The Big Blue [Blu-ray]

When Optimum released Besson's films on BD a couple of months ago, they made a huge mistake with The Big Blue, releasing a film that was originally filmed in English with only a dubbed French soundtrack. Many people, myself included, sent their copies back in disgust, and I am delighted to say that "people power" has worked for once, as Optimum have seen sense and re-released the film with the original English soundtrack.

The disc includes both the original and director's cut versions of the film, with a choice of English (LPCM) and French (DTS 2.0) soundtracks for both. The uncompressed English track, while stereo only rather than surround, sounds superb - switching between it and the French track shows a noticeable improvement in quality on the PCM over the DTS version. The picture quality is excellent - The Big Blue finally gets the presentation it deserves, and the transfer to BD is pin-sharp and gorgeous to look at. On a quick flick through, the lipsync errors that plague the DVD versions of this film seem to have been fixed, which is excellent news. The only remaining niggle is that the picture is still from the French print - the captions for place names etc are still the French versions (Sicile as opposed to Sicily, for example) - but that hardly detracts from what has been turned from a disaster into a compulsory purchase for Besson fans.

Well done to Optimum for doing the decent thing - I never believed it would happen!

Outdoors images are great, but some long scenes under water have a very low quality, image looks dusty (lots of small white dots). Not at all what I expected from a blu-ray.
Reading the other reviews, I'm kind of wondering if the blu-ray I bought is faulty.
I would NOT recommend to buy, maybe wait for a NEW remastered version.

When Optimum Home Entertainment originally released this great slice of 1980's French cinema, it was in a horribly messed-up French-langauge-only version, with English subtitles. Obviously, someone at Optimum had royally screwed-up, as anyone who knows this film, (or had even watched some of the film itself), would see, the cast are predominantly speaking in English throughout the entire film. In fact, this was Luc Besson's first English-language movie.

What we have here, is the corrected re-release, with the correct English language audio track, plus a whole host of extras, more of which in a minute. (You can, of course still watch the film in dubbed-French with English subtitles, if you really want to, but I wouldn't recommend it.) I won't repeat the film's plot, as you'll either know it anyway, or a better description can be found elsewhere, than me simply trying to condense it down into a paragraph or two. No, what you all want to know, is "Is this disc worth my money"?

Teh simple answer, is YES!

In fact, what we do have here, is a collection of some really odd and unusual stuff. Fans of the film will know that THE BIG BLUE exists in two versions: the original US theatrical cut, that runs to just shy of 2 hours, (but which has a score by Bill Conti replacing Eric Serra's ethereal one), and the longer Director's Cut (or Version Integrale edition), that adds-in another 40-or so minutes of extra footage.

The Optimum Blu-Ray contains two versions, but not the two you are expecting!

You get the Director's Cut/Version Integrale edition, as the main option, and if I'm honest, this is the better version. It's more coherent, it's more entertaining, and the characters have more on-screen time that viewers can savour. (Jean Reno's portrayal of Enzo, is still one of his best English-language performances!)

The option to watch the shorter, Theatrical Edition is also included, but you don't get the Theatrical Edition that many of you will know of. What you get instead, is a fascinating extended edition of the Theatrical Edition, that runs to just shy of 2hrs 17 minutes!

This 137-minute edition is the Original French Version, which is NOT the US Theatrical Cut that many fans expected, and which has circulated on TV and VHS for many, many years. Instead, this Original French Version includes material and scenes many had never seen up uptil the release of the Director's Cut in 2000. It's definitely better than the horrible US Theatrical Edition, but at the same time, once you've seen the Director's Cut, it's difficult to go back to a shorter cut of the film, and still enjoy it. It's not bad, by any means, but it's an interesting oddity. And at least this version includes Eric Serra's haunting music once more.

On top of this, Optimum have scored big, by including an old, 90-minute documentary that has - until this release - never been seen in the UK or USA, and was previously only available on the French 2-Disc DVD edition, without (understandably), any English subtitles, covering the film's making and production.

Whilst terribly dated, shot on video, and in 4:3, it does give audiences a lot of information about how the film came into being, about the characters and the links to real-life freedivers Jacques Mayol and Enzo Maiorca, upon whom the main characters in the film are based. There are plenty of explanations of how some of the spectacular free-diving footage was accomplished, and some of the occasionally daring and dangerous stunts that almost cost some of the cast and crew their lives! Whilst not up to modern-standards, either technically or in content, it's still a genuinely fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the film's production, and is worth at least one watch.

Considering everything together, this is a spectacular Blu-Ray release of a slice of 80's French cinema. This is the one that you can now safely purchase, and ditch all other editions of. (Though if you do have the 118-minute US version with the Bill Conti score, completists may like to hang onto that one, just for a bit longer.) An excellent release, that more than makes-up for the original Optimum screw-up.