Kandahar Blu-ray Review

Desert Escape

With nuance unexpected from a Gerard Butler action movie, Kandahar uses its time wisely. Rather than delivering a single Middle Eastern terrorist group or foe, the script explores the various factions, fighting for their own beliefs or just survival. Compared to a mountain of post-9/11 shoot-everything flicks, Kandahar deserves notice purely for its ability to navigate tumultuous geopolitics without anyone truly being on the side of right.

Kandahar still makes mistakes, notably the garish yellow filter that sits over so many scenes, as if the Middle East is constantly covered by wildfire smoke. But, it gives a premiere role to Iranian actor Navid Negahban, and through him, Kandahar conveys the complexity of beliefs, challenges, and cultures that exist in the area. It’s stellar in that regard.

Kandahar conveys the complexity of beliefs, challenges, and cultures that exist in the area

Even from the American perspective, it’s grueling. To set the narrative base, the CIA runs an operation to destroy an underground nuclear facility. Watching from afar, the CIA control room cheers at the destruction, with zero sense of how many died. For Butler’s Tom Harris, it’s a job, and grizzled as Butler’s characters usually are, he’s numb to the death, looking only to return home to a fractured family. The same for Negahban, bonding the pair as they try crossing disputed territories.

Butler plays this part as he usually does, and at this point, may as well connect all of these under a single Jack Ryan-like franchise. Finding any emotional difference between them is akin to Liam Neeson in the same situation. Kandahar’s surprises come via the action, including a spectacularly staged night vision fight against a helicopter, which even given the absurdity of a single man fighting a chopper, plays convincingly.

Those expecting immediate gratification will wait. It’s nearly an hour before Kandahar puts all of its pieces in play, and the purpose of some don’t become known until later. The twisty CIA/Taliban/government/spy saga needs that space, even at the cost of pacing. There is value though in that material, treating the conflict zone with care, extracting audience empathy organically rather than forcing a message. That’s more satisfying than gunplay.

Video

Behind the stock, generic yellow filter Hollywood uses to designate any Arabic country on screen, there’s a satisfying palette. Flesh tones impress and things like flags show vividness. Sadly, that’s rare due to the gross color timing.

Digital cinematography uses a mild grain filter, of which Universal’s encode doesn’t have any concerns. That leaves behind only clarity, and a precise, high-end resolution. Kandahar likely sings on UHD, but the studio didn’t issue one, offering only a Blu-ray. Still, it’s well-textured and crisp, delivering gorgeously defined wide shots regularly. In close, facial definition pops.

Under the sunlight, contrast shines while at night, black levels drift slightly, usually to a dense blue. That’s clearly by design, and costs Kandahar minimally.

Audio

An underground eruption of a nuclear facility produces a truly astonishing low-end, room-shaking burst. It’s brutal. That range continues throughout, adding to gunfire and vehicle engines (especially a helicopter). Kandahar’s DTS-HD track spares little.

For a 5.1 track, it’s still stellar, mixed wide and precise. Bullets and cars pan around the soundstage flawlessly. Efficient stereo use this wide is rare. Dialog scenes within the city satisfy with their ambiance, adding to the sense of space.

Extras

Nothin’.

Full disclosure: This Blu-ray was provided to us for review. This has not affected the editorial process. For information on how we handle review material, please visit our about us page to learn more.

The following six screen shots serve as samples for our subscription-exclusive set of 32 full resolution, uncompressed HD screen shots grabbed directly from the Blu-ray: