Chappaquiddick appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Overall, this was a positive image.
Only a smidgen of softness ever cropped up here, mainly in some low-light shots. Otherwise, the movie showed nice clarity and delineation.
Jagged edges and moiré effects failed to appear, and edge haloes remained absent. Print flaws also stayed away from this clean image.
In terms of palette, Chappaquiddick went with mix of teal and amber. Overall, the hues were fine for their visual choices.
Blacks showed good depth, while low-light shots boasted nice clarity. This was a solid “B+“ presentation.
As for the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it gave us competent sonics most of the time as well as a little pep on occasion. A drama like this didn’t need to boast a rock-em, sock-em mix, so the audio seemed acceptable.
Usually, the soundfield didn’t have a lot to do. This meant it concentrated on good stereo music and general ambience.
Every once in a while, though, the mix came to life – in a moderate manner, at least. These didn’t dazzle, but they gave the mix reasonable breadth.
Audio quality was fine. Speech seemed natural and concise, without edginess or other concerns. Music appeared full, with reasonable definition.
Effects remained clear and accurate, with some pretty solid low-end response during louder moments. This became a fairly satisfying track for a chatty movie.
Only a few extras appear here, and we find a featurette called A Reckoning: Revisiting Chappaquiddick. It runs 25 minutes, 19 seconds and provides comments from writers Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, producer Mark Chiardi and Campbell McInnes, production designer John Goldsmith, and actors Jason Clarke, Ed Helms and Jim Gaffigan.
“Reckoning” looks at the project’s origins and development, story/characters, the director’s impact on the production, cast and performances, sets, locations and period details. This becomes a competent overview of some production areas but it leans too heavily on happy talk too much of the time. That makes it more superficial than I’d like.
With Bridge to the Past: Editing the Film, we find a 12-minute, 45-second piece with notes from editor Keith Fraase. He talks a little about his work but he mainly focuses on general filmmaking areas. Because of this, “Bridge” develops into another piece light on insight and heavily on praise.
The disc opens with ads for Hurricane Heist and Winchester. No trailer for Chappaquiddick appears here.
A second disc provides a DVD copy of Chappaquiddick. It includes the same extras as the Blu-ray.
Faced with a controversial subject, Chappaquiddick portrays a surprisingly human tone, and this choice works. Rather than bury itself in the salacious side, the movie delivers an effective view of a tragedy. The Blu-ray brings very good picture along with acceptable audio and bland supplements. I wish we got deeper bonus materials but the movie itself fares better than expected.