Jane Got a Gun (Blu-ray) (2016)

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General		Extras
Category	Western	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2016
Running Time	98:02
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Gavin O'Connor
Studio Distributor	Transmission Films	Starring	Natalie Portman Joel Edgerton Ewan McGregor Noah Emmerich
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Marcello De Francisci Lisa Gerrard

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Jane (Natalie Portman) lives with her small daughter and husband Bill “Ham” Hammond (Noah Emmerich) in an isolated cabin in the New Mexico desert in 1871. When Ham arrives home badly shot up he tells her that he was shot by John Bishop (Ewan McGregor) and his gang and that they are coming to finish the job. In desperation, Jane turns for help to Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton), a man who used to be her lover but is now hostile. However Dan reluctantly agrees for his own reasons and Jane and Dan, with a bedridden Ham, barricade themselves in the cabin and await Bishop’s arrival while the story of their past, which commenced seven years before in Missouri, is slowly revealed.

     Jane Got a Gun is a fairly traditional revenge western. However, nothing is as straightforward as it first seems for flashbacks gradually reveal not only Jane and Dan’s past but the connection between Jane and Bishop. Jane Got a Gun is a film that gives up its secrets slowly as it builds towards the showdown that we all know is coming; there is a lot of dialogue and backstory punctuated by sudden, quick, gun killings before the loud, chaotic and explosive final shootout. Shot in glorious widescreen using film in New Mexico, the desert landscape with its dust, stunted trees and distant hills looks beautiful yet feels gritty. A number of shots are through glass windows, interiors to exteriors, giving a distorted view of the person outside; this may be to add a sense of dislocation or distance to the viewer but it does get to feel too filmic and overdone.

     Jane Got a Gun has a good cast for a western these days. This is very much Portman’s film and she sets aside any idea of glamour, except in flashbacks, to deliver a dusty, resourceful and determined wife and mother, who just happens to be a decent shot as well. As for the rest, Joel Edgerton is pretty much Joel Edgerton (who also has a co-screenwriting credit), Noah Emmerich is confined to bed while Ewan McGregor is a one-note villain with a mixed accent. Jane Got a Gun may not be anything new but it is told in a way that keeps one’s interest until the climax, especially while Portman is on screen.

Video

     Jane Got a Gun is presented in the aspect ratio of 2.40:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Shot using film, the New Mexico landscapes look stunning, while fine detail on faces and clothes is strong. The colour palate is very brown, and has been manipulated. The desert, skin tones and clothes all have a brown, dusty look, and there is very little colour on show except for the red explosions during the climax and some nice blues and greens during a flashback balloon sequence. Blacks and shadow detail are pristine, contrast and brightness consistent.

     Other than some pleasing light film grain, marks and artefacts were absent.

     No subtitles are available.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     Audio is English DTS-HD MA 5.1.

     Dialogue is generally clear. For most of the film the rears and surrounds are used infrequently for music, wind, hooves and insects. The gunshots are loud and reverberate and during the final gun battle the surrounds burst into life with shots, splintering wood, ricochets and bullet strikes. The sub-woofer added bass to the gunshots and explosions during the climax.

     The score, which featured music by Marcello De Francisci plus vocals by Lisa Gerrard, was haunting and effective.

     There are no lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

     No extras. The menu only has “Play Feature”.

    The US Region A Blu-ray of Jane Got a Gun is a Blu-ray / DVD combo which adds English and Spanish subtitles. It is also without extras, so hardly seems worth importing.

     With The Hateful Eight and now Jane Got a Gun it is nice to see that westerns can still be made with some star power. Jane Got a Gun develops slowly but the gradually revealing flashback structure and Natalie Portman is enough to hold one’s interest until the explosive climax.

     The video and audio are fine. Zero extras, not even a trailer.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall