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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.
Spy Who Dumped Me, The (4K Blu-ray) (2018)

Spy Who Dumped Me, The (4K Blu-ray) (2018)

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Released 7-Nov-2018

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Action Comedy Featurette-Making Of
Featurette-x2
Deleted Scenes
Outtakes-x2
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2018
Running Time 116:55
RSDL / Flipper No/No
Dual Disc Set
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Susanna Fogel
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Mila Kunis
Kate McKinnon
Sam Heughan
Justin Theroux
Case ?
RPI ? Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Atmos 7.1
English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0
French Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 2160p
Original Aspect Ratio 2.40:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
Spanish
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 few years ago, Melissa McCarthy sort of created a new genre with her film Spy, which involved an under prepared woman getting thrust into the world of international espionage. It was frequently very funny, despite some unevenness. Not that the idea itself was new just the gender of the protagonist, as the idea stretches back to films like North by Northwest. This film, The Spy Who Dumped Me is a fairly obvious extension of this idea but this time there are two women and they have no background in espionage at all. It is also funny and entertaining but somewhat uneven. The film was directed by Susanna Fogel, in her first major studio production as writer and director. She co-wrote the film with David Iserson.

    This time Audrey (Mila Kunis) has been dumped by her boyfriend, Drew (Justin Theroux). It is her birthday and her best friend, Morgan (Kate McKinnon) has arranged a party in her honour but Audrey is struggling to get excited about it. Once they have had a few drinks, Morgan decides that Audrey needs to get Drew out of her life by burning the stuff he left in her apartment when he cut off contact. Audrey texts Drew that she is doing that and we see that Drew is actually a spy operating in Eastern Europe and he has left something very valuable in her apartment. He asks her not to burn everything and says that he will be there the next day to explain everything. He duly arrives but is followed by a team of assassins and asks Audrey to take something to Europe for him. She and her friend are soon on the run across Europe trying to work out who they can trust, why the item is so important and whether they can escape with their lives as they are pursued by the CIA, MI6 (in the form of Sebastian (Sam Heughan) and an Eastern bloc criminal fraternity, including ex-gymnast assassin, Nadedja (Ivanna Sakhno). Gillian Anderson and comic Hasan Minhaj appear in supporting roles.

    There is certainly fun to be had with this film and it is entertaining, although probably a little long at nearly 2 hours. There are certainly some different and wacky ideas in some of the action sequences and a piece where the girls try to steal a car is certainly funny. McKinnon, who you may remember from the new Ghostbusters is probably the star of the show, with Mila Kunis paying more of a straight person role. The male roles are more there for eye candy than anything else. Stylistically it does lurch from comedy caper to quite intense violence at times which may turn some of the audience off. On that basis it probably deserves its local MA15+ rating.

    Fun, entertaining but ultimately disposable.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    This film looks very good on 4K but really comes into its own once the Dolby Vision is enabled. The colour really jumps up a notch once you enable it. Unfortunately, there is nothing on the case to give you the hint that it might contain Dolby Vision but what a difference it makes.

    The feature is presented in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio in 2160p. It is encoded in HEVC and incorporates High Dynamic Range, Dolby Vision and a wider colour spectrum. Even with the Dolby Vision this disc does not quite hit the heights of the best 4K discs but is not far off. Colours are fantastic, the picture is very clear and sharp. Shadow Detail and dark sequences are excellent.

    There are subtitles available in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read plus Spanish and French.

    

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

Audio

    The audio quality is excellent.

    The main audio track here is a Dolby Atmos one (resolving as True HD 7.1 on non-Atmos systems). In addition there is a Audio Descriptive track in Dolby Digital 2.0 plus other language tracks in French and Spanish.

    The audio is great making the most of the action and fight sequences with resounding gunfire, breaking bones, car chases and more all filling the soundstage. The dialogue is a little quiet at times and the subtitles can be helpful. The music choices also fill the speakers and provide some great additions to the feel of the movie.

    High quality stuff.

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

Extras

    The extras are on the 4K disc and the accompanying Blu-ray They are 1080p HD regardless.

Menu

    The menu includes music.

Covert Operations - The Making of (11:13)

    Very much a standard making of which covers writing, development of the idea, casting etc and includes interviews with the director, producer and actors.

Gary Powell - The Action Behind the Film (9:03)

    A short featurette on the second unit director and stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell who has done many of the Bond films. It includes interviews about him, behind the scenes footage, info on stunts and the stunt performers. Worth a look

Making Friends with Hasan Minhaj (6:45)

    Deeply unfunny featurette of Minhaj trying to makes friends with Eastern European people on set, who obviously can't understand a word he is saying.

Deleted Scenes (10:17)

    Nothing major but some funny stuff regardless.

Outtakes (6:40)

    Nothing special here, certainly not much funny stuff.

Off Script (6:04)

    Alternate dialogue from the comedians. Funniest of the extras.

R4 vs R1

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

    This release seems to be the same format globally.

Summary

    A fun and entertaining action comedy that stays just a little too long.

    The video quality is very good especially in Dolby Vision.

    The audio quality is excellent.

    The extras are decent.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Tuesday, December 04, 2018
Review Equipment
DVDSony UBP-X700 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player, using HDMI output
DisplayLG OLEDC8PTA 55”. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 2160p.
Audio DecoderBuilt into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationMarantz SR5012
SpeakersMonitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer

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