The Brothers Bloom Blu-Ray Review

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 01.29.2010

Is The Brothers Bloom a worthy addition to the con man genre or is it just another con?

Directed by Rian Johnson
Writers Rian Johnson
Cinematographers Steve Yedlin
Original Music Nathan Johnson

Cast
Rachel Weisz ... Penelope
Adrien Brody ... Bloom
Mark Ruffalo ... Stephen
Rinko Kikuchi ... Bang Bang
Robbie Coltrane ... Curator
Maximilian Schell ... Diamond Dog
Ricky Jay ... Narrator (voice)
Zachary Gordon ... Young Bloom
Max Records ... Young Stephen

Runtime: 114 min
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for violence, some sensuality and brief strong language
Official Website



The Film

The art of the con movie is to make it fun, yet dangerous. It needs to have twists and turns you never see coming but never cheats the viewer with a twist out of left field. You want to be used as a “mark”, just as their targets in the movie are, but you want it to be fair enough to connect the dots. A con movie like The Sting, or just about anything by David Mamet, hits all the right notes while remaining a fun ride with a quality cast. Rian Johnson’s sophomore effort The Brothers Bloom has now joined the exclusive list of great con movies.

The film opens with two young boys, bouncing through foster families, understanding the only person they can rely on is each other. Stephen is the older and Bloom the younger. Stephen decides when they reach a new town it is time he writes their own stories. His idea of writing a story is to create the perfect con. In Stephen’s mind, the perfect con is the one where everyone involved gets what they want. As children, the boys developed a con that convinced the local children of a legendary treasure in a cave in the woods. The only stipulation was they needed $30 to pay the old hermit in the woods to tell them where it is. The kids all pay and when they reach the cave, elaborately set up by Stephen, they chase through, falling in mud, yet having the time of their lives. They never find treasure, but they don’t care because they are happy. Even when their parents demand the money be returned, the brothers still get what they want thanks to a deal set up with the local dry cleaners.

The con in this movie focuses on a wealthy, bored heiress. Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) plans the entire con despite his brother’s demand to quit the lifestyle. When Bloom (Adrien Brody) finally sees the mark, beautiful Penelope (Rachel Weisz), he decides to go ahead and do the “last big score.”

Weisz is the Golden Lion of this picture. She steals every scene she is involved in, an eccentric, explosive presence that is a joy to behold. I have been a fan of Weisz for a while but she has always been just another solid actress before this role. She explodes off the screen with this character and is the best thing about an already great cast. Adrian Brody is solid as the unsure, lonely brother who wants to find a real life, as opposed to the “fake life” of his brother’s cons. Mark Ruffalo continues to impress as the elder brother, following his amazing performance in David Fincher’s Zodiac. The supporting actors are also top notch, with Rinko Kikuchi the highlight as the explosive Bang Bang.

Director Rian Johnson has avoided the sophomore slump of other directors like Richard Kelly and follows up his amazing film noir Brick with this look at another classic genre. Brick, one of 2005’s best films, uses dialogue and an amazing cast led by Joseph Gordon-Levitt to create a movie that lives completely in the world of classic film noir while being one of the freshest movies of the decade. He follows up with a movie, while full of crisp interesting dialogue, preferring to use a movie with dynamic visual panache. Johnson says he understands people in real life don’t dress or talk as his characters do but he is more interested in creating a movie.

While Brick lives in a solitary high school town, The Brothers Bloom globe trots across the world, hitting Mexico, Romania and Montenegro. Johnson takes the opportunity to showcase the beauties of these locations and places his over-the-top characters in these towns. Johnson has improved upon a quality debut to make leaps and bounds and I am excited to see his next feature Looper, a sci-fi action flick. I like how he is not pigeon holing himself into a specific genre, but is able to take his first two efforts, in established classic genres, and make them his own. What has resulted so far are two of the most interesting movies of the last decade.

The Video

The video is rendered in 2.39:1, 1080p, MPEG-4 AVC transfer. It looks fantastic. Rian Johnson said he was attempting to achieve a unique look and he succeeded. The muted, saturated colors look amazing. This film lives and dies by the way it looks and it is magnificent.

The Audio

The soundtrack is in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and it sounds great. The levels are perfect, the dialogue is crisp and clear and the foley and effects are perfectly sharp. The gunfights and explosions sound great. There is nothing to complain about here. The fantastic soundtrack is made only better by the sound quality.

The Packaging

I would have liked different artwork, one of the alternative posters maybe, but I can live with this. It’s a typical Blu-Ray package.

The Extras

Commentary - The commentary track is with director Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman. Johnson leads the talk and is a very affable speaker, leading us through the tricks, trivia and technical aspects of the movie. It is a great listen and well worth the time, never boring.

From Sketch to Celluloid - This is an interesting feature but is not interesting enough to make it through the 12:29 running time, unless you have to. It is nothing more than a split screen with the sketched storyboards and the actual scene. Johnson seems to shoot his movies based almost exactly on the boards as you will see here.

In Bloom: Behind the Scenes - This is not a making of feature but instead lets you be a fly on the wall and watch as the cast and crew prepares and shoots a scene. It lasts about 14:37.

Deleted Scenes - There are 20 deleted scenes, lasting 32:48. You can listen to them with or without commentary, and I suggest you listen to commentary because Johnson talks you through each scene and explains why it was shot and why it was removed. None of the scenes would have changed the movie.

Image Gallery - This lasts 3:21.


The Film: 9.5/10.0
The Video: 10.0/10.0
The Audio: 9.5/10.0
The Packaging: 8.0/10.0
The Extras: 7.5/10.0

The 411: The Brothers Bloom is one of the most interesting movies released in 2009. In his sophomore effort, Rian Johnson has almost equaled his debut Brick by creating a movie based in the world of a classic genre, but oozing cool throughout. Rachel Weisz is the best part of a solid group of actors and sizzles the entire time she is on screen. Brothers Bloom is a con movie that always remains surprising but never feels like it is cheating. It is a fun romp through an interesting world and succeeds on every level. When I finished watching the film I was happy to have been along for the ride.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]