• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
• Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), French & Russian Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
• Subtitles Color: White
• Region: ABC (Region-Free)
• Rating: PG
• Runtime: 106 Mins.
• Discs: 2 (1 x Blu-ray + 1 x Digital Copy)
• Digital Copies: iTunes/Windows Media
• Studio: Touchstone Home Entertainment
• Blu-ray Release Date: December 11, 2012
• List Price: $26.50

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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

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The Film

[Rating:3/5]

Warren Beatty’s 1990 adaptation of the comic strip gumshoe Dick Tracy was one slick, big budget action, crime/comedy that was perfectly positioned to follow on in the footsteps of the previous year’s comic book blockbuster Batman from Tim Burton. With its beautifully filmed by veteran Beatty collaborator Vittorio Storaro (The Last Tango in Paris, Reds), lavish sets from Richard Sylbert (Chinatown; Rosemary’s Baby), and villains in heavy makeup to portray the campy style of the funny pages, the film obviously owes a great debt to Burton’s Batman in its tone. It even shares Danny Elfman to create the score alongside a selection of show tunes by Stephen Sondheim breathily crooned by Madonna as Breathless Mahoney. A cast full of A-list performers including Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Dustin Hoffman and Mandy Patinkin should have been enough to make this the defining comic hero film of the era, but the surface production values and all-star cast weren’t enough to overcome the wanting screenplay.

The story finds the bright-yellow trench coat wearing Tracy battling ruthless gangster Big Boy Caprice (Al Pacino channeling an over-the-top version of Michael Corleone) after Caprice has started a gangland war against Lips Manlis (Paul Sorvino) and claims possessions of all his territory and holdings, including sexy nightclub chanteuse Breathless Mahoney (Madonna). While Big Boy tries to unify the city’s crime bosses under his control, Tracy battles the crime lords and also faces a challenge to his scruples from the relentlessly ‘persuasive’ Breathless’ sexual advances. This doesn’t sit well with his longtime girlfriend Tess Trueheart (Glenne Headly) and also endangers the young street urchin “Kid” (Charlie Korsmo) they’ve both been caring for.

The film’s story is so disappointingly lackluster in its ability to drum up any ability to care for the individual characters or keep us clued into the various subplots, that its easy to lose site of what it taking place, why something is going on, and how we’re even supposed to feel about it. Protagonist Dick Tracy, through no fault of Beatty’s portrayal, comes across as just like the two-dimensional drawing from the comic strip – there’s not much behind him, and whether his is in the film or not, it wouldn’t make much of a difference. This unfortunately overshadows the fantastic and dazzling production.

Video Quality

[Rating:3.5/5]

Dick Tracy was shot with Eastman 400T 5295 35mm film and generally has the look of this film particular film stock given its 22-year age, but this transfer is far from perfect. In fact, it’s a bit underwhelming. I see some gradation issues in darker scenes, higher instances of noise in black areas, and definitely lots of softness. The bright primary color palette seems to have held up quite well and overall there isn’t much source damage to worry about.

Audio Quality

[Rating:4/5]

The soundtrack is offered in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit). By today’s standards for a film like this, it isn’t exactly reference, but for a film from 1990, Dick Tracy‘s mix is an enjoyable, utilizing the surround channels from time to time to pan the screech or a car tire or rattle of a tommy gun through the room. Lows are pretty good, though nothing too earth shaking, while highs are just a little tweaked.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:0/5]

We get a barebones release with nothing but iTunes and Windows Media digital copy on a separate disc.

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:3.5/5]

Despite its stupendous cast, gorgeous cinematography, and fantastic set design, Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy fails to arouse any true sense of action or keep us fixated with what should have or could have been a triumphant big screen hero. If ever there were a character needing a new big screen attempt in more capable hands, it is Dick Tracy. Christopher Nolan, are you there?

Additional Screen Captures

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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]

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