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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Catching Milat (Blu-ray) (2015)

Catching Milat (Blu-ray) (2015)

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Released 25-May-2015

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Drama None
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2015
Running Time 168:50 (Case: 163)
RSDL / Flipper No/No
Dual Disc Set
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Peter Andrikidis
Studio
Distributor

Beyond Home Entertainment
Starring Richard Cawthorne
Geoff Morrell
Malcolm Kennard
David Field
Luke Ford
Alex Williams
Case Standard Blu-ray
RPI $26.95 Music Michael Yezerski


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Unknown English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0
English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080i
Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

   A two-part miniseries produced for Network Seven, 2015's Catching Milat shines a light on the prolonged police investigation which led to the arrest and incarceration of notorious serial killer Ivan Milat (Malcolm Kennard), who murdered seven backpackers in the early 1990s. Catching Milat is not a docudrama which concentrates solely on Milat - in fact, there are no on-screen killings - but rather a dramatisation, primarily splitting its focus between Milat's day-to-day life and the drawn-out investigation. Milat caught the attention of police early into the game, as his family harbours a fascination with firearms and his demeanour is generally unpleasant and unnerving.

    Catching Milat is a full meal, with its combined runtime of three hours dedicated to covering as much material as possible from the 2007 novel Sins of the Brother by investigative journalists Mark Whittaker and the late Les Kennedy. Penned by Justin Monjo, the teleplay is thoroughly bathed in stereotypical Aussie vernacular, with the Milat family in particular speaking like uneducated bogans. The show completely encapsulates our home-grown culture, which may turn off potential international viewers, but is overall fairly true to life.

    Despite being a ratings smash, Catching Milat was slammed quite openly in the press by Clive Small, who served as superintendent on the case. Small took issue with the show's depiction of Detective Paul Gordon (Richard Cawthorne), who is shown working on the case for two years here and being instrumental in Milat's capture, when in reality he played a much smaller role in the investigation. However, beefing up Gordon's role makes sense from a dramatic standpoint. After all, this is a dramatisation rather than a documentary; it needed a protagonist to guide us through the story, making all the major discoveries and remaining a constant from start to finish. Running through the lengthy roster of policemen involved in the case would simply be tedious. What matters is that the script's broad narrative strokes are accurate, particularly in relation to the various suspects and discoveries, not to mention the inclusion of English backpacker Paul Onions (Alex Williams), who escaped Milat's clutches and whose testimony was vital in court.

    It's undeniable that television has reached its zenith in terms of production value, with shows like Game of Thrones, Daredevil and Sherlock looking utterly cinematic. Luckily, Catching Milat is immensely competent from a technical perspective, maintaining a fluid pace across its two ninety-minute episodes. With the story occurring in the early '90s, the miniseries employs oodles of period detail to recreate the era, from the technology to the fashion to general household decor. It's all achieved convincingly, and it's topped off with stylish cinematography courtesy of Australian TV luminary Joseph Pickering (Underbelly) which belies the modest budget. Luckily, too, the acting is uniformly strong right down the line. Leading the pack is Kennard, who's thoroughly convincing as the titular Milat. Sporting facial hair, Kennard is the splitting image of his real-life counterpart, and delivers a menacing performance. He's a great asset to the production.

    As perhaps to be expected, Catching Milat does not get everything right. This is a dense story, with plenty of content to be covered across the show's two episodes, and it's undeniable that some aspects do feel short-changed in the grand scheme of things. The court case in particular is given little-to-no airtime, serving as a perfunctory footnote as opposed to something more substantial. If executed competently, an entire episode could have been devoted to the court case. Nevertheless, Catching Milat is well worth checking out; it's an often absorbing look at a hugely controversial, well-publicised and horrific moment in Australian history.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video quality is excellent. Being a television miniseries, it does carry a standard interlaced 1080/50i encode, but it nevertheless looks hugely impressive. This is a barebones two-disc set, with both 85-minute episodes being given their own disc. Each episode takes up 21GB on a single-layer BD-25 disc, affording an extremely healthy average bitrate of 33mbps.

    Shot digitally, the series looks vibrant, crisp and sharp, with excellent detail from top to bottom. It's clear that a fair amount of money and thought was put into the show's photography, and it's gorgeously rendered on Blu-ray.

    It is digital, so some shots do look a bit on the smooth side since there is no fine grain, but it's never too much of an issue. The stylish photography compensates for this. I did not notice any encode issues; it's smooth sailing. It almost makes up for the complete and utter lack of extras.

    English subtitles are available, and they are easy to read.


Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    As the miniseries was produced for television, it carries a fairly standard English DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack. The show mainly takes place in banal locations like homes and police stations, and there is nothing in the way of gunshots or explosions which would require a 5.1 surround mix.

    The audio is fine for what it is; dialogue is clear, the gentle score comes through nicely, and the ambience of outdoor locations makes you feel as if you are there.
There is also a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 track that's much less crisp.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    Nothing. Zilch. Zip. A commentary would have been nice. So would some behind-the-scenes featurettes. Hell, they could have at least included a documentary about Milat. What a wasted opportunity.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    Catching Milat has only been released in Australia and it will likely stay that way.

Summary

    A fascinating, chilling miniseries which entertains and educates.

    The video quality is reference material, and the audio gets the job done nicely. But the complete lack of extras is a big, disappointing head-scratcher.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Callum Knox (I studied biology)
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Review Equipment
DVDPlayStation 4, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 42LW6500. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationLG BH7520TW
SpeakersLG Tall Boy speakers, 5.1 set-up, 180W

Other Reviews NONE