box is a great looking picture in that it has a sort of “made-for-television” is leaps and bounds bigger than any network television film. It had a reported 25-million budget, so cheap, it is not. The production values are great and so is the talent involved. The main issue with the film is that it doesn’t really know what it’s trying to be at certain times. I’m not familiar with the books it’s based on but as of this writing there are three novels out there so far. Curse of the Midas Box is a steampunk-influenced film with dashes of adventure reminiscent of National Treasure and other films in that style. It’s rated PG but it does feature quite a few scenes of children in peril and people do die in bloodless ways. It does retain a mature edge even though we don’t see folks getting blasted away or blown to bits. It’s a very high adventure tale.

Considering the troubled history the film has had and now I really do doubt that we will see any more films based on Mundi’s adventures. What’s there left to do? Well, since I’ve never read the books I think it’s time I went off and got the next two novels in the series. The film could have been great but it’s JUST okay in the grand scheme of things. The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box gets a mild recommendation…a very mild one.

Video 

Encoding: AVC MPEG-4

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Clarity/Detail: The devil is in the details and The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box takes that motto to heart. Outside of the few “hazy” scenes due to obvious “artistic intent” the Blu-ray looks crystal clear.

Depth: The Adventurer looked pretty good on Blu-ray. The warm and low-lit scenes really gave it a very inviting look. There’s about as many outdoor scenes as there are indoor scenes and they all make me want to be there.

Black Levels: Black levels were always steady and free from pesky crush. Nighttime levels stood their ground against anomalies as well.

Color Reproduction: As previously mentioned, The Adventurer has a very warm palette and this also reflects in those scenes involving theatricality (the magic show) and those various upper society gatherings sprinkled about. Out on the streets it’s another matter as the colors shift into a muted and dark madness. The Blu-ray handles the shifts very well.

Flesh Tones: Flesh tones appeared nice and natural. Only when someone was sick or hurt did his or her complexion change, which is a good thing in terms of video reproduction.

Noise/Artifacts: I did not spot any instances of noise, dirt, or artifacts throughout the film. Banding was never a problem either.

Audio 

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

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Dynamics: The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box on Blu-ray is near-reference, in my opinion. No expense was spared in engineering such a force on the high definition format. It’s an equal parts action/drama/adventure and having such a great audio presentation only enhances the experience.

Low Frequency Extension: The bass on The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box will kick you in the face. It’s got a very aggressive based design. What can I say? I like big bass and I cannot lie!

Surround Sound Presentation: The surround channels also got a very intense work out as gunfire, explosions, scenes of peril, etc., were all enhanced greatly by the stellar sound design magicians.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue was crystal clear and I never noticed any instances of hiss, clipping, or echoing. The characters will speak and you will listen intently.

Extras 

There is only one special feature included on the Blu-ray and it’s a making-of featurette combining interviews from the cast/crew and of what went through the whole process of getting the film made. Everyone sounds like they had a good time making the film.

• The Making Of The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box (HD, 20:43)

Summary  

The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box is a light steampunk adventure that won’t turn the world upside down. I’d say it falls in-between one those Hallmark features that have nice budgets and whatnot but slightly more intense. The fact that the film went through a title change in the states might also deter those that are already familiar with the published material from even watching it. It’s a simple film with stellar ensemble cast and that’s worth it alone. The Blu-ray looks good and sounds even better before the lack of substantial special features drags it down. The Adventurer: Curse of the Midas Box is released February 11th on Blu-ray and DVD.