Travis (Adrien Brody) is a non-violent pacifist who has just found a special someone that shares his ideals, but first he must make the money to meet her in India. Travis responds to an ad he sees on a newspaper about an experiment that will pay him enough money to make his trip. At the facility he meets Barris (Forest Whitaker), another man looking to make a decent “buck”. When Travis arrives at the facility where the experiment is about to take place, he is split with a group of men who have been given the role of prisoners. While his acquaintance Barry is assigned the guard duties. Once given their primary rules, the guards begin to undertake on a new personality with the power that was given to them. Their true colors come out and some resort to the unspeakable to make the “prisoners” learn to follow the rules, but aren’t we all a step above the monkeys in the evolution chart?

The Experiment is a fairly simplistic film with a simple plot and a predictable ending that is seen coming a mile away. However, the main leading actors, Forest and Brody, are excellent and make the film somewhat watchable. The film examines the way people respond under two different scenarios in jail. On one hand you have those who are in charge of putting order and on the other you have those who will have to go behind bars. Now, the film brings in several different characters and individuals that bring a different dynamic to the mix. The guards are comprised by those that seemed to be more on the edge and whose lives are in one way, shape, or form scarred. While the prisoners are more level headed and whose personal troubles are far less likely to affect their mentality.

Throughout the film we observe how each passing day both sides begin to lose grip on reality and begin to completely change. Ironically the “we are above monkeys in the evolution chart” is tossed in the mix and every passing minute it just became clear that the statement was the message that the film was trying to prove wrong. We clearly see what power brings to a being with deep personal problems, but at some point I can’t help but to notice how disingenuous the film truly is. Brody and Whitaker embody the two opposite sides that the film emphasizes on. Whitaker is excellent as he embodies his character and does a job. Again, the film is very simple and most will immediately see how things are going to evolve. Other than the few gruesome images in the first few minutes, everything else just sort of falls where you expect it to fall.

The Experiment arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG4-AVC encode framed at 2.40:1. The colors inside the prison block are dull, but the color palette is vibrant and vivid during outside shots with the green in the grass standing above every other color on the screen. Black levels look great throughout most of the film, but there is some blocking detected. The image is very clean and no grain is detected unless you look very close to the screen. Detailing is excellent especially close up shots reveal the intricate skin textures. Skin tones look natural and lifelike. The Experiment is another film that Sony has delivered with excellent quality.

The Experiment arrives to Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless track. If the video was great, the audio is even better. The track is very active and engrossing that it made the movie somewhat enjoyable. The dialogue is clean, clear and crisp at all times and well prioritized. The surrounds are incredibly active at all times with some serious ambiance and atmospheric effects whether is echoes, doors, buttons being pressed, etc. all without a problem. The bass is strong and adds that higher bit of realism to every scene. For this low profile movie, the track is of very high quality typical of Sony.

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The Experiment showed great promise with the lineup of actors especially the two leads, but as the movie went on it quickly became predictable. Forest Whitaker was excellent throughout, but that wasn’t enough to make the movie more entertaining. By the end of the film I can’t blame you if you are frustrated with the way the film turned out. The Blu-ray offers a great video transfer and an even better audio transfer. It is a little disappointing to say that this title has no supplements at all and everything that is included in this package is a set of trailers. The Experiment was very predictable so for that I would only recommend a rental.