The Good

A well made movie with a great cast.

The Bad

No real Blu-ray special features.Traitor is a well made thriller with a cast that boasts such solid players as Don Cheadle, Jeff Daniels and Guy Pearce. The story follows Samir Horn (Cheadle), a man who was born in Sudan, raised in Chicago and also happens to be an ex-Special Operations officer for the U.S.. When multiple terrorist attacks happen that all lead back to Horn, FBI man Roy Clayton (Pearce) starts to investigate. The film then takes on a whole new direction as Horn seems to be playing both sides, while Clayton does his best to make sense of this situation. The film never lets up with one asking themselves just who is Samir Horn? Is he working the with the terrorists to wage war against the infidels? Or, is he on the side of the U.S. but just caught up in the amazing complexities of the world stage?

Never a film that has easy answers, Traitor p you guessing until the final credits come on your screen.

Features

Disc 1:

Commentary Track

Director Jeffrey Nachmanoff and star Don Cheadle handle the commentary duties here. They talk about making this film, the ideas they were trying to bring across, the character's motivations, and just about anything else they can think of. While at times I thought that this commentary track might be a tad too serious, I liked this film so much I was more than happy to enter the mindset that these artists had when they made the film.

Action! The Stunts and Special Effects of Traitor

International Espionage: An In-Depth Look at Traitor's Exotic Locations

There isn't anything too special that I can say about this section. It was interesting to learn about these locations, but I certainly wouldn't call this portion of the release "must see" viewing.

Disc 2:

This disc contains a digital copy of Traitor for your PC or other compatible movie player.

Video

Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation - 2.40:1- 1080p. I admit that the set that I screened this movie on isn't the highest resolution in the HD world, but for what it is things looked pretty darn awesome. This film was shot with a handheld fluidity that never really got tiresome. There were scenes that looked pristine and then, in low lighting conditions, the actors would contrast against the grainy backgrounds. All this did was heighten the movie and make the viewing experience feel that much more immediate.

Audio

Dolby TrueHD 5.1. Subtitled for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired. Spanish Subtitles. This movie sounded really good. Using the speakers off my Samsung TV I loved that this movie didn't have pounding sound throughout each frame. There was a restraint to the audio that I think makes this film more powerful. So much of the audio in movies works on a psychological level. Too many movies try to guide viewers in what they should think and feel. The audio here was leveled well and there wasn't any need to adjust the audio higher when the characters were just talking.

Package

This Blu-ray case features a shot of Cheadle with a bunch of images of the film laid out around him. The back portion also features critics quotes, a description of what this movie is about, a Special Features listing, cast list and technical specs. Overall this packing is pretty standard.

Final Word

Ladies and gentlemen we have entered a new age here at MovieWeb and for the Mush...

I now own a Sony BDP S350 Blu-ray player.

I will be reviewing films in both Standard and the high definition formats going forward. For those who have been following my reviews I know that this must be a happy moment in your lives. For a long time I have been beholden to the formats and TVs that could play my discs on. Now, I am going to try and go the HD route as much as possible, but I will never abandon my SD roots. This includes watching SD releases on my BD player.

To review Traitor as the first film on this new system was a great way to start. This movie was shot in a way that kept everything interesting, and I never found myself questioning my move to upgrade my home viewing experience.