The Undoing - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Undoing



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
Big Little Lies was sort of a turning point for the HBO limited series a couple of years back. It shot Nicole Kidman back into the lime light, and also put creator David E. Kelley in some very lucrative deals afterwards. The second season of Big Little Lies may not have been perfect, but it was a still a solid show nonetheless and most certainly helped grease the wheels for David E. Kelley’s next venture in the form of The Undoing. The Undoing is one of those deconstructions of the perfect family, with a rich and seemingly happy high class couple having more than a few skeletons hiding in their closet, despite the rest of the world thinking that they’re as happy as can be. The show delves a bit into a murder mystery, complete with court room drama and a hint of a psychological thriller thrown in for good measure. Like Big Little Lies: Season 2, The Undoing is a good watch, but not as great as it could have been, with a slightly stodgy story line and some mishaps along the way to keep it from being truly riveting.

Psychologist Grace Fraser (Nicole Kidman) and her pediatric oncologist husband Jonathan (Hugh Grant) seem to have the perfect family. They’re well off, their marriage is happy seeming, and they have a beautiful son named Henry (Noah Lupe). The thing is, they’re not nearly so happy as you could imagine. It seems that Jonathan has been having an affair with another woman, and it’s found out when said lover ends up dead, bludgeoned to death with a hammer. To make matters worse, Elena (the lover) is heavily involved in both their lives, being a mother of one of the other students in Henry’s school (although Elena is of a much lower caste than Grace and the rest of the mothers, as her son has got their on a scholarship, rather than the typical wealthy donations to the school). What ensues next is an up and down court room trial/mystery as Grace and Jonathan are put under fire as suspect number ones.

I won’t give away any spoilers for the show as the series thrives off of peeling back the layers of the onion bit by bit as you watch, but I’ll have to give away a FEW plot points. As the show progresses it’s pretty obvious and that Jonathan and Grace are completely shattered in their relationship, and even Grace has no idea if Jonathan did the deed or not (as he’s pretty much in the hot seat, being that he was having an illicit relationship with her). However, the show dances around the clues rather daintily, never heavy handedly implying WHO the actual killer is until the final moments.

The really intriguing aspect of the show is watching Grace and Jonathan’s relationship unfold on screen. Their carefully crafted facade of a marriage comes crashing down in one fell swoop, and Grace is left wondering if she can ever put it back together, or whether she even WANTS to put it back together considering her suspicions towards her own husband. The show is carefully and methodically paced, making each episode it’s own contained arc, with each ending leaving you on the edge of your seat waiting for the next episode to drop.

I did find that the mystery got a little trite and cliched near the end (again, I won’t spoil anything), as things play out a little TOO predictably. However, the characters and their tense interactions really elevate the show away from those issues, and gives it a sense of gravitas and tension that might have been wasted on a different set of actors.




Rating:

Rated TV-MA by the MPAA




Video:

Shot using the every obligatory Arri Alexa cameras and framed in 2.00:1 (an ever popular ratio recently), the show looks superb on Blu-ray. There’s a slightly blue/gray tinge to the whole thing, but for the most part the show is very neutral in it’s color grading. Color range from warm and wood colored when in the court room, to rich and lavish when Grace and Elena are at the school gathering. Facial details can be incredibly revealing, showing every fiber and gray hair on Hugh Grant’s frame, as well as rich texturing on mahogany fixtures around the house. There’s almost a lightly “white” look to the film at times, but it’s never overblown and is more stylistic than it is milky black levels. Blacks are appropriately inky and deep, but as I said, that hint of hotness on the white levels can make a FEW scenes look a bit gauzy in the shadows. Great transfer all the way around.






Audio:

While The Undoing isn’t a massive action set piece film, it has a superb 5.1 DTS-HD MA track that makes wonderful use of atmosphere and ambiance. There’s a nice little bass line accompanying the fantastic score throughout the track giving it it’s umph, but the track just really thrives off of being very atmospheric and filled with ambient noises. The track really opens up in the urban environments, as well as the loud and busy court room, but also has pinpoint precise vocals and a great dynamic range as the score lifts and lowers the volume level quite frequently. As I said, it’s not a massive action track with pulse pounding bass, but there’s more than enough of everything to go around, making it an excellent representation of a dynamic dramatic track.






Extras:

• Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant Introduce The Undoing
• Creating The Undoing
• The Undoing Revelations

Final Score: ​

It’s not perfect, but The Undoing is a solid murder mystery/thriller HBO limited series, and certainly kept me entertained. It’s hard to top some of HBO’s past hits such as True Detective, Big Little Lies and their older works, but The Undoing is still quality entertainment. Hugh and Kidman mesh well together on screen as polar opposites (in more ways than one), and the Blu-ray set is more than ample with the technical specs (well, outside of the mediocre extras). Solid show, good Blu-ray, solid watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Hugh Grant, Nicole Kidman, Edgar Ramirez, Noah Jupe, Lily Rabe, Donald Sutherland
Created by: David E. Kelley
Aspect Ratio: 2.00:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Warner/HBO
Rated: TV-MA
Runtime: 332 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: March 23rd 2021

Recommendation: Solid Watch.

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will check it out.