|
John Adams did many things but he didn’t suffer fools
lightly. After watching the epic HBO mini-series on Blu-ray
I’ve decided he also wouldn’t suffer the director’s choices
for what should have been a straight forward examination
of our 2nd President and the many contributions, fights
(a lot of them with Thomas Jefferson)and ideas that he brought
with him that allowed America to thrive over 200 years ago.
Adams could also be quite insufferable and wasn’t always
very easy to like two personality traits that both endeared
him to many and alienated him from those often in power.
***
Emmy winner Paul Giamatti brings Adams to life in a
way that no history book could—he’s a vital, living breathing
walking contradiction at times. Laura Linney as Abigail
is every bit his equal and partner in life bringing her
own ideas and thoughts to the table. Any marriage is a collaboration
of sorts with often one partner dominating another at any
given time (or sometimes ALL the time) and the marriage
of Abigal and John Adams as portrayed here was a marriage
of equals in intellectual might but also complimentary in
terms of personality. ***
The series focuses on the pivotal years of Adams life
from the Declaration of Independence being penned to Adams
in his role as Vice-President and President of the United
States. What makes “John Adams” so fascinating is that it
delves into who he and Abigail were NOT what they brought
to the table when it comes to helping forge our nation.
“John Adams” succeeds in spite of its often impatient “modern”
style of direction (with rapid pans and cutting which isn’t
suited to this type of character study at all and actually
becomes intrusive on occasion). Sure, director shows he
can be as flash as the next guy but a sharp director knows
when to show restraint in relation to the content and mood
of the material he’s directing. “John Adams” is still terrific
due to the writing and performances and, yes, sometimes
due to the direction and should be seen by those that consider
history a dull, dusty book in a corner vs. being created
by living, vital human beings as flawed as the rest of us
but great despite their flaws. ---
Image & Sound:
“John Adams” looks terrific in its Blu-ray debut. It
looked terrific on DVD as well with the rich colors and
production design of the show vividly popping off the screen.
The Blu-ray gives the images better depth and only adds
to the crisp, clear detail evident even during the scenes
set at night (which were a bit more problematic on DVD but
still looked quite good). The anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer
positively leaps off the screen at times. ***
The 5.1 TrueHD soundtrack likewise is every bit as vivid
and alive as Giamatti as Adams. We get quite a bit of ambient
and textural sounds adding to the reality of the presentation.
This presentation benefits from a much richer low end which
was more problematic with the DVD presentation and that’s
due to the Blu-ray format and uncompressed audio. ---
|
