Review Detail

Put simply, The Penultimate Cut looks and feels like The Final Cut without the heavy handed impregnation of teal fog, as though it had been extracted from the actual FC itself chemically. Like the FC it manages to unify a wide variety of exposure latitudes and grain within a darker, contrasting style - though here the contrast carries more clarity from the highlights by teasing out more detail rather than simply fogging an area to avoid burn out. This is also expertly assisted by the application of an almost universally warm skin tone in most scenes quite seamlessly - It is here where TM2YC has succeeded with flying colours in their aims to render a high definition 1980's analog video aesthetic, very reminiscent of the early VHS and laser discs of this title and indeed typical of the era. By using the latest elements it now looks crisp and sharp throughout and is possibly the most consistent quality of grading I've seen for this film from beginning to end. It is a professional looking job.

Having worked on the same source material previously myself, it is possibly academic to note that my preferences for the 2007 'Archival' Directors Cut grading do still remain. It's tonal depth, shadow detail, varied skin tones, exposures and environmental hues also add to my preference for an alternative narrative than is presented here - But TM2YC has pulled out and crafted many tonal elements that I openly envied as I watched it - There were details and concise colours drawn out from some tricky highlight areas that had me skipping back to double check. Very nice work. It gets full marks from me for visual editing for some excellent grading changes.

Also, any viewer need only look to the comprehensive list of available audio tracks accompanying this seamless presentation to realize it is a must in any Blade Runner collection. A lot of hard work and passion for the source material has gone into this and it shows.