2307: Winter's Dream (Blu-ray) (2016)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Trailer-x 5 for other Eagle Entertainment releases
Rating
Year Of Production	2016
Running Time	101:11 (Case: 97)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Joey Curtis
Studio Distributor	Eagle Entertainment	Starring	Paul Sidhu Arielle Holmes Brandon Coles Brad Potts Kelcey Watson Timothy Lee DePriest Anne-Solenne Hatte Harwood Gordon
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Joachim Horsley

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     By 2307 the Earth has been covered by ice for over 300 years. The remaining small pockets of human survivors live underground and have developed humanoids that are impervious to the cold and who cannot reproduce as slave workers. The slaves are kept in check, and hunted and killed if necessary, by special, genetically enhanced, human squads, called Spartans. Then one experimental, advanced humanoid group lead by ASH-393 (Brandon Coles) revolted, killed humans and escaped into the Dead Zone, an almost endless expanse of ice and snow. One of those killed by ASH-393 was the wife of Spartan 7 commander Bishop (Paul Sidhu) and his unborn baby daughter extracted from his wife’s womb by ASH-393 and taken into the wilderness with the humanoids.

     Five years pass before General Trajan (Brad Potts) is able to obtain a general fix on where ASH-393 has gone. He sends a Spartan team lead by Bishop and including Mein Kampf reading female warrior Kix (Arielle Holmes), El-hatta (Kelcey Watson) and Ishmael (Timothy Lee DePriest) to find and kill ASH-393. But out on the ice the tables turn and the hunters become the hunted in encounters with humanoids; team members die and Bishop is left buried in the ice. Yet, it seems that the Dead Zone is not so dead after all, and Bishop is rescued by Indian woman Atka (Anne-Solenne Hatte); she not only has seen a 5 year old girl in the area but knows where Bishop can get help from an old Spartan soldier called Cage (Harwood Gordon) who lives as a recluse nearby and has contact with the humanoids. But when Bishop manages to confront ASH-393 and find his daughter, all his preconceptions are overturned.

     2307: Winter’s Dream is written and directed by Joey Curtis. Certainly the concept of humanoids on the rampage is nothing new or unusual, nor the Blade Runner type squads hunting them, but set almost exclusively in a bleak, ice-covered landscape with the destroyed or decayed detritus of the old civilization half buried in snow, or small black figures in a world of white, the film and the widescreen photography by cinematographer Ian Coad always looks interesting. The action is chaotic and loud, but filmed close up with fast spinning pans and quick cuts, so it is quite vertigo inducing although some of the lead-up to action is tense enough.

     However, 2307: Winter’s Dream has aspirations to be far more than an action film about hunting humanoids and so adds thoughts about life, creation and playing god, what it means to have a soul, free will, slavery and freedom; this is a very heady mix which, while it does slow down the action, it also creates a thoughtful and interesting film and leads to the twist that occurs in the last act.

     The scenario of humans vs their humanoid creations in a future world is nothing new or, indeed, unusual, but 2307: Winter’s Dream does a good job with its premise; it is an entertaining film complete with ideas, a bleak snow-covered landscapes and an interesting twist.

Video

     2307: Winter’s Dream is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Other than during the sections with the fast spinning pans and quick cuts where there is a loss of detail and focus, 2307: Winter’s Dream has strong detail. The colour palate, in a film set on the ice and snow, is obviously limited to white, black and grey while interiors in ruined buildings and caves are dark, and have a brown look. The only vibrant colours are blood on the snow, the club sequence at the start of the film or when green or red vision scopes were used. Blacks are solid and shadow detail good, skin tones fine, brightness and contrast consistent.

     Artefacts and marks were absent.

     There are no subtitles provided.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     English DTS-HD MA 5.1 is the only audio choice.

     The audio is loud and enveloping during the action; at other times there was music or the silence of the icy wasteland. The delivery of the dialogue left something to be desired as it was indistinct on a number of occasions, when subtitles would certainly have helped. The sub-woofer added depth to the explosions, gunshots and to the mostly electronic score by Joachim Horsley.

     There are no lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Trailers

     Trailers for Revolt (2:15), Kill Command (2:03), Beta Test (2:14), Dead Awake (2:012) and Tell Me How I Die (2:33) play on start-up. They cannot be selected from the menu which only shows Play Feature / Chapters.

     This Australian Blu-ray release of 2307: Winter’s Dream is the only one available except for a German release which does however include the film’s trailer (and German subtitles).

     I have read some reviewers who disliked the twist and the philosophical underpinnings of 2307: Winter’s Dream, and I can understand that point of view. But there are plenty of thoughtless action films out there and the future sci-fi setting, to my mind, allows filmmakers to raise issues about man and what it is to be human. While 2307: Winter’s Dream may have its issues, being thoughtful is not one of them. With echoes of both Blade Runner and Waterworld, and with ideas all its own, 2307: Winter’s Dream is certainly worth a look for sci-fi action fans.

     The video and audio are fine. Trailers for other films are the only extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall