Papillon

Based on the book by Henri Charriére, this new remake of "Papillon" is the story of Charriére's real-life escape from Devil's Island, a notorious French prison. Charlie Hunnam plays "the butterfly Papi," whose determination to escape from his life sentence consumes him completely. After saving the life of Louis Dega (Malek), a notorious counterfeitter, Dega assists Papillon with his attempts at freedom. (Gary Reber)

Special features include seven deleted scenes (HD 30:44), upfront previews, and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code.

The 2.39:1 1080p AVC picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, upconverted to 2160p with greater resolution and luminance, was photographed digitally using the Arri Alexa Mini and Arri Alexa XT camera systems and sourced from a 2K master Digital Intermediate format. The picture is natural looking with a gritty edge. The opening scenes are quite colorful and saturated, while, once on the island prison the color palette takes on a more earthy appearance, with solitary segments exhibiting subdued hues. Hues are effectively realistic whether within the dingy, dirty French Guiana penal colony, the jungle surrounding the prison, or the scenes in Paris. While in his solitary prison cell and during his hallucinations, the saturated colors return on characters and background. Contrast is well balanced throughout with deep blacks and good shadow delineation. Highlights are limited to daylight segments external to the prison with blue sky backdrops and reflections of the sun on the sea and waves. The white uniforms on some of the prison personnel provide natural contrast without any exaggeration in white level. Resolution is excellent with fine detail exhibited throughout. Facial features, body features, hair, beards, clothing and prison garb, uniforms, and concrete textures are nicely detailed. This is an excellent presentation that delivers superb engaging realism. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is great. From the opening scene the soundfield is rampant with aggressively panned sound effects and ambiances. This carries over to the scenes on the prison island, with segments of ambience effects, including insects. Other sound effects include the guillotine, bodies being pulled over hard surfaces, doors clanging, a broom sweep, and Foley, which is excellent. The scene with the boat at sea is aggressively rendered. The orchestral/choral score is nicely spacious with a wide and deep soundstage that extends to fill the soundfield with envelopment and dynamic power, with deep bass extension. Dialogue is effectively integrated spatially. When upmixed in Auro Matic, the soundtrack is effective immersive with a realistic height layer. This transforms an excellent soundtrack into a really exceptional Immersive Sound experience. (Gary Reber)