RAY - HD DVD review

With Ray Charles' personal blessing, Jamie Foxx put forth the performance of his life in the biopic "Ray." Foxx played piano, sang, attended Braille school and wore prosthetics over his eyes that forced him into a state of actual blindness for long hours at a time. Foxx studied with the legendary musician and went to far greater lengths than most actors take to embody the spirit of the young Ray Charles Robinson. For his efforts, Foxx was awarded with a coveted Oscar at the 2005 Academy Awards in the category of Best Actor. It is a performance that allows for a mediocre film to rise to greater heights than it deserved and most certainly if it had not been for Jamie Foxx, "Ray" would have only served to dishonor the man himself.

The pivotal focus of "Ray" is on the decade and a half of time where Ray Charles first signed with Atlantic Records and rose to stardom and his early efforts with CBS Records. The film spends as much time on the musical genius of Ray Charles as it does bringing his womanizing ways and drug usage to light, completely ignoring the era of life where Ray attended a school for the blind and became his own man and overcoming the loss of his mother and his difficult teenage years. We are given some views into the life of a young Ray when he still had his sight and the trauma of his younger brother George drowning in a wash tub. There are delivered through flashback sequences that serve as nightmares for the blind pianist. However, when Ray is away from the piano, we are served with a heroin junkie that openly cheats on his loving wife with various backup singers from his band.

When we are treated with moments of Ray's musical genius, the songs are the all-too-familiar hits of his career and these flash by incredibly fast and offer little to no deep insight into the song or the reasoning for their writing. The story does provide enough exposition or setting to allow the viewer to deduce why a song came into being, but you really never get a moment to see Ray experimenting or expanding a note or two into a full song. When Ahmet Ertegun (Curtis Armstrong) offers Ray his own song "Mess' Around," you are shown that Ray can take a few lyrics and a single musical key and compose a hit song. Ray Charles was one of the greatest musical talents of the past fifty years and it is true that Charles could cut a record on one take, but somewhere along the line, the man had to think out a few songs.

The film also takes several liberties with actual events and tacks on a Hollywood ending where everybody can feel good about Ray Charles' direction in life and leave the theater with a happy ending. When Ray refuses to take part in a Jim Crow concert in Georgia, the film states he is banned from Georgia for life. Ray Charles had to pay a fine. He was never banned from the state of Georgia. This does set up the final scene where Ray's song "Georgia on my Mind" becomes the state song and his ban is lifted. This did occur in 1979 and Charles performed the song on the floor of the legislative house, but no ban needed lifted. Additionally, his wife Della Bea Robinson (Kerry Washington) was at his side during this happening in 1979. In actuality, Della Bea and Ray had an ugly divorce in 1977; two years earlier. Ray Charles once stated that losing his mother was the most traumatic moment of his life. This is passed over and just mentioned in passing while Ray is courting Della Bea.

There are a few other inconsistencies with true historical fact and you can research the film's accuracy to great lengths. Some have said that the film portrayed Ray Charles as an easier going sort and that he was much more aggressive and driven in real life. With as much focus that was given on the drugs and the adultery of Ray Charles' life, the film owed the man some morality and understanding of how great a man he was, despite his flaws. Covering his younger years would have helped to accomplish this, so you cannot fault director Taylor Hackford for wanting to give some sense of humanity and heart to the musician. For all the films inaccuracies and liberties taken, it still delivers a solid look at who Ray Charles was.

The film does do a good job of covering much of Ray Charles' musical history. A lot of his early hits and the background setting for these songs are provided in the film. We don't see Ray discover these songs, but we get to see the initial reactions to numerous folk as he performs them for the first time. Ray Charles floors everybody when he comes up with a new song and everybody looks at the artist as if he truly were a god in this film. He was a man who had that type of influence over others with his music and the film does not go overboard in these reactions. The familiar name of Quincy Jones (Larenz Tate) is given some historical background in the film. Seeing another famous person's early days was a nice addition to the film. For a quick education on the musical history of Ray Charles, "Ray" does succeed nicely.

The actors and actresses are all very good as well. Regina King and Aunjanue Ellis are wonderful as two of the Raylettes that "Let Ray" bed them. They show the musical prowess that interested Charles, but were believable as the ‘other women' in the life of Ray Charles. C.J. Sanders is a good child actor that deserves a pat on his back for bringing the pain and suffering of young Ray Charles to life. When Curtis Armstrong first appeared as Ahmet Ertegun, my first thoughts were of Clint Howard and not of Booger. Well, the former "Revenge of the Nerds" actor did a fine job as the man who helped Ray Charles become a star. Academy Award winner Terrence Howard has a bit part in the film, but shines in the time he does share the screen with Jamie Fox.

Any credit to where the film succeeds should be given to Jamie Foxx. His performance as the legend is so good that it is frightening. I've seen some old film footage of Ray growing up and I have my own memories of seeing him perform, whether it be on television concerts or for Pepsi commercials and my opinion is that Jamie Foxx delivered a perfect performance. He is an incredibly talented actor and the fact he sang, played piano and performed without his own sight through much of the film is simply amazing. I've seen others say how it was almost like watching Ray when they saw Jamie act. I certainly never had the opportunity to meet Ray Charles, but from what I've seen on the TV set, I whole-heartedly agree. When Ray Charles gave his seal of approval for Jamie Foxx, his own words can be quoted and it can be said that Ray, "You got the right one, Baby!"

Video:

"Ray" is presented in glorious HD-DVD with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio VC-1 transfer. Universal has delivered a couple of the better looking transfers on the young format. "The Chronicles of Riddick" and "Serenity" both looked very good. "Ray" is one of the finer efforts from the studio and if it weren't for some of the artistic choices made in the film, this would be a good title to show off how great HD-DVD can be. However, many of the stock photography used to show the 1950s and 1660s and scenes that were photographed in a manner to blend with the stock photography are low in detail and high in grain. The ‘flashback' sequences where Ray struggles with his childhood are oversaturated and the brown dirt was almost orange in a few sequences. These flashbacks were nicely detailed, but the brighter-than-life colors were disconcerting.

When the film did focus on the then current times of Ray Charles, the picture quality was superb. Detail was sharp and solid and you can see every imperfection of Jamie Foxx's face. This is one of those transfers where you can see what some actors are complaining of with the higher quality of high definition. Jamie is a good looking guy and has no worries. I did not see any compression artifacts at all. Stubble is one of those things I have learned to pay attention to in a digital image. Stubble tends to dance around and move. Every hair of the stubble on Jamie Foxx's face stayed in its proper location. It looked quite lifelike and didn't suffer from posterization. Colors were nicely done, though toned down a bit to match the colors of the era. When stock photography wasn't used and when the image wasn't toned down, the source materials were completely absent of dirt and flaws. You can't fault a film for artistic decisions and "Ray" looks just as good as the filmmakers intended it to.

Comparing the film to its original "Limited Edition" release, the HD-DVD version is a quality upgrade. The level of detail is immediately noticeable and where the standard definition release exhibited a bit of edge enhancement, the HD-DVD showed none. Colors were brighter and more vivid in the HD-DVD release as well. Not every film I have viewed so far has been a big enough improvement to recommend the upgrade on image quality alone, but "Ray" is a good exception to that. The image quality really is good enough that if you loved the film, you should consider the newer release.

Sound:

The original standard definition release contained English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 multi-channel surround. The HD-DVD release gets an upgraded Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix that equals the picture quality in the level of improvement. A French 5.1 mix is still along for the ride, as well as a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround mix. The Dolby Digital Plus track sounds great. It would be a bit silly to release a film about a musical legend and not having it sound great and the already good DVD mix is improved upon with an excellent sounding Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix.

"Ray" is a fine soundtrack that brings to life the voice and instruments of Ray Charles' music. Most of the film's soundtrack only populates the front three channels, but the sound is very natural and very ‘live' sounding, as if the performers are playing directly in front of you. The quality of the mix is more akin to a good stereo SACD mix than a good multi-channel DVD-Audio release. Each instruments' voice and presence can be felt on "Ray" and the sound does rival all but the best advanced resolution (SACD, DVD-Audio) releases in musical quality. When the film is not concentrating on the music of the man, it's soundtrack is rooted in dialogue. "Ray" delivers nicely on dialogue and it is clean and clear. This is a great soundtrack that will not blow you away, but it delivers the music of Ray Charles in ways not previously heard. I can't wait for HD-DVD music releases.

Extras:

Universal first did it with "Jarhead." They have done it again with "Ray." All of the supplements from the expensive limited edition release of the standard definition DVD have made their way over to the HD-DVD release. The limited edition DVD had a higher sticker price than the HD-DVD version, so you are truly getting a nice bargain. Aside from the longer cut of the film, about the only thing you do not get is the very handsome ‘collectable packaging' that the Limited Edition Gift Set arrived in. There is no 28-page Photo Journal, but everything is contained on a single side and not split over three sides like the 2-disc limited edition set was. It may not look as spiffy, but the new HD-DVD release is far more practical. Had the longer cut of the film which contained twenty five additional minutes been included, this set would be a perfect replacement for the limited edition release.

A full length Feature Commentary with Directory Taylor Hackford finds its way over to the HD-DVD release. The commentary track for this film is extremely good and a highly recommended listen. Hackford worked with Ray Charles for fifteen years to get this film produced. He spent a lot of time with the man and worked very hard on this film. Hackford points out a lot of historical facts and also notes the liberties he took with the story. You learn more about Ray Charles from listening to this commentary track than you do by watching the film. Along with the full length commentary is a DVS Descriptive Video Service narration track for the blind. This is a very nice addition and considering the film is about a blind artist, it is nice to see that concessions were made for the blind.

Over 27 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary by director Taylor Hackford are included. These are the scenes that were included in the longer cut of the film (and were also provided as supplements). Many of these scenes are very good and I enjoyed the longer cut of the film more than I did the theatrical version. These scenes added a great deal of information to the supporting cast and also on Ray's music. Nine Extended Musical Scenes are presented, along with Jamie Foxx's introduction to the scenes. These had previously been broken into two separate supplements, but are contained together here. This is all about Ray Charles' music. These run for a full twenty five minutes. Seven of the nine tracks here were only available on the limited edition release. If you bought the HD-DVD, I seriously hope you watch these more than once. It's all about the music.

A few nice featurettes are up next. Stepping into the Part features Ray Charles and Jamie Foxx working together as Ray tests Jamie's musical abilities. This ten and a half minutes featurette is a great watch and provides background information from Taylor Hackford. Ray Remembered is a too short four minute look where friends of Ray Charles pay tribute to the great man. Again, this featurette was way too short. A Look Inside Ray is an incredibly fast three minute making of featurette. Talk about glossing over a lot of information. This was more like a commercial for the making of feature contained on the Limited Edition release. The Theatrical Trailer completes the supplements that were available on both previous DVD releases.

Three supplements that were only available on the Limited Edition complete the lengthy extras on the HD-DVD. The Filmmaker's Journey takes ten minutes for Taylor Hackford to discuss his interest in bringing the story of Ray Charles to life and what it took over the course of fifteen years to finally get the story onto the big screen. The Women of Ray is another short ten minute featurette that looks at the actresses who portrayed the women of Ray Charles' life and information on the women themselves. A lengthy and proper making of documentary can finally be found near the bottom of the menu with Ray: An American Story. This half hour story features the cast and crew as they discuss Ray Charles, the making of the film and those involved with the project. This was the selling point of the limited edition and it is nice to see that it is included here. This documentary includes a lot of great detail into the life of the man and the film that celebrates him. Between the film, the commentary track and this documentary, you get a very good look at the man whose first name is "Ray" and who overcame blindness to touch us all with his music.

Closing Thoughts:

Ray Charles was a man who lost his baby brother and his eyesight in close proximity to each other at an early age. He overcame the blindess to become one of the greatest musical influences and performers of all time. However, he found a greater handicap in the drugs and women associated with Rock and Roll. He fought these negative influences and continued to revolutionize popular music. Jamie Foxx becomes the legend with one of the best performances in the past decade. The film is flawed and places too much emphasis on drugs and women and not enough on the genius and music of Ray Charles. Still, Jamie Foxx lets his performance make this film a worthwhile investment of the audience's time. The HD-DVD offers up improved sight and sound and all of the value added content of the Limited Edition release. However, the extended cut of the film is omitted and the longer scenes may only be seen as deleted scenes. The supplements are an education on the man that is not provided by the film. As an overall package, "Ray" on HD-DVD delivers, rising above the omission of the extended cut and flaws in the picture itself.