The Blues Brothers Blu-ray review

            Comedy, car chases, and musical numbers fill the strange and wonderful classic hit which is The Blues Brothers. The Blues Brothers is as much interesting because of the history involved as it is because of the obvious entertaining elements of the film. When two Saturday Night Live performers decided to create a band under pseudo names, nobody could have possibly known the success which would result. When the success was at its peak the concept for the film was created, adding a whole back story behind the two brothers which John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd became when performing as The Blues Brothers.

            Jake and Elwood Blues (Belushi and Aykroyd) are two orphan delinquents set out on a mission from God which finds them running from the law and Nazis while they bring their blues band together. The story is intentionally simple which brings the music to the forefront of the film, spotlighting some great musical numbers from musical legends such as Ray Charles, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin. Driving around in a cop car, Elwood Blues is a great driver with the same power as the law following them. Whenever there is no musical number on screen, it is nearly always because there is a chase scene. There is little else within the film, which is what makes it so entertaining. Blues and car chases with the intermittent jokes from two comic stars.

            The Blu-ray disc has the original theatrical version of the film as well as an extended cut of the film. As well as having the choice of each version of the film, each side also has a variety of different special features, including “Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers.” This featurette is an hour long and has many interviews and information about the production of the film.            There is also a great featurette, Remembering John, which is a portrait of Belushi from some of the people who he worked with. Then there is “Transposing the Music,” which is a featurette about the spin-offs that The Blues Brothers film created. There is also real concert footage, and introduction to the film by Aykroyd, and production notes.