TRUTH Blu-ray Review

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During the time leading up to the 2004 presidential election, the producer of 60 mins Mary Mapes is piecing together a story about President George Bush. The story is about controversial time when Bush was in the Texas Air National Guard and the timeline was reportedly suspect. She is given some personal memos supposedly written by high-ranking officers stating that Bush was AWOL and not where he said he was during Vietnam. Everything felt like it was coming together and then the story aired. The entire crew of CBS news, 60 mins, and Dan Rather felt like they had a tremendous win with the story until their entire world began to crumble underneath them.

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TRUTH is based on the book TRUTH: THE PRESS, THE PRESIDENT, AND THE PRIVILEGE OF POWER by Mary Mapes. It is James Vanderbilt’s directorial debut but he has writing credits on a number of blockbuster films including both of THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN films and WHITE HOUSE DOWN. This film is obviously very different from the action genre but there is still an underlying level of suspense from not really knowing what is going to happen next. When I say, “happen next” I mean in the film’s portrayal of the events and not the actual story that was broadcast on 60 Mins.

The entire cast does a phenomenal job delivering their emotions and making the viewer feel wrapped up in their situation. Robert Redford as Dan Rather does well of keeping a very cool head like the seasoned journalist would in this situation. He believes in his crew and their capabilities. He is not in the movie as much as you might think with him being second in the billing but when he is on screen, he is superb. Hands down the best actor in the film is Cate Blanchett as Mary Mapes. She is a brash woman who doesn’t blur any lines with what she wants. It is upsetting to see her career in the movie fall apart due to a few missteps and with Blanchett’s range of emotions, you feel bad for her.

Cast
Cate Blanchett as Mary Mapes
Robert Redford as Dan Rather
Topher Grace as Mike Smith
Dennis Quaid as Colonel Roger Charles
Elisabeth Moss as Lucy Scott
Bruce Greenwood as Andrew Heyward
David Lyons as Josh Howard
John Benjamin Hickey as Mark Wrolstad
Stacy Keach as Bill Burkett

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The video is a 1080p AVC transfer.

TRUTH has a very smooth transfer, which is typical for Sony. The skin tones are warm and natural, giving the picture a sort of inviting feel. That goes the same for the coloring. The reds and blue are bold but they’re never overly saturated. The black levels are deep and inky with no crushing that I could see. This also creates excellent contrasting with sharp details and distinguishable lines. Mark this as another win for Sony.

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The audio track is an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix.

As the case with most drama films, TRUTH doesn’t have much in the sound outside of front channels. To be fair, there are some ambient sounds when the scenes are in the office with the people busy in the background but it is a dialogue-centric film. I will say that during one of the CBS meetings, there is a thunderstorm in the background and when the thunderclaps, there is strong bass. It is a very good mix for the movie.

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Bonus Features:
-Audio Commentary: Writer/Director James Vanderbilt and Producers Brad Fischer & William Sherak: The commentary discuses how the movie was based on the book and how they worked with some of the key players in the real story.

-Deleted Scenes:
Heyward Introduces Rather Extended
He Wore That Uniform
Meeting Burkett
I Knew You Could Do This
Gotta Go Kiddo
Josh Offers to Resign

-The Reason for Being: Dan Rather, Mary Mapes, and the cast & crew discuss how important making the movie has been. It focuses on the real people more than the actors.

-The Team: A look at the cast and characters in the movie.

-Q&A with Cate Blanchett, Elisabeth Moss, and Director/Writer James Vanderbilt

-Theatrical Trailer

-Previews

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Disc Details
1 Blu-ray Disc
UltraViolet Digital Copy

Running Time
125 mins

Edition Ratings
Rated R

Region Coding
Region A

Video Resolution

1080p AVC MPEG-4
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1

Audio Mixes
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1

Subtitles
English
English SDH

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TRUTH is a very exciting movie until the story begins to fall apart. There is a point where it feels like this could have been a two-part movie. The audio is good but the video looks excellent. The bonus features are very good at giving the viewer further incite into the story so they are well worth checking out. Overall, this is a solid release and I would recommend picking this up or definitely renting it.

Order your copy of TRUTH on Blu-ray from Amazon

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About the author

MEDIA JOURNALIST | Michael is a fanatic about all both cinema old and new. He collects anything from 1:6 Scale, 1:12 Scale, and vinyl Collectibles plus Slipcovers and Steelbooks. He loves pop culture, writing, reviewing films & collectibles, and journalism. An avid Batman, The Joker and anything comics junkie, he will also chat it up about pretty much anything. Go ahead and ask...