- Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
- Video Codec: AVC MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Surround, French Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
- Region: A (Region-Locked))
- Rating: PG-13
- Run Time: 120 Mins
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: MGM
- Blu-ray Release Date: November 1, 2011
- List Price: $19.99
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BestBuy.com:
Purchase Quigley Down Under on Blu-ray at CD Universe
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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
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)
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The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
There’s nothing new or groundbreaking in Quigley Down Under. It doesn’t deconstruct the genre like the classic Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, rather Quigley simply displaces the western to Western Australia and its wide open outback, but all the familiar elements remain. There are the “black hats” and the “white hats,” the shootouts on horseback, and the native “enemies,” in this case the aborigines.
In Quigley Down Under, Tom Selleck plays Matthew Quigley, a Montana sharpshooter who answers a help wanted ad in a newspaper to go work for a wealthy rancher in Freemantle, on Australia’s western coast, to shoot dingo. When he arrives, however, he finds there is more to the story. The rancher, Elliot Marsten (Alan Rickman) actually wants Quigley to shoot down aborigines that stray onto his vast wealth of land. Taking offense to the offer, Quigley ends up in a tussle with Marsten and is badly beaten by Marsten’s minions and dumped in the outback alongside a crazy American woman named Cora (Lara San Giacomo) who insists on calling him Roy. Together the two must survive the rugged outback, escape from Marsten’s men who are out to kill him, and help save the aborigines that Marstens is intent on killing.
The film is filled with beautiful cinematography of the wide open Australian outback, the fun and adventure of the old time westerns, and the swelling, romantic score to go along with it. The problem with Quigley is t feels too much like a paint-by-numbers western, and Selleck lacks the rugged believability of a true western hero, coming across more like a comic hero than a cowboy.
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The overall image in this AVC/MPEG-4 1080p encodement is acceptable, but hardly breathtaking. For the most part the source looks clean, though there are some visible specks of of dirt and dust that pop up from time to time. Foreground detail is good, but things soften in the background, and overall the image leans towards a soft look and medium graininess. Flesh tones can look a bit reddish as well. There are also a few places where the image becomes very rough, but these are spots where there were obvious effects dupes used.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
A simple DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack is offered up here. It has a good stereo spread with natural sounding highs that really reproduce the sweeping musical score well. Dialogue is clean and intelligible while dynamic range is rather wide.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
There’s nothing very special offered here. The single featurette included, “The Rebirth of the Western” is a brief, archival, promotional piece. Everything else is promotional as well, including two TV spots and the theatrical trailer.
- “The Rebirth of the Western” Documentary (1.33:1; 480i/60; 00:07:14)
- TV Spots:
- Set Your Sights
- Bucket
- Theatrical Trailer (2.35:1; 1080p/24)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
Despite its flaws, Quigley Down Under is an enjoyable if not original stopover in the western genre. Selleck does his best in the lead, but is ultimately a letdown in the role of the “white hat” hero, but Alan Rickman is an excellent foe.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product]B005HT3ZZQ[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Quigley Down Under on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
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