GLORY (1994)
35th Anniversary Limited Edition Steelbook
4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital
Label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 120 Minutes 14 Seconds
Audio: English Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1), DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Dolby Vision HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1), 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman
Glory (1998) is directed by Edward Zwick (Legends of the Fall), a historical Civil War action-drama about one of the first black regiments, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, to fight for the North in the Civil War. It stars Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) as Captain Robert Gould Shaw, who after being wounded at the star of the film at the Battle of Antietam is promoted to colonel, and assigned to the 54th, which has the distinction of being one of the first all-black regiments in the Union Army, his second in command is his friend Major Cabot Forbes (Cary Elwes, The Princess Bride). Among the regiment's volunteers are a runaway slave from Tennessee with an not unwarranted chip on his shoulder named Silas (Denzel Washington, Training Day), the bookish free black Searles (Andre Braugher, The Mist), sharpshooter Jupiter Sharts (Jihmi Kennedy), and Rawlins (Morgan Freeman, Se7en). The men's training starts off a bit rough, under the direction of Sergeant-Major Mulcahy (John Finn, AMC's The Walking Dead), who is quite tough on the men and grows weary of their unskilled ways, but Shaw approves of his harsh training tactics and demeaning verbal assault of the men because he knows that what lays ahead requires the men be put through their paces properly, with he and Forbes disagreeing a bit on that point, and later they again come to heads when Silas is found to have 'deserted', but only did so to find some appropriate shoe attire as the entire regiment has been denied proper footwear by a racist quartermaster, played by beloved character actor Richard Riehle (Office Space). Shaw orders him to be flogged for the desertion, which Forbes chafes at, Silas a runaway slave is already scarred by innumerable whippings, it's an uneasy situation but Shaw demands that his men be held to a high standard and that Silas should be dealt the prescribed punishment, to be carried out in front of the regiment. The men receive derision even from the other white Union soldiers they encounter, but the idealistic Shaw and Forbes push on. After training the 54th is initially assigned to serve under the command of Brigadier General Charles Harker (Bob Gunton, The Shawshank Redemption), and are ordered by Colonel James Montgomery (Cliff DeYoung, Pulse) to sack and burn Darien, Georgia while he loots the town. Eventually the regiment and Walsh grow tired of not being actively engaging Confederate soldiers, assigned mostly to backbreaking labor, angering Walsh to the point that he threatens Harker with blackmail, indicating that if he does not re-assign the 54th to a real battle he will report him for war profiteering to War Department, which leads to them getting their first taste of active battle and victory at battle at James Island, South Carolina. After which they are assigned to a major undertaking, to secure Charleston Harbor by capturing the heavily fortified and strategically important Fort Wagner, which bringe the film to a close with a bombastic and intense siege on the fort, and I won't lie, I got a bit misty eyed there at the end.
It was treat to revisit this one on UHD, I have not seen Glory (1989) since I watched it on cable TV back in the early '90s. I remember at the time thinking it was quite good, but a couple of things bothered me, I thought at the time that Broderick was not quite right for the role, maybe because it was only two years since Ferris Bueller's Day Off and it was fresh in my mind, but with this viewing his age didn't bother me a bit, and his young age suits the character who was only in his mid-20's. I thought he was quite good as the idealistic colonel in charge of the black regiment who insists that they be held to a higher standard, but who also fails to connect with his men. The other thing that still holds true is that I thought it was a bit spurious that a film about the first black regiment of soldiers fighting against their white oppressors was told through the lens of an affluent white man. It's not ruinous to the film and not a 'white savior' flick my any means, and Shaw is integral to the story being told, it's a terrific watch, but at some point I would like to see this story told from the black soldiers perspective, which to this day I do not think has been done on film. Also, the historical accuracy of it is suspect at point, the flogging scene never happened, the characters of the 54th are composite, not actual characters, as was the white officer Forbes, so it tells a great story based on actual events, but embellished for cinema.
Other than that this is a very handsomely directed historical period drama, the Civil War setting, costuming, and the acting are all quite well-done, the battlefield scenes are particularly visceral with cannon fire, bullets flying, bayonets plunging into enemy combatants, it gets the blood pumping, and there's even a pretty surprising head explosion during the first battle that had me momentarily stunned.
Audio/Video: Glory (1989) arrives on 4K UHD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen restored from the original camera negative, presented in 4K resolution with HDR10 Dolby Vision color-grading, most likely the same 4K image that accompanied the 30th Anniversary UHD in 2019, which I do not have for comparison. The image looks terrific, grain is well-managed, looking quite filmic, with the 4K resolution offering pleasing textures in the period costuming, and fine detail in the close-ups of faces and the Civil War era surroundings. Smoke on the battlefield is nicely resolved, and the Dolby Vision really fine-tunes the color spectrum, skin tones look warm and natural, the greens of grass and trees please, the blues of the sky, and fire and battlefield explosions look terrific, plus the black levels, shadow detail and contrast are all dialed-in quite nicely. It is quite a revelation compared to the accompanying Blu-ray disc, which is a recycle of the 2009 Blu-ray, and not a new scan in 1080p which looks mushy and lifeless by comparison.
Audio comes by way of English Dolby Atmos (True HD 7.1), as well as both DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 mixes. The Atmos tracks kicks off strong on the battlefield in Antietam, the assault is rife with gunfire, cannon fire, the screaming of men in agony, and the cacophonous sounds of civil war combat. The track delivers plenty of nuance in the quieter moments as well, and again kicks in with some nice bombast once again during the films final battle on Fort Wagner/Morris Island, and the sweeping and quite stirring score from James Horner (Field of Dreams) benefits quite nicely from the Atmos upgrade.
Extras on the 4K UHD come by way of a Visual Feature-Length Commentary with Edward Zwick, Matthew Broderick, and Morgan Freeman showing up in a picture-in-picture window, plus the Theatrical Trailer. The recycled Blu-ray offers the remainder of the archival extras, which include
the Archival Audio Commentary with Director Edward Zwick; Deleted Scenes with Commentary; a Virtual Civil War Battlefield Interactive Map; the 45-min “The True Story Continues” Documentary; the 11-min “The Voices of Glory” Featurette; and the 8-min “The Making of Glory” Featurette.
The 2-disc UHD/BD release arrives with handsome Steelbook packaging sporting the original illustrated movie poster artwork with a glossy finish, the back side featuring an image of Denzel Washington as Private Silas Trip on the battlefield. On the inside there's a landscape image spanning both sides featuring an image of the film of the 54th marching into battle. Tucked away inside is a redemption code for a UHD digital copy of the film.
Disc 1: 4K Ultra HD + Extras
- Visual Feature-Length Commentary
- Theatrical Trailer (1:21)
Disc 2: Blu-ray + Extras
- Archival Audio Commentary with Director Edward Zwick.
- Deleted Scenes with Commentary
- Virtual Civil War Battlefield Interactive Map
- “The True Story Continues” Documentary (45:18)
- “The Voices of Glory” Featurette (11:18)
- “The Making of Glory” Featurette (7:36)
- Visual Feature-Length Commentary
- Theatrical Trailer (1:21)
Disc 2: Blu-ray + Extras
- Archival Audio Commentary with Director Edward Zwick.
- Deleted Scenes with Commentary
- Virtual Civil War Battlefield Interactive Map
- “The True Story Continues” Documentary (45:18)
- “The Voices of Glory” Featurette (11:18)
- “The Making of Glory” Featurette (7:36)
Buy it!
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