Blades of Glory

Blu-ray Review

Paramount

Release: June 3, 2008

Will Ferrell has certainly had some creative roles in terms of comedies, but Blades of Glory may take the crown. Blades of Glory revolves around the sport of professional figure skating, with the film featuring all of the music, spandex costumes, and more. Paramount has now released it on the Blu-ray format.

Blades of Glory was a true sleeper hit in 2007, grossing over $100 million and giving moviegoers a great many laughs.

Ferrell stars in the film as world-class figure skating champion and adult film star Chazz Michael Michaels. He has some trouble on the ice, which results in the stripping of the gold medals from both Michaels and Jimmy MacElroy, played by Jon Hedr.

The two are banned from competing in the men’s singles competition, but the two manage to find a loop-hole, and are allowed to compete as the first all-male pairs team

The film may sound completely out there, and it is. Blades of Glory is a lot more than just a dumb comedy though, as the characters, story, and jokes are all mixed nicely to really put out an entertaining film. Ferrell has done it again, and has proven that even figure skating can make for a great comedy.

The Blu-ray release of Blades of Glory is presented in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode, and looks just as it did on HD-DVD.

The film has a great transfer as it looks crisp and clean, without any blemishes anywhere to be found. The black levels are spot on, and the level of detail in all of the scenes is really well-done.

The picture quality is hampered a bit by the fact that some scenes could have been more colorful. All in all though a solid Blu-ray transfer.

The audio quality is tremendous here as it is presented in an uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround track. This is a huge step up from any home release for Blades of Glory to date.

The entire atmosphere immerses you in everything going on. There is strong ambience in the scenes which allow for the surround channels to take over. The music soundtrack is also presented nicely.

Bass picks up when needed, and dialogue is balanced yet prominent.

The Blu-ray release of Blades of Glory has some nice extras. The first is a set of featurettes which focus on the making of the film. These cover everything from how the production was made, the costume design, and much more.

Some of the more interesting featurettes include a sit-down chat with the skating legend Scott Hamilton, as well as a feature on Arnett & Poehler.

Also included in the extras is a photo gallery, as well as four deleted scenes which come in at around 10 minutes in total. They are as funny as anything in the film.

The outtakes are also around 10-minutes and are shot, but also very funny.

A music video and MTV promo spots are added in to round out the extras.

Overall Paramount has done a great job with Blades of Glory on Blu-ray. The film is extremely funny and entertaining, and the video/audio transfer to Blu-ray is top-notch. The extras only add to the package further, making Blades of Glory a great buy on Blu-ray.

Film: 8.7 –

Will Ferrell does it again, this time on the ice while figure-skating. Extremely funny and entertaining.

Video: 9.0 –

A fantastic Blu-ray transfer, colors could have been a bit brighter.

Audio: 9.0

The uncompressed 5.1 PCM track is stellar, great ambience and use of bass.

Special Features: 8.5

Paramount is off to a great start with Blu-ray releases, tons of extras here all from the HD DVD release. Nothing exclusive to Blu-ray though.

Final Score: 8.7