The Last Circus, on first glance, is insanity. Our opening scene finds Javier’s father dressed in his clown attire slashing through a regiment of soldiers with a machete as the soldiers fire through their own fear at the surreal sight of their killer. These first few images might very well typecast the film for a lot of people. The first time I saw this film I didn’t see insanity, well not the kind that would inspire a hockey mask wearing axe toting lunatic to cut a group of teenagers down to size. Instead what I saw was love, fear, survival, adrenaline, all tied together in a logical response. It’s this moment that sets the mood for the film, however crazy it may become later on.

The main characters in the film, Javier and Sergio (The sad and happy clowns), come wrapped in their own personalities. Javier is the timid shy one who see’s the world with morals and rules that define you. Sergio is the monster who lives, period. He gains pleasure through violence, domination, and instilling fear at whatever cost. There is no higher authority in his world and what he wants he takes with no regard to conscience. Everything else within the story of these two men is cause and effect. This method slowly but surely reveals to us the true nature of humanity under exceedingly extraordinaire situations without limitations. That’s why I love this movie so much. Sure, at its core you can find a more developed deeper meaning then just the exposure of our species’ inevitable corruption towards the things we hold as morals and good intentions, but I guarantee in the end, the most frightening aspect of the film is not its brutality or vulgarity, but the fact that it can be watched by most with detachment. Like it or not but the films most extreme moments will be seen through desensitized eyes that will compute these atrocities as normalcy and even with agreement.

QUALITY:
Two words. Reference Disc. I’ve been highly impressed by Magnet and Magnolia Home Entertainment. Their last release that I covered, I Saw The Devil, was perfection. The Last Circus follows in its footsteps with deep rich black levels that never fade, even in the darkest of scenes. The clarity is perfect revealing every minute detail you could think of from skin pores to the tiniest details in clothing or background. Color pops, where applicable, and gives depth to so much of the film. Sharpness is acute. Hell, like I said, everything is absolutely perfect. Audio follows suit in both Spanish and English, which both come in DTS-HD M.A 5.1 tracks that carry a heavy resonant bass sound that adds enormity to moments of extreme violence while allowing treble to pitch well against dialogue. Simply a fantastic BD release.

BONUS FEATURES:
Unfortunately here is where this release loses a few points. While there are some decent bonus features almost all of them, the films U.S. trailer being the exception, are in standard definition. Here’s what we got:

~Making of The Last Circus: An almost fifteen minute look behind the scenes with interviews from the cast and director.
~Behind the Scenes Segments: Almost seven and a half minutes of a behind the scenes feature which unfortunately comes with no narration or text.
~Visual Effects: Just a bit over ten minutes. Great feature. Make sure to check this one out.
~U.S. Trailer
~International Trailer
~International Teaser
~Other releases from Magnolia Home Entertainment. Point Blank looks really good and there is a trailer for the long awaited Tucker and Dale VS. Evil.