‘Mad City’ Blu-Ray Review – Hostage Drama Takes A Heavy-Handed Approach To Journalistic Sensationalism

Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta team up with award-winning filmmaker Costa-Gavras (Z, Missing) in a fierce tale of ratings-driven TV news gone mad. Travolta is Sam, a misguided museum guard who loses his job, then tries to get it back…at gunpoint. Hoffman is Max. a local TV reporter taken hostage with schoolchildren when Sam locks down the museum. It is a desperate move for Sam, a career move for Max. He is on the inside of a live exclusive. Now he must give Sam’s story a heroic spin, keep a cynical network anchor (Alan Alda) at bay, and keep America watching. As Max pulls the strings, the stakes grow higher, darker, madder.

For thoughts on Mad City, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic: 

[youtube https://youtu.be/DfA60BshMLU?si=Vg86A86S-i8VE1zB&t=2108]

Video Quality

Mad City gets a stellar upgrade on Blu-Ray courtesy of Warner Archive with a new 1080p master sourced from a 4K restoration of the Original Camera Negative. The transfer retains the sumptuous natural film grain absent of any compression artifacts or other such digital anomalies. The colors of the film are well-saturated and provide some hues that make a more vivid impression in the outfits, production design, and light sources. Skin tones appear to be natural across the ensemble. Black levels are appropriately deep in shadowy areas of the screen, and highlights never veer into blooming. There are elements in the production design that are easily visible for the first time ever on home entertainment. Warner Archive has provided a dynamite transfer for this overlooked drama. 

Audio Quality

Warner Archive brings this new Blu-Ray to consumers with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix that offers a 5-star presentation. The score from Thomas Newman is a vital part of this film, and it sounds great throughout with unwavering fidelity. Dialogue stays tied to the center channel, but it makes its way to the surround speakers when necessary. While this may not be the most action-packed experience, some notable environmental effects give this one extra life. This is a perfectly balanced track that does everything it needs to without issue. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are provided on this disc.

Special Features

• Trailer: The two-and-a-half-minute trailer is provided here. 

Final Thoughts

Mad City is a bit heavy-handed in its portrayal of journalistic malpractice and sensationalism, but the story itself is pretty engaging throughout. In the realm of hostage dramas, this ranks somewhere in the middle with nothing ever coming about that elevates this one to something essential. The performances from Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta are decent enough, but even these two have been far stronger in previous efforts. Warner Archive has released a Blu-Ray featuring a terrific A/V presentation and not much in the way of special features. The film is decent entertainment, and the technical presentation delivers by every metric.  

Mad City can be purchased directly through MovieZyng or various other online retailers. 

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.