Che - Parts One & Two (Blu-ray)

Che: Parts One & Two are movies you cannot help but admire. An ambitious project of epic proportions, director Steven Soderbergh chronicles the life of the legendary Che Guevera from his first meetings with Fidel Castro, to his status as world famous, revolutionary hero.

Boasting a masterful turn by Benicio Del Toro, both parts of Che present a complex, profound and visually striking voyage through one man’s extraordinary life (or at least a good portion of it), though the four-hour-plus experience isn’t always the most thrilling. Lacking a certain personal quality throughout, Soderbergh’s movie is unapologetically thorough in many ways, yet strangely bereft of personality and charisma. Even after spending what seems like an eternity with Che during various drawn out interviews or long periods of time scrambling about in various jungles, it feels as though we learn very little about the man behind the hero.

The Che Blu-rays (released separately or as a box set), fail to improve upon the DVD in terms of extras, but come up trumps in regards to the picture and sound.

Both films boast astonishing detail, contrast and clarity. The visual style of the film is fairly erratic, intentionally grainy one minute (during the documentary-like sequences) and beautifully bold and sharp the next, and it’s the latter moments which really astound in terms of the clean and crisp presentation.

The audio is impressive as well. Alberto Inglesias’ music score sounds great, while the gunplay within the jungles packs a hell of a punch, with the bullets flying by in all directions providing an effective surround sound experience.

Overall Verdict:
A two-part epic that you have to admire, and a Blu-ray that’s not too shabby either.

Special Features:
‘Che’ Featurette
Interview With Director Steven Soderbergh
Interview With Actor Benicio Del Toro
Interview With Composer Alberto Inglesias
Interview With Biographer Jon Lee Anderson
Trailers

Reviewer: Lee Griffiths