Movie Impressions: Slumdog Millionaire
I finally got around to watching Slumdog Millionaire last night, and the short summary is, it's very good!
The storyline was pretty much what I expected, which is good considering I had pretty high expectations after all the hype this film got. There were no huge surprises, but it was very well told, and was interesting. The cast, mostly young kids with little to no English, did a really good job as well, making you forget this was just actors in a movie, and immersing you in the story.
However, the presentation simply blew me away! The visuals were simply stunning (apparently shot on prototype compact digital HD cameras), the editing of the storyline excellent, but the real stand-out for me was the amazing sound and music. This would have to be one of the best films I've ever heard, with a simply fantastic use of the entire sound stage, both front and surround. Busy scenes didn't just have sound portraying what was shown at the front, but included a hive of activity all around. This is what a surround track should be like! Fantastic!
The music complemented the story and scenery very well, and was also a fantastic full 5.1 sound mix. Both the sound & music were also very dynamic in range - quiet dialog was crisp and clear (the only problem being the occasional strong accent muddying english dialog), and when loud sound kicked in it was extremely powerful.
If you have an appreciation of sound & music, I highly recommend catching Slumdog Millionaire on a decent home theatre. While watching it on a normal TV would give you a good movie, the audio is an exhilirating experience. We watched it off Bluray, with high def audio, and it made my home theatre shine.
Slumdog Millionaire won a slew of Oscars, and while I hadn't seen many of the other contenders it was up against, I believe it rightly deserved a lot of them. I can certainly see why it was nominated for cinematography, editing, sound & music, and won most of them.
The storyline was pretty much what I expected, which is good considering I had pretty high expectations after all the hype this film got. There were no huge surprises, but it was very well told, and was interesting. The cast, mostly young kids with little to no English, did a really good job as well, making you forget this was just actors in a movie, and immersing you in the story.
However, the presentation simply blew me away! The visuals were simply stunning (apparently shot on prototype compact digital HD cameras), the editing of the storyline excellent, but the real stand-out for me was the amazing sound and music. This would have to be one of the best films I've ever heard, with a simply fantastic use of the entire sound stage, both front and surround. Busy scenes didn't just have sound portraying what was shown at the front, but included a hive of activity all around. This is what a surround track should be like! Fantastic!
The music complemented the story and scenery very well, and was also a fantastic full 5.1 sound mix. Both the sound & music were also very dynamic in range - quiet dialog was crisp and clear (the only problem being the occasional strong accent muddying english dialog), and when loud sound kicked in it was extremely powerful.
If you have an appreciation of sound & music, I highly recommend catching Slumdog Millionaire on a decent home theatre. While watching it on a normal TV would give you a good movie, the audio is an exhilirating experience. We watched it off Bluray, with high def audio, and it made my home theatre shine.
Slumdog Millionaire won a slew of Oscars, and while I hadn't seen many of the other contenders it was up against, I believe it rightly deserved a lot of them. I can certainly see why it was nominated for cinematography, editing, sound & music, and won most of them.