The Reaping (HD DVD)

Warner | 99 minutes | 2007 | R | Directed by: Stephen Hopkins |
HD DVD reviewed by: Matt Brighton

I don't think Hollywood will ever get tired of telling us how the world will end of how God will ultimately punish us for our sins and injustices. And if they do, that time is not yet upon us. It seems that nearly every year or so there's a new movie about the signs of the apocalypse or plagues that involve frogs raining from the sky. Now to be fair, it is an intriguing concept. How many people have made headlines by claiming they knew the day the world would end? And, of those, how many have been correct? Exactly. It's precisely because of attention-seeking folks like these that keep adding fuel to the pre-apocalyptic fire. Now don't get me wrong, one of these days the world will come to an end but I think everyone that's currently on the Earth will be long gone and forgotten. And if it should so happen that the end happens during our lifetimes, I somehow doubt that it will involve flies, famine and water turning into blood. But then again, I've been wrong before.

All talk of the end of the world aside, "The Reaping" isn't all bad - just overdone. Hilary Swank plays former ordained minister/missionary Katherine Winter. She's lost her child and is now a professor at Louisiana State University where she specializes in debunking the supposed signs of the end of the world. A former student turned assistant Ben (Idris Elba), helps Katherine on her journeys. Katherine gets a mysterious call from Haven, Louisiana and they need her help. The river has turned to blood, the livestock are starting to disappear and the town fears that the end is near. Katherine's newfound skepticism has led her to a perfect track record in finding the scientific explanation as to why things happened the way they did and she expects Haven to be no different. Once there, she's greeted by Doug (David Morrissey), an outsider who's lost his wife a few years earlier. The trio starts investigating and by the looks of things, the signs are all there. Katherine, however, refuses to believe and prattles onward searching for a legitimate answer. Is the end of the world really at hand or will Katherine be forced to re-discover her faith to save the town of Haven?

The 2.35:1 VC-1 HD transfer was somewhat of a let down for me. I figured for a new to DVD movie that the transfer would be pretty much flawless and I'd be floored as to how good it looked. Well, as it turns out, I was wrong. The movie rarely reveals itself as a HD DVD and only during a few of the outdoor, daytime shots does it look as I expected it to look. A majority of the nighttime scenes seem to have some artifacting and somemovement in the black levels - something I really didn't expect. A few of the scenes seemed a bit soft as well. The disc does contain the standard DVD as well and after viewing it, the HD DVD version is an improvement, but not by much. "The Reaping" isn't unwatchable by any means, but set your expectations low and you won't be as disappointed as I was.

On the other hand, the Dolby TrueHD soundtrack does have some moments where I actually had to turn down the volume. As expected, the dialogue is strong and rich - never lacking. Surrounds come into play quite often, adding some extra ambiance where necessary. Towards the end of the movie, the soundtrack really takes off as we get all sorts of robust, energetic sound from pretty much every speaker you have hooked up. While the video suffers, the audio nearly makes up for it.

"The Reaping" doesn't have a whole lot to offer in the supplemental department, mainly we get a series of five featurettes ranging from the history of supposed instances of plagues and some interviews with some scholars in regards to the same issue. There's a brief piece on the shoot in New Orleans and we cap it all off with a short story read by Anna Sophia Robb ("Loren" in the film). No commentary and no trailer are to be found, so unless it's a lot of fluff you want, you'll be left out in the cold here.