Under the Skin appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This was a largely solid presentation.
Overall sharpness worked fine. Some darker shots came across as a bit soft – probably intentionally – but the majority of the movie appeared accurate.
I noticed no issues with jagged edges or moire effects, and edge haloes created no concerns. I also didn’t witness any print flaws.
Colors leaned toward a stylized palette, with a lean toward teal and some other strong tones like reds and greens. Within the choices, these felt well-depicted and full.
Blacks seemed fairly deep – albeit a little inky at times – while shadows were generally fine, if a smidgen thick on occasion. In general, the film looked good.
Though not packed with ambition, the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 offered more pep than I expected. Scenes on beaches or streets or in clubs tended to deliver fairly good immersiveness, as they used the five channels to place the viewer in the various settings.
Nothing ever became especially action-packed, but the movie brought us a pretty positive sense of settings.
Audio quality also worked fine. Speech was concise and natural, while music showed solid clarity and range.
Effects brought us positive accuracy and punch. The track never stood out as great, but the mix suited the story.
How did the Blu-ray compare to the DVD version? The lossless audio boasted a bit more kick and range versus its lossy DVD counterpart.
Visuals demonstrated the more obvious improvements, as the DVD seemed inconsistent. With superior definition, colors and blacks, the Blu-ray became a clear upgrade.
In terms of extras, we get a collection of 10 Behind the Scenes Featurettes. These last a total of 42 minutes, 21 seconds and offer comments from director of photography Daniel Landin, co-writer/director Jonathan Glazer, editor Paul Watts, music supervisor/producer Peter Raeburn, production designer Chris Oddy, producer James Wilson, sound designer Johnnie Burn, 2nd unit director/visual effects supervisor Tom Debenham, one-cam camera engineer Arron Smith, one-cam technical supervisor Louis Mustill, Kahleen Crawford, locations manager Eugene Strange, composer Mica Levi, graphic designer Neil Kellerhouse, visual effects supervisor Dominic Parker and co-writer/executive producer Walter Campbell.
The clips examine photography, cast and performances, editing, sets and locations, music and sound design, poster art, production design, story/character areas and the source novel, and visual effects.
The featurettes tend to be rather dry, as they mix talking heads shots with images from the film. While not presented in an exciting manner, the clips offer a lot of good information. It’s too bad Scarlett Johansson doesn’t show up here, but we learn plenty about the film.
The disc opens with ads for Enemy, Locke, The Bling Ring, The Spectacular Now and Spring Breakers. No trailer for Skin appears here.
While I appreciate the unusual manner in which Under the Skin explores its sci-fi narrative, the result seems so slow that it threatens to lose the viewer. Perhaps the film boasts depth that I didn’t discern upon two screenings, but through these go-rounds, I find it tough to locate much more than boredom. The Blu-ray offers generally positive picture and audio along with some informative featurettes. Skin gets credit for ambition but drags too much to become a winner.
To rate this film visit the DVD review of UNDER THE SKIN