- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Video Codec:
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles: N/A
- Classification: 15
- Region: B (Region-Locked)
- Discs: 1
- Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: March 14, 2011
- RRP: £19.99
[amazon-product align=”right” region=”uk” tracking_id=”bluraydefinit-21″]B004AFK7UO[/amazon-product]
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Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Comic writer and illustrator Kaare Andrews (The Incredible Hulk; Ultimate X-Men; The Amazing Spider-Man) steps in to the world of feature films with this supernatural horror thriller, Altitude. Andrews doesn’t stray too far from his base, sticking to a special effects-driven spectacle light on plot and heavy on action that slips into the realm of an episode of The Twilight Zone gone bad.
The film stars a cast of impossibly good looking young up and coming stars like 90210‘s Jessica Lowndes, and Julianna Guill, Degrassi: The Next Generation’s Landon Labroin, The O.C.‘s Ryan Donowho, and As the World Turns‘ Jake Weary and doesn’t take long to go from the ridiculous to the sublimely ridiculously.
A group of five friends decide to head for a Coldplay concert and make it a weekend getaway, flying up to the show instead of driving, with their friend Sara (Lowndes), a rookie pilot, flying their rental plane. When they hit a storm cloud, things turn ugly. Sara isn’t yet instrument rated, she needs to maintain site with the ground at all times to keep the plane in the sky. But it turns out, that’s not the worst of their problems. They soon realise they may be caught in the worst nightmare of their lives – in a malfunctioning plane with a mysterious creature possibly out to kill them. Can they survive? Will they turn on themselves? Or are they just hallucinating from a lack of oxygen?
Altitude is supposed to be a claustrophobic character driven supernatural thriller, but after about forty-minutes, it gets tiring, and, without giving anything away, the plot twist that ends the film makes what is a mediocre film just plain ridiculous.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Altitude is a gritty looking film with lots of grain, but that is not a bad thing. It actually looks great in the context of this film. The grain structure is fine and remains the same throughout, never tipping into the area of video noise. Detail and flesh tones are strong, black levels are deep and inky and colors look bright in the early scenes.
Audio Quality
[Rating:5/5]
Altitude‘s lossless 5.1 mix is dynamic and ambient. It surrounds you in a 360° soundfield full of atmospheric sound effects like thunder and other, spookier sounds. Dialogue is clean and kept above the barrage of sound effects while low frequencies are nicely extended and robust.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
There aren’t a hefty amount of extras offered up on this release, but the HD video supplements are all rather interesting to see. The audio commentary is a bit obligatory, but it at least fills out the disc nicely.
The supplements provided with this release are:
- Audio commentary with director Kaare Andrews
- Altitude: Behind the Scenes (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
- Green Storm (1080i) – A look at the green screen visual effects editing for Altitude
- Original Concepts Gallery
- Trailer
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3/5]
It looks great, it sounds great, and it has great looking actors in it, but unless you’re really desperate for something to watch, I have to say skip this one.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product align=”right” region=”uk” tracking_id=”bluraydefinit-21″]B004AFK7UO[/amazon-product]
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.co.uk
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
