Listen Up

Watching a British crime film WITHOUT a Sonos Arc SL Soundbar

You are watching a British crime film. You’re about a third of the way through.

The protagonist, a plucky upstart criminal, has done something to upset a high-powered local crime boss, resulting in a meeting between said crime boss and his chief enforcer. For some reason, this rendezvous occurs in a sauna.

The chief enforcer gives his account of the protagonist’s exploits. In response, the crime boss makes his grim proclamation of…

Wait, what did he say?

Between the hiss of the steam underlying the scene, the actor’s casual delivery, and, above all, the poor quality of your television’s built-in speakers, you couldn’t really make out the line.

But no worries. Just rewind and listen again.

Okay, didn’t catch it that time either. One more rewind, how about?

Still not totally getting it.

Ugh. You hate to do this, but it’s worth it. This is a pivotal scene. And yes, to be clear, you’ve more or less understood what he said. As in: based on context clues, you know he’s just doomed the protagonist in some way. But you’ve sunk so much energy into this that you have to know the actual line.

Hence, you rewind and turn on closed captioning.

Now, you play it again and learn… it was some Britishism that you were never, not in a million years, going to understand. But you’re in too deep at this point. You’re pausing, you’re googling it, you’re reading about the phrase’s origins, you’re getting distracted by the internet and your fantasy team, and you’re resuming the movie a whole fifteen minutes later.

Even worse: you didn’t select “on replay” when you did the closed captions. And now you leave them on in case this happens again. Which means, you are reading a movie–one in your own language, at that–instead of watching it. You barely know what any character’s face even looks like, because your eyes remain fixated on the very bottom of the screen.

You stayed in for this?

Eventually, you get tired and decide to finish the movie tomorrow. But you never do.

Watching a British crime film WITH a Sonos Arc SL Soundbar

You are watching a British crime film. You’re about a third of the way through.

The protagonist, a plucky upstart criminal, has done something to upset a high-powered local crime boss, resulting in a meeting between said crime boss and his chief enforcer. For some reason, this rendezvous occurs in a sauna.

The chief enforcer gives his account of the protagonist’s exploits. In response, the crime boss makes his grim proclamation of…

Something you can hear clearly, thanks to your Sonos Arc SL Soundbar, but don’t understand. Isn’t it interesting? A shared language with so many unique variations! Well, no need to get hung up on that. It would only delay the thrilling action sequences yet to come, made all the livelier with that excellent sound.

You watch the rest of the movie, giving it your full attention.

What a delightful night in!