Why So Blu?

The Two Faces Of January (Blu-ray Review)

Screenwriter Hossein Amini makes a stylish directing debut with this sleek thriller set in Greece and Istanbul, 1962. Intrigue begins at the Parthenon when wealthy American tourists Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) and his young wife Collete (Kirsten Dunst) meet American expat Rydal (Oscar Isaac), a scammer working as a tour guide. Instead of becoming his latest marks, the two befriend him, but a murder at the couple’s hotel puts all three on the run together and creates a precarious bond between them as the trio’s allegiance is put to the test.

Film 

1962. A glamorous American couple, the charismatic Chester MacFarland and his alluring younger wife Colette, arrive in Athens by boat via the Corinthian Canal. While sightseeing at the Acropolis they encounter Rydal, a young, Greek-speaking American who is working as a tour guide, scamming tourists on the side. Drawn to Colette’s beauty and impressed by Chester’s wealth and sophistication, Rydal gladly accepts their invitation to dinner. However, all is not as it seems with the MacFarlands and Chester’s affable exterior hides darker secrets. When Rydal visits the couple at their exclusive hotel, Chester presses him to help move the body of a seemingly unconscious man who he claims attacked him.

This little thriller sets itself as a little throwback to an era long ago in Hollywood.  More of the 1940s-50s ilk than anything else.  The way the film is presented, paced and shot all romance itself in a different time.  The creators and performers of this film have set out to do this and I think succeeded quite well in this facet.  It truly feels of another time and like you’re watching a movie of old.

What sets out to be an interesting turning of the tables type mystery winds up going a bit too long or at least feeling like its too long.  Its not set at an outrageous runtime (97 minutes) and rather an ideal one, but there aren’t enough twists, turns or suspenseful sequences to keep Two Faces Of January engaging and thrilling.  Everything in the movie is pretty much the face value of what you’re given or what you’re predicting in your mind things to be.  I will give the film that it does pick things back up in the climactic moments, with a rather suspenseful sequence that should make fans of Hitchcock sequences amused.

The Two Faces Of January sports a really good cast that should be enough to elevate this, but once again, the material is just too long and monotonous at times.  Oscar Isaac, someone who will be a household name this time next year, is once again terrific, getting a nice little arc and range of emotions with his character.  Viggo Mortensen just doesn’t seem like he’s in enough movies, as he’s always pretty outstanding, and he once again is really good here.  He gets to do some fun work being drunk, too.  Kirsten Dunst is someone I’ve never really been a fan of (not a hater though either, just indifferent), but she’s good enough here to work.

Overall, I think some are going to really enjoy this movie more than I may have.  I found that after the appeal of being an old school thriller was set it, the film was merely average.  There are some strong takeaways and the film has a good cast, but overall I found myself feeling like I was watching a 2+ hour movie and not a quick 97 minute one.  If you’re on the fence, I say give it a go, but know its one that you’ll need to be patient about.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Clarity/Detail: This is a solid modern image quality.  Its not of the outstanding variety, but far above average and very impressive.  The detail of hotels and landmarks visited in the transfer are well represented and detailed.  The image is also crisp and sharp.

Black Levels:  Blacks are rich and inky.  No real crushing or severe hiding of detail to report.

Color Reproduction: Colors are bold and natural.  A nice rich flavor without being distracting or too vivid.

Flesh Tones:  Flesh tones appear real and true to their respective actors.  Stubble, wrinkles, cuts, bruises and blemishes all shine through with crafty detail.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean

Audio 

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

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Dynamics:  This is just a real solid track.  Like the video, its nothing outstanding, but really this track isn’t demanded to do much more than craft natural sounding effects from regular actions and keep the dialogue nice loud and defined.  With those in mind, this track does quite flourish.  It does do some nice work with interior and exterior environments as well.

Low Frequency Extension: Struggles, crashes and engine hums get a nice boost.  Most of the film doesn’t deal with physical action, so there’s not much of a requirement of the sub to be extremely active.

Surround Sound Presentation: Some good ambiance from the rear speakers.  The front speakers feature a good depiction of sound to screen and movement works quite well from left to right and vice versa.

Dialogue Reproduction:  Dialogue is clean and audible.  Very accurate portrayal to whatever setting a scene may be in.

Extras 

Deleted Scenes (HD, 6:03)

Bloopers (HD, 3:48)

Traveling In Style (HD, 2:33) – A quick look at the fashion of the era in the film with interviews from the director, costume designer and cast.

Shooting The Odyssey (HD, 3:09) – Focuses on the location shooting of the film.

A Twist On The Classic Thriller (HD 3:09) – Director and cast discuss shooting an old school thriller in the vein of Hitchock and the like.

AXS TV: A Look At The Two Faces Of January (HD, 2:32) – A brief mash up of the trailer and interviews already seen in the previous bonus features.

Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2:16)

Summary 

I really dug the throwback thriller aspect and what The Two Faces Of January was going for.  It just struggles to maintain interest and begins to drag into the second act.  For the most part the film is just really average.  The film has some casting chops for this, and Oscar Isaac continues to turn in terrific work, but the film just seems to go on too long.  This Blu-ray features a good presentation and a rather light and disappointing bit of extras (Too much EPK fluff).  This film would make for a solid rental.

Brandon Peters

Brandon is the host, producer, writer and editor of The Brandon Peters Show (thebrandonpetersshow.com). He is also the Moderator/MC of the Live Podcast Stage and on the Podcast Awards Committee for PopCon (popcon.us). In the past 10 years at Why So Blu, Brandon has amassed over 1,500 reviews of 4K, Blu-ray and DVD titles.