{"id":5318,"date":"2013-02-18T16:42:04","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T00:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=5318"},"modified":"2021-06-01T07:52:54","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T14:52:54","slug":"review-annakarenina-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2013\/02\/review-annakarenina-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Anna Karenina Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Anna Karenina<\/i><\/b> is yet another film with plenty of potential but failed thanks to a lifeless script and oft stilted acting from what is normally a respectable cast. This is the epitome of style over substance as Wright attempts to give his portrayal a different flavor than those that have come before.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>
\nAnna Karenina (2012)<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nREVIEW NAVIGATION<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Movie<\/a> | Special Features<\/a> | Video Quality<\/a> | Audio Quality<\/a> | Overall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/b>Drama, Romance
\nUniversal | R \u2013 130 min. \u2013 $34.98 | February 19, 2013<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/span>Directed by: <\/b>Joe Wright
\nWriter(s): <\/b>Leo Tolstoy (novel); Tom Stoppard (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/b>Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kelly MacDonald, Matthew Macfadyen, Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Alicia Vikander, Olivia Williams, Emily Watson<\/p>\n

Theatrical Release Date: <\/b>November 16, 2012 (limited)<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:
\n<\/span>Features: <\/b>Commentary, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, DVD Copy, Digital Copy
\nNumber of Discs: <\/b>2<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/b>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), Spanish (DTS 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/b>1080p\/Widescreen 2.40
\nSubtitles: <\/b>English SDH, French, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/b>40.4 GB
\nCodec: <\/b>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/b>A<\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Anna Karenina<\/i><\/b> is the latest adaptation of Leo Tolstoy\u2019s famous Russian novel, this version directed by Joe Wright who, for a third time, reunites with Keira Knightley starring as the title character. As admirable job Wright does with such a high profile novel, the mixing of musical with traditional filmmaking never quite makes a relationship, although it doesn\u2019t help matters that there\u2019s little to no emotional connection either.<\/p>\n

The story is set in imperial Russia, 1867, where aristocrat Anna Karenina (KEIRA KNIGHTLEY) is in a loveless marriage with Alexis Karenin (JUDE LAW), a cold and controlling Russian statesman who, as with most men during the era, has expectations for his wife. Things change however as Anna makes a trip from St. Petersburg to Moscow to visit her brother, Prince Stepan \u201cStiva\u201d Oblonsky (MATTHEW MACFADYEN) who, upon the film\u2019s opening, was caught in an illicit affair by wife, Princess Daria \u201cDolly\u201d (KELLY MACDONALD), and attempts to convince Dolly to forgive Stiva\u2019s indiscretions.<\/p>\n

On the train ride over, she meets Countess Vronskaya (OLIVIA WILLIAMS) who is traveling to meet son Count Alexi Vronsky (AARON TAYLOR-JOHNSON). Alexi is set to marry Anna\u2019s sister-in-law Katerina \u201cKitty\u201d Alexandrovna SHCHERBATSKY (ALICIA VLKANDER), though it\u2019s more for social status in his eyes rather than true love. At the train station, Anna and Vronsky\u2019s paths cross and it\u2019s love, or perhaps lust, at first sight.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, enter rich land owner Konstatin Dimitrivich Levin (DOMHNALL GLEESON), who, unlike Vronsky, is in love with Kitty and is encouraged by Stiva to propose, but Kitty politely declines. Heartbroken, Levin returns back to his farm in Pokrovskoe, but not before visiting elder brother Nikolai (DAVID WILMOT) who is also an aristocrat but gave up his inheritance for the love of a prostitute with whom he has taken as a wife.<\/p>\n

With the stage literally set and the players introduced, we get to the meat of the story as Anna and Vronsky dance around one another\u2019s feelings until they give in to the licentious passion and the affair is set and soon enough the rumors fly through town. As was custom for the era, her honor is questioned while her husband, as distant and dispassionate as he might be, tries to protect her, and their son, with his family name. Soon things become more complicated as she becomes pregnant with Vronsky\u2019s baby who sends things into a futher tailspin and even Alexis\u2019 love has its limits. Yet still, she cannot stay away from Vronsky despite her social status being in danger.<\/p>\n

One of the problems with Anna Karenina<\/i><\/b> isn\u2019t the directorial style, albeit it is at first jarring and tough to get one\u2019s barrings, but instead with characters that are either not very likeable or downright dull. Casting was another problem. As much as I love Keira Knightley and will continue to watch anything she\u2019s in, her delivery was at best stilted and the casting of Aaron Taylor-Johnson didn\u2019t help matters as he had little to no chemistry with Knightley. Jude Law, meanwhile is decent in his role in one of the few sympathetic characters, though it\u2019s all below the surface and at the end, I couldn\u2019t feel his pain whatever it might have been.<\/p>\n

The supporting cast for the most part is unremarkable save for Matthew Macfadyen as Stiva and Alicia Vikander as Kitty, otherwise they\u2019re mostly forgettable roles and especially, forgettable performances.<\/p>\n

Directed by Joe Wright, Anna Karenina<\/i><\/b> is a disappointment not so much based on whether or not it failed to adequately translate Tolstoy\u2019s novel but because of the talent involved. Keira Knightley is still a fine actress in my eyes but the script didn\u2019t do her any favors yet at the end of the day, she did not turn in an impressive performance and instead of garnering some kind of sympathy, or lack thereof, it was a completely void of passion, a dagger\u2019s blow for any drama.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 3.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This release comes with a glossy slip cover and inside is a retail DVD Copy<\/span><\/b> and a Digital Copy<\/span><\/b> for either UltraViolet or via iTunes, a choice I wish more studios had.<\/p>\n

Feature Commentary<\/span><\/b> \u2013 Although not the most engaging commentator, Director Joe Wright provides a track which is insightful and provides anecdotal stories from the set as well as his ideas for a story which has been told many times before. It\u2019s a bit better than the last commentary I heard from him which was Pride & Prejudice<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Deleted Scenes (13:08; HD)<\/span><\/b> \u2013 There are eight scenes that were not included in the final cut and while, like the movie itself, look nice, they really don\u2019t offer anything new to the movie.<\/p>\n

Anna Karenina<\/span><\/i><\/b>: An Epic Story About Love (4:54; HD)<\/span><\/b> is an all too short featurette with some basic interview sound bites with the cast and crew as they chat about the classic story.<\/p>\n

Adapting Tolstoy (5:12; HD)<\/span><\/b> delves into screenwriter Tom Stoppard adapting the classic novel and the choices he made to turn a 600+ page book to 130+ page screenplay. The featurette goes beyond the screenplay and goes into Joe Wright\u2019s choice of the style he chose in filming it in basically one location.<\/p>\n

Keira as Anna (4:25; HD)<\/span><\/b> has Keira Knightley, along with others, discussing her role in the title character. Again, nothing profound but at least you get some information into how the character was portrayed.<\/p>\n

On Set with Director Joe Wright (5:05; HD)<\/span><\/b> \u2013 The director is the focus of this featurette going into the vision he presents into this adaptation of Tolstoy\u2019s novel. It features much of the same kind of interview footage as the other featurettes.<\/p>\n

Dressing Anna<\/i> (3:26; HD)<\/span><\/b> is about the Academy Award-nominated costume design by Jacqueline Durran.<\/p>\n

Anna Karenina<\/span><\/i>: Time-Lapse Photography (8:16; HD)<\/span><\/b> is a cool feature to see the crew put together the various sets.<\/p>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 4.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If there was one thing you can say about this movie, it\u2019s that it\u2019s never boring to look at and the 1080p transfer certainly looks incredible on Blu-ray. The movie, presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio, features bright colors, remarkable contrast and impeccable detail levels throughout. There are some natural film grain but nothing of abundance and only adds to the in-home theatrical experience and also lends to better detail\u00a0 be it background or up close objects or characters.
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AUDIO \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The disc comes with a robust and expansive 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio which really shines between Dario Marianelli\u2019s score which is most likely the only emotional element of the entire production. In any case, the dialogue levels sound nice and clear and there\u2019s a fair amount of ambient noise which come through with depth in the front and, especially, rear speakers.<\/p>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 3.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, Anna Karenina<\/i><\/b> is yet another film with plenty of potential but failed thanks to a lifeless script and oft stilted acting from what is normally a respectable cast. This is the epitome of style over substance as Wright attempts to give his portrayal a different flavor than those that have come before and while I do appreciate trying something different, perhaps more focus should\u2019ve been paid on the script and, in some cases, casting. This is not a completely disastrous production and not void of anything good, but for me it\u2019s worth one viewing only and will be tossed aside until someone else attempts another adaptation thinking he or she will be the one to properly bring it to the big (or small) screen.<\/p>\n

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The Movieman
\n<\/i>Published: <\/b>02\/18\/2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anna Karenina is yet another film with plenty of potential but failed thanks to a lifeless script and oft stilted acting from what is normally a respectable cast. This is the epitome of style over substance as Wright attempts to give his portrayal a different flavor than those that have come before.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1897,1896,856,123,664,1898,1416,388],"class_list":["post-5318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-aaron-taylor-johnson","tag-anna-karenina","tag-emily-watson","tag-jude-law","tag-keira-knightley","tag-kelly-macdonald","tag-matthew-macfadyen","tag-olivia-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5318"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26381,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5318\/revisions\/26381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}