Blu-ray Review: The Blues Brothers (1980)

The Blues Brothers is the definition of a cult classic: perhaps not particularly widely seen (especially in recent times, relegated to late night showings on ITV4), but worshipped by many loyal fans. The story of two brothers, one just released from jail, who find themselves on ‘a mission from God’ to raise $5000 for an orphanage, it has character to burn and a unique sense of humour. It's also quite evidently the work of a relatively inexperienced crew, particularly in terms of handling the large-scale scenes of carnage, making for a film that is rather ragged editorially. Most of the film, even many of its great highlights, could be improved with a little more fine-tuning, but that's probably a big part of its appeal: it's a loveable mongrel, not a flawless but bland pedigree.

A large part of the enjoyment of the film stems from the interplay between the brothers themselves, played by John Belushi (two years before drugs cut short a legendary career) and Dan Aykroyd, who also co-wrote the script. Permanently wearing their black suits and sunglasses, and never ruffled - not even by a mysteriously homicidal Carrie Fisher who stalks them throughout - they're just a pleasure to be around. On their episodic mission they encounter numerous musical legends making memorable cameos, such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, and inadvertently manage to make a whole battalion of enemies from country singers to neo-Nazis. They all converge to hilarious effect in the concert climax.

Not content with just entertaining us musically, director John Landis also crafts several action scenes, the final one an enormous car chase through Chicago - setting a record for vehicular destruction - before the army descend. The sheer scale just piles on the absurdity to breaking point, but the enterprise never crashes down under its own weight. Indeed it's in this final third where Blues Brothers' classic status becomes truly deserved. Up to this point, it's an endearing offbeat affair with a few good laughs, but the finale elevates it to an iconic piece of movie folklore.

Release Information
Country: UK / Region: Free / Version: Blu-ray + Digital Copy / Discs: 1 BD, 1 DVD / Distributor: Universal

Presentation
The film looks pretty damn good, all things considered, once the murky opening titles have passed (once again, blame optical compositing). The level of detail is surprisingly high, as is the clarity, and Universal have thankfully stayed away from the DNR knob, leaving the natural grain intact. The soundtrack is only in standard DTS - 768kpbs, same as a DVD - which is hard to believe for a film where sound is so key, but fear not: this is a cracker of a track, with brilliant depth, thumping bass, and great directionality, doing the music proud.

Extras
You get the option of watching an extended cut, seamlessly branched (or not so seamlessly, as the picture quality differs noticeably). An option just to watch the added scenes alone would have been welcome as the film is already too long in its theatrical cut, but it's interesting to note that the film was originally envisaged as an old-fashioned 3-hour roadshow event. Not all of the missing footage has been recovered - the extended cut is about 20 minutes longer. Otherwise, there's a healthy 56-minute Making Of, and two shorter featurettes: one a 25th anniversary retrospective, and one a tribute to John Belushi.



Summary
A highly flawed but, at its best, raucously funny musical comedy, Blues Brothers builds to an exhilarating finale, glancing a couple of speed bumps along the way.