Adaptation [Blu-ray]

(5 stars for the film, 3 stars for the blu-ray)Spike Jonez's 2002 comedy-drama "Adaptation." is absolutely brilliant in my opinion. It stars Nicholas Cage in a career defining dual performance as identical twins Charlie and Donald Kaufman. Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep are also fantastic as is the rest of the supporting cast which includes Brian Cox, Ron Livingston, Cara Seymour, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Tilda Swinton. The real life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman wrote the film and also listed the fictitious Donald Kaufman as sharing writing credit which is a clever little touch once you have actually seen the film. The film is constantly surprising the viewer while subverting expectations in the best way possible."Adaptation." was first released on blu-ray back in 2012 by Image Entertainment which is now out of print. It presented the film on a single layer disc with a transfer utilizing the AVC codec at a bit rate usually hovering between the low to mid 20's. The extras were almost non-existant though as the 2012 disc only contained a 2 minute 3 second featurette in standard definition.Shout Factory licensed the film for a blu-ray re-release in 2020 under their Shout Select imprint. I was really hoping that they would pull out the stops in terms of extras and that we would get a lengthy making of documentary along with a commentary track or two. I was sorely disappointed but I will get to that in a moment.Shout Factory presents "Adaptation." on a dual layer disc utilizing the AVC codec in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 at a hefty bit rate usually staying at 36 and occasionally going above that. This is the same HD master used for the 2012 disc but it obviously got an improved encode on the 2020 disc. The film looks really good overall and while I did not spot many improvements picture quality wise, It did seem that the grain structure was better resolved and tighter on the Shout Select disc due to the superior encode. A new 2K or 4K scan would have been awesome but I am sure Shout Factory had to work with the HD master that they were given.Sound is presented in a choice of either 2.0 or 5.1 English DTS-HD master audio. I thought everything sounded well balanced and clear on either track. English subtitles are included for the hearing impaired.As far as extras, I was beyond disappointed. Once again the very short standard definition featurette from the 2012 disc was ported over. There is also an image gallery and theatrical trailer included as well. No commentary tracks, no new making of documentary, no cast or filmmaker interviews. For a Shout Select release, this is very surprising in not a good way at all. I was aware of this when I originally pre-ordered it but held out hope that something would change.If you own the out of print 2012 blu-ray and are a passive fan of the film, then you can hold off on the Shout Select re-release. While the 2020 disc features a superior encode, the differences in picture quality are negligible. If you missed out on the 2012 disc, then the Shout Select release is the way to go as it is currently at a low $16.99 price point whereas the 2012 disc is going for upwards of 50 dollars at some places. Yes, the Shout Select blu-ray makes "Adaptation." readily available again. I just wish that they would have not put it out under their Shout Select imprint as I can see other people being just as disappointed as I am if not more.

This is a great movie. A unique story,with one of Nicholas Cage best performances.

nic cage

I consider this to be a very underrated movie.It's just a movie about a flower. Or more specifically about writing a movie based off a book that's based off a flower.If you want lots of action this movie isnt for you. If you enjoy a movie that is very intelligent in its writing than I believe you will enjoy it.

I love this film, Charlie is an amazing writer, I wish there was more extras on the blu-ray, but the film is enough, own this on VHS, 2 DVD copies and now blu-ray - I can't seem to remove any of them from my being.

Loved it!...was always a fan...nick cage killed it and chris cooper is hilarious...brief performance from brian cox was memorable...would recommend if your a fan of the shout select series

A great release by Shout and a fantastically meta film. I watched this after having just finished STORY by Robert Mckee so I felt personally attacked by this film.