The Fall of the Black Falcon

WORK – No, but say, is it good or not?

Somalia. To stop a murderous war, an American Marine Commando is responsible for capturing two officers. The mission turns to hell when the group is targeted by the armed factions and the hostile population. Trapped, the 99 men have more than one rule: leave none of them behind...

Magistrally directed by Ridley Scott, The Fall of the Black Falcon is a war film as realistic as it is violent, which rejects any exacerbated patriotism to concentrate on one of the biggest failures of the American army in the hell of Mogadishu's streets. The casting is impressive, the infernal rhythm, the challenging action scenes and the warlike musical score. A monument like that!

IMAGE – Everyone's beautiful, are you sure?

Captured in Super35 and taken from a new 4K transfer, the images delivered by this disc are simply fantastic and « destroy » spectacularly those of the aging Blu-ray encoded in MPEG-2.

The definition is impressive, the improvement of the details is absolutely remarkable (the facial hairiness, the tissue of the uniforms, the texture of the sand, the state of the bricks, the background elements), the rougher silver grain is much thinner and breathes better (the parasitic tinglings have not been reincorporated), the sublime photographic with yellow and green hues gain in richness and natural (it is also the flesh tones that enjoy the most) to channel with grace the over-saturation of the colors (it does not bathe anymore), the deliberately strongly supported contrasts (a fairly extreme ratio) enjoy deeper blacks and brighter whites while delivering much invisible information until now, and the much more realistic light sources (cf. the flames and interior lightings of the American military base) allow Somalia's heat to be even more overwhelming (the light of the day and the seepage of the sweat).

Never has the war been displayed with so much « beauty ».

SON – He who has ears to hear, hear!

Thanks to the numerous pyrotechnic effects perfectly located and the constant pressure of all the speakers, these dynamic sound tracks and a beautiful clarity (dialogues are always audible despite the « brouhaha » We are immersed in the horror of war with as much violence as with subtlety (spaceization is remarkable).

Remixed in Dolby Atmos for the occasion, the VO is more open and robust in addition to leaning on an ultra-active aerial scene (the passage of helicopters, the detonation of the shots, the breath of the wind, the presence of the « skeletons » on roofs, debris, etc.).

In both cases, composer Hans Zimmer's particularly striking music is broadcast with great scope. And while the LFE channel has clearly trained to resist the massacre, the bass seem to be more contained than in recent productions.

⚠ Be warned that the long version (proposed in seamless branching) has some cuts of sound (a small handle) at the beginning of the operations.

CONCLUSION – Every good thing has an end...

As visceral as the iconic work that she escorts, this Ultra HD Blu-ray splits from an A/V presentation as dazzling as possible!