[Excerpt from our 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review]
"The realm of Nic Cage only continues to grow more each year with the fantastic roles he steps into. With The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Cage dives into a fictionalized version of himself that works on so many levels. The film feels like two movies in one where it's half biopic, half action flick, and all Cage which results in some engaging entertainment and yet another amazing performance from Cage himself. There's a lot of fun to be had within the walls of Cage and with this supporting cast, there's no doubt that big smiles will be earned by everyone by the end.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent feels like the more energetic and less serious version of the film JCVD starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. That movie took a fictionalized version of JCVD and revealed some of his real-life struggles while pitting him inside a heroic scenario that he's known for in his action movies. The feel and tone of JCVD were never meant to be a comedy, but instead, a melodramatic semi-biographical drama with heart. With The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, the Workaholics co-creator Kevin Etten, and director Tom Gormican lay into the absurdity and high entertainment value that comes with Nic Cage and makes for an action-packed, funny film."
Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent Cages its way to Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy via Lionsgate. The discs are housed inside a hard, blue plastic case with a cardboard sleeve. The artwork features Nic Cage and Co. where Cage is featured no less than six times on the artwork. There is an insert for a digital code.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent comes with a brilliant 1080p HD transfer and tackles all the necessary color palettes and detail with ease. The colors have that wonderful orange and blue contrast that looks amazing in its wealthy setting. Oranges, browns, and yellows go well with the teal and blue ocean below along with some fantastic primary colors of red, green, and purple. Black levels are deep and inky and the skin tones are natural.
The detail is rather sharp in most instances but can be a little soft in the bigger action moments or with the funny CGI that is implored. This is where the 4K version steps up to the plate. Darker sequences look good here and a good amount of detail can be easily seen, plus the individual hairs on the actor's faces are wonderful. There are no major issues with aliasing, video noise, or banding either.
This release comes with a good Dolby Atmos track that kicks in in the last half of the film. The first segments of the movie are more dialogue fueled and don't have all the bells and whistles that the more action-packed second half does. That being said, atmospheric sounds of the city and mansion noises do come through nicely in the surround speakers. The dialogue is clean, clear, and easy to follow as well.
The big action spectacular in the last part of the movie though brings robust and large sound effects with gunshots, explosions, vehicles revving their engines, and more energetic set-pieces. The low end of bass comes through with a big rumble that never crosses into the rocky territory and creates an immersive experience with Mark Isham's score along with all of the sound effect elements. The dynamics are wide and the LFE is excellent throughout.
And of course, when Nic Cage fully Cages, the dialogue never flattens out but instead racks up some great bass with his voice in the best ways. The height speakers bring down debris, gunshots, and other atmospheric elements nicely as well. This is a great-sounding Dolby Atmos track when it kicks in the latter half of the movie.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a super fun film that navigates all the traits and quirks of the legend himself - Nic Cage. While the first half of the movie has a dramatic tone, the second half transforms into the big '90s Nic Cage action spectacle everyone is clamoring for. It's a wild, fun ride. The 1080p HD transfer looks good and the Dolby Atmos track sounds wonderful late in the movie. The bonus features are worth watching too. Highly Recommended!
