Review of
The Pacific (HBO Miniseries) [Blu-ray] is now available at DVDBeaver:

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Audio & Music: 10/8
In scenes of chaos, such as battles big and small, it’s so easy for the mixing engineer to simply spread effects left, right and behind to convey the impression of mayhem, taking care to offer a few correctly fixed locational cues. I usually permit a certain degree of laxity, figuring that to get all of the effects in their correct locations is more work than is necessary or, in some case, useful. Add a little LFE, some screaming mortars, some screaming soldiers, the whiz of bullets and that should sell the program pretty well.
In my opinion those responsible for the sound design for The Pacific have earned the High Definition Video Oscar for Best Sound not only for this year, but perhaps for all years up until now. Indeed the series won and/or was nominated for a number of sound-related Emmys. (Sound Mixer Michael Minkler was also on board for Black Hawk Down – ‘nuf said!) More care was taken to make precise the myriad of arms fire than I have ever heard before in a home theatre experience. Especially effective are the night battles where we can’t see what is hit, but only where the fire has started from and the occasional tracing round to understand its trajectory. The effect with a properly tuned high definition audio playback system is as frightening as it is riveting.
It is not only the locational cues that hold our attention, but more important: the size, shape, timbre and bone-crunching impact of all manner of firepower, from hand guns and M1 rifles and carbines to BAR’s and 50 mm machine guns to mortars and other explosives, to the muffled cough of distant canon and small arms fire. LFE is properly judged and never exaggerated just to prove itself.
And that’s just the big stuff. We haven’t even got to the beach landing at Pelelui, which will knock your proverbial socks off.
When the Marines enter the jungles of Guadalcanal they are met with a living, enveloping organism of insects, birds, rain (the distinction between falling rain on the ground, on the trees and suspended canvas is appreciated). Thunderstorms have a haunting magic. There is nothing living that does not contribute its unique sound to the magical cacophony that is the jungle. There is no way to distinguish the enemy from the trees. The jungle would suddenly open fire, several Marines scream out, then you knew.
Dialogue is another instance of movie magic. I was unable – and, by this time, unwilling – to tell if the dialogue during the scenes during, before and after a battle was live or looped. I noticed no telltale signs of soundstage effect. It all seemed to work, even if what we hear might not have been the way voices sound in that particular landscape.
In the big moments, the music tends to become generic: like James Horner meets Randy Newman. But in the more subtle scenes, the music enhances the material instead of trying to compete with it.
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Bottom line: 9
The Pacific is an ideal series for home theatre viewing. With front projection or sizeable flat screens and a serious high-definition surround sound system we are transported, safely, into a world that few of us now living ever knew, even if our fathers did. There is much to learn - in many instances, to learn all over again. There is comment in the Extra Features that - rather unwittingly, I should think - warns against the tyranny of a colonial power whose manifesto is the domination of lesser peoples.
Taken at face value, the drama that is the lives of Bob Leckie, John Basilone and Gene Sledge as they played their part in that great war is powerful stuff. As with Band of Brothers, cliche is rare (war, after all, is something of a cliche, is it not; sentimentality is left at the door altogether. Bombs really do burst in the air and we are hurt as are they.
As for the high definition part of the package: The Pacific looks great and will likely become a benchmark for sound reproduction.
Highly recommended, despite the clumsy menus.
Link:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_rev...fic_blu-ray.htm