Drumline Blu-ray

Drumline

A squad of players, some 300 strong and armed with musical instruments, takes over the field, commanding attention with their stirring, spectacular display of choreography and musicianship. The football contest's controlled mayhem makes way for the blaring sound of trumpets and the heart-thumping rhythm of drums. Into this rigorous, ritualistic world comes a kid from a different culture. Devon Miles, a young, gifted hip-hop drummer from Harlem, wins a full music scholarship to Atlanta A&T University with the hopes of gaining a spot as a drummer on the school's renowned marching band's drumline. Devon, sporting a talent that is both raw and undisciplined, has one problem: He marches to the beat of his own drum. Surmounting overwhelming odds, he snares a spot as a starter, much to the disdain of a resentful senior class band member, Sean Taylor, who dismisses the freshman's skills as bogus. When Taylor discovers something amiss about Devon's abilities, he alerts Dr. Lee, the school's demanding, dedicated band director, who suspects that the upstart talent may have duped the school into awarding him his scholarship. That situation threatens not only Devonâ¿¿s future at the school but, more immediately, his spot on the band's drumline just before the heralded Big Southern Classic, one of the region's most popular musical competition, spotlighting some of the area's best college bands and the winner-take-all jackpot of $100,000 for the school. Now, with so much money, and possibly his own job, at stake, can Dr. Lee afford to pass up such a prize by keeping his star drummer on the sidelines?


For more about Drumline and the Drumline Blu-ray release, see Drumline Blu-ray Review published by Martin Liebman on January 26, 2009 where this Blu-ray release scored 4.0 out of 5.

Director: Charles Stone III
Writers: Tina Gordon Chism, Shawn Schepps
Starring: Nick Cannon, Zoe Saldana, Orlando Jones, Leonard Roberts, GQ, Jason Weaver
Producers: Timothy M. Bourne, Wendy Fihnerman, Jody Gerson

Drumline Blu-ray, Video Quality

   

Drumline marches onto Blu-ray with a vibrant 1080p presentation framed inside its original 2.35:1 window. As usual, Fox has brought another film to Blu-ray with a quality picture that immediately screams "cinema" in its quality. It's another transfer that recreates the look of film at home, and while not perfect, it certainly does represent a high quality image. Grain is intact, but not noticed in abundance. Colors are bright and numerous, adding plenty of pop to the image. Detail is generally high, and extraordinary here and there; take a look in chapter 12, in the tunnel before the band's first halftime performance. The detail on the uniforms, and the headpieces in particular, is particularly stunning, as the textures of the clothing, the fine details of the hats, and the bright colors of the uniforms make for scrumptious eye candy, these visuals only eclipsed by the awesome sound that soon follows. A few select shots look a bit rough, and go a little soft, but it seems more a result of the film itself and not any transfer issues. Black levels are rock solid throughout and flesh tones never waver. All in all, Drumline represents another quality presentation from Fox.

Drumline Blu-ray, Audio Quality

   

Drumline throws out the beats on Blu-ray with an impressive DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. A fine sound presentation is obviously crucial to a film about marching bands, and Drumline doesn't disappoint. The film opens with a nice sense of being in a graduation ceremony, reproducing both the echoing voices that travel through the soundstage and the beats of the instruments that come through loud, clear, and thoroughly enjoyably. The rattling of a subway car off in the distance and the voices of the intercom in an underground subway station as Devon visits his father once again make for a pleasing, realistic atmosphere. The track seems to sometimes lack in volume at reference levels, particularly during the more mundane segments. Nevertheless, it positively shines where needed, during the marching band segments. There is nothing artificial or less-than wholly satisfying here, the experience is that of being at a live performance. The crowd noise is drowned out a bit in favor of the music, but it sounds absolutely fabulous. The highs, midrange, and lows all come together for some of the finest sound presentations yet on Blu-ray, particularly those that are completely musically oriented. Drumline goes to show Blu-ray audio is not all about explosions and gunfire; it sparkles here, perhaps even more so than most of the action extravaganzas. There is an uncanny sense of feeling like part of the band, or at least standing in the midst of it. Each instrument is heard cleanly and precisely, and the attuned ear will likely be able to differentiate each one. This soundtrack represents one of the finer listens available on the format.

Video
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles

English, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Thai

Discs
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD-50)