[Excerpt from our 4K UHD Blu-ray Review]
"This is also one that’s very difficult to pin to a specific genre. It’s a comedy, it’s an action movie, it’s a crime thriller, and it’s a psychedelic horror movie all rolled into one. My first outing with this movie was while I was still living in Chicago and I rented the severely cut R-rated version. I thought that version was alright, but you absolutely feel like you’re missing something. Now for the first time in the States, we get to enjoy Iglesia’s full 130-minute unrated Director’s Cut and the film actually feels complete. Previously there was a 120-minute extended cut, but I’ve never seen that version to know the differences here beyond an extra ten minutes.
Central to this madness are impressive turns from Rosie Perez and Javier Bardem. Perez at this point was largely stuck in romantic comedies as the friendly side character or something like Nicolas Cage’s brash wife in It Could Happen To You. Here she gets to roll her full range as sexy, slick, and at times outright evil! Backing her play is another amazing early turn from Javier Bardem. He brings the charisma and the physical intensity that’s defined his career, but it’s dialed up to 11. His Romeo is bonkers ready and willing to do anything for a buck - even dismembering a body while rolling cocaine pretending to be a shaman. He’s all in, and his Romeo even rivals his Anton Chigurh for memorable hairstyle choices. Drifting in the background is a great appearance from James Gandolfini. He brings the crazy and delivers as the heavy."
Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
Perdita Durango arrives on Blu-ray in a single disc release. Housed in a standard case with o-card slipcover and pressed on a Region Free BD-50 disc, the disc loads to an animated main menu with traditional navigation options.
Perdita Durango steals the show with an excellent 1080p Blu-ray release. Sourced from a new 4K restoration, this one looks amazing. The last time I saw this film was on an old DVD and this Blu-ray easily knocks that release down several pegs. Details are impressive with a natural film grain appearance. Colors are bold - where this is color. This is a very dark film with splashes of color here and there. With the cast mostly wearing all black, crush could have been an issue, but this transfer handles it nicely. Watching this disc after going through the 4K disc, the 4K UHD Blu-ray is absolutely the way to go if you’re ready and rolling on the format. If you’re not planning on upgrading your home theater setup anytime soon, this disc is no slouch and worthy of the shelf space.
Both the 4K UHD Blu-ray and the 1080p SDR Blu-ray land with a robust package of audio mixes to choose from. You get an English DTS-HD MA 2.0 mix and 5.1 mix and a Spanish Dubbed 5.1 track. As this is a predominantly English language movie first, the 2.0 and 5.1 mixes are the strongest. My Spanish is rough at best so rolling the Spanish dubbed version without subtitles was a test that I gloriously failed - but it sounded pretty good! My hat tip recommend is the full English 5.1 track - it delivers terrific surround qualities engaging the sides and rears when/where necessary while providing ample atmospherics. The 2.0 mix is still very good, but it lacked some oomph and LFE qualities that the 5.1 mix punched in nicely.
True to form, Severin delivers a nice package of bonus features well worth picking through. We get a variety of new interviews with Iglesia, Gifford, and Rebekah Mckendry, as well as a couple of featurettes. All of the bonus features are found on the included 1080p Blu-ray disc.
Film fans of the weird and wild have a big favorite to pick up with Perdita Durango. Severin again brings the big guns delivering a Blu-ray disc far superior to previous home video releases breathing new life into Alex de la Iglesia’s first English language epic. Probably not one for everyone at home, but this is a great show with terrific high-energy performances from Rosie Perez and Javier Bardem. With a solid A/V presentation and some great bonus features - if you’re not going 4K any time soon, purchase with confidence, this Blu-ray is great! Highly Recommended.
