THE ZERO THEOREM – The Blu Review

I loved Terry Gilliam’s BRAZIL when it first came out 30 years ago, but tried watching it again and didn’t feel it aged well at all. To me, the film now seemed bloated and unnecessarily complex, pushing self-indulgence to the limit. Gilliam’s newest film THE ZERO THEOREM is the Gilliam film most akin to BRAZIL, another surreal comic take on Orwell’s 1984 focusing on a bureaucrat in a retro-future world. While Gilliam’s troubles with studio interference regarding BRAZIL are the stuff of legend (and even the subject of a book), it at least received a wide theatrical release. THE ZERO THEOREM had a spotty release, screening in St. Louis just two nights at Webster University, but it makes its way to DVD and Blu-ray from Well Go USA on January 20^th.

Explaining the plot of THE ZERO THEOREM is kind of pointless. Something about a computer hacker whose goal is to discover the reason for human existence but who continually finds his work interrupted thanks to “The Management” who send a teenager and lusty love interest to distract him. Most of THE ZERO THEOREM is carried by Christoph Waltz in the lead, with support from veteran David Thewlis, lovely Mélanie Thierry and young Lucas Hedges. Gilliam replaced the gray government of BRAZIL with the bright and colorful corporation, but kept the same feeling of hopelessness, lack of meaning and control that was prevalent in the earlier film. But, like BRAZIL, many of the concepts are either too abstract to “get” or too blunt (like the Church of Batman the Redeemer). Waltz does a fantastic job in his role, and the movie looks great for the tiny budget that was used. THE ZERO THEOREM is a film designed to make you feel and think, which it does, but I am afraid that’s it’s also an easy one to forget.

We Are Movie Geeks got a sneak peak at the upcoming THE ZERO THEOREM Blu-ray:

THE ZERO THEOREM was shot digitally and the quality of the 1080p Blu-ray transfer with its 1.85:1 aspect ratio lives up to what one would hope for. There are a lot of neon-bright colors used in the movie, and I’m happy to report that they all look great in HD, without ever becoming over-saturated. Black levels are also very strong, which is good news since many of the scenes take place in dark locales and fleshtones are properly rendered throughout.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is outstanding. Dialogue is clear, intelligible and carefully prioritized, and dynamics are excellent.

Extras are a behind the scenes featurette that shows viewers the making of the film and mini-docs on ‘The Visual Effects’, ‘The Costumes’, and ‘The Sets’ – none of these featurettes go into much depth.

Despite my problems with THE ZERO THEOREM, I do recommend that fans of Terry Gilliam buy Well Go USA‘s Blu of his latest opus.