THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH (2010, Blu-ray released November 23, 2010 – MSRP $69.95)
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I missed out on The Pillars of the Earth when it aired a few months back so the 3-disc Blu-ray set served as my introduction. Despite a general aversion to the mini-series format I found myself quickly sucked into this brilliantly executed medieval melodrama, adapted from the bestselling novel by Ken Follett.
Whatever reservations I might have had, as I sat down to view episode one of The Pillars of the Earth, evaporated as soon as the credits for Ridley and Tony Scott rolled by. When you’ve got the directors of Blade Runner, Alien and Top Gun on your side, your project is bound to be somewhat amazing. But they alone are clearly not the only reasons to celebrate the creative side of this new cable television extravaganza. The Scott brothers and director Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (Battlestar Galactica, Heroes) have assembled a stellar cast for their 8-episode drama, including Donald Sutherland, Gordon Pinsent, Hayley Atwell, Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell and Matthew Macfadyen, to name but a few.
The multi-generational story set during the time known as The Anarchy or The Nineteen-Year Winter is one of “war, religious strife and power struggles which tears lives and families apart.” Encounters on bloody battlefields are punctuated with steamy bedroom scenes and naked frolics in English lakes – enough sex and violence to make any plot centering on religion and politics far more palatable. The only disappointment of the whole affair is the ending, which seems far too clean and trite when all revelations come to the fore, all the players gathered together at once, pointing fingers. And for all the political wrangling over who should wear the crown, little is made of the outcome of the struggle after eight hours of story.
The castles and bloody battles look great on the 3-disc Blu-ray set, despite the fact that the 8-episodes are actually encoded in 1080i (the back of the packaging incorrectly states that the encoding is 1080p.) You won’t be disappointed. This is a fabulous, detailed transfer of a great looking, digitally shot production. The epic DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack will leave you slack-jawed at its power and presence. I’ve never heard a TV show sound so cinematic!
Special features are few in this 3-disc Blu-ray set. Frankly, I’m happier to have that disc space spent on the episodes themselves, sacrificing extra content for a truer presentation of the films. The most compelling feature is easily “The Making of ‘The Pillars of the Earth’“, a half-hour featurette that provides a nice overview of the production. A brief featurette on the creation of the main titles, one on the digital effects and a collection of trailers round out the package.
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