Film  

I Am Number Four is produced by the aforementioned Michael Bay and is directed by D.J. Caruso. It is based on the young adult novel of the same name by Pittacus Lore. The crux of the story is interstellar in nature. It seems that race of bad guys, The Mogadorians, hop from planet to planet, taking them over, exploiting their resources and in the process, wiping out the inhabitants (wasn’t that the plot of Independence Day?). In this case, they have already ravaged the planet Lorien. We don’t really know much about that planet other than the nine special ones who were helped to flee the plant along with their individual protectors, who have all made their way to Earth.

It seems that these nine special ones have incredible supernatural powers, even if they have yet to discover them. Bad news for the Earth though, as the Mogadorians have discovered that they are hiding out on the Earth. However, given the Lorien’s special powers, the Mogodorians have to eliminate all of the Loriens on Earth before colonizing the planet as the Loriens have the power to not only protect the Earth but destroy the Mogadorians. The Mogadorians need to strike quickly before the Loriens discover and develop their special powers, and band together to challenge them. This is where we find things when the film begins.

The Mogadorians have killed the first three of the Loriens and are stalking number 4. His protector, Henri (Timothy Oliphant), moves Number 4, John (Alex Pettyfer), who the Mogadorians have tracked to Florida. They move to Paradise, Ohio, where John enrolls in high school, and meets the alluring Sarah (Dianna Agron). However, the Mogadorians, discover his location and move in for the kill, endangering not only John’s life, but that of Henri, Sarah and the residents of Paradise. Will he survive? Will they all survive? Will someone come in at the end to help rescue them all? Will there be a sequel? I will let you watch the film for yourself to decide.

While D.J. Caruso of Disturbia fame is at the helm here, the film has all of the typical earmarks of a Michael Bay production, all action , little plot or meaningful dialogue and plenty of explosions and destruction. It would be nice to know more about the planet Lorien, why its residents look fully human and just how they made their way to the Earth, rather than take the easy way out with nothing but action with some puppy love thrown in. While there is plenty of potential here in this material, it was not explored very well here at all. Perhaps it will be in the sequel, although I am not holding my breath. If you are looking for a rather simple, fast paced, no brainer action film, give I Am Number Four a look. If you are looking for something with a great script and incredible, check out The King’s Speech instead. You will be glad you did. Rated as a rental only.

Video  

There is certainly a lot to love about the video quality on this release. The film certainly features a bright, bold and well saturated color palette although the skin tones are a bit too orange or gold for my tastes. For the most part black levels are outstanding. The level of detail here is exceptional and is about as good as it gets on Blu-ray. Clarity and depth are outstanding as well.

The only real issues I have with the video here is a bit of black crush and some lighter blacks near the very end of the film during, especially during the battle sequence in the interior of the high school. During most of the film, there is little in the way of shadow detail, which is most notable during the dimly lit interior sequences during the basement sequence where Henri is held captiveheld and during the haunted house sequence at the Paradise Halloween Scare festival.

While there is some video noise present during the most dimly lit scenes, it is kept to a minimum and is not much of a distraction. Other than this noise and the issue of black crush and some minor black level issues at the end of the film, this is a fine looking film and is an encode that should more than please fans of the film.

Audio  

Even without much in the way of subtly, this is one fine sounding film. It features a shall we say “robust” audio presentation with balls to the wall bass and dynamics that is of reference quality. While it can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially during the final battle sequence, the audio here is superb and will given your home theater rig, regardless of its cost or complexity, quite a workout. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the sound mix. Despite the cacophony, the dialogue track never gets lost in the mix. The surrounds are engaged very aggressively during the entire film, providing a totally immersive sound experience. All of the various sound and panning effects were placed perfectly in the sound field and they move seamlessly from speaker to speaker, from side to side and from front to back.

The overall fidelity of the sound is superb, sounding smooth and warm, even at rather high volume levels. If you want to listen at high volumes levels, be forewarned that your sub may be blown into the next room during the fight sequence at the high school football field. The audio track is certainly more than up to the task of providing a robust and dynamic home theater experience that will simply thrill fans of the film and of home theater in general, even if the plot. lacks the same degree of robustness, if you get my drift.

Special Features  

I Am Number Four is available in a three disc combo pack, which includes, in addition to the Blu-ray copy of the film, separate DVD and digital copies of the film. I will say that the extras included here are rather sparse, consisting of a blooper reel, 6 deleted scenes with introductions by D.J. Caruso as well as a featurette focusing on the character of Number Six, played in the film by Teresa Palmer. While the film focus on Teresa Palmer, her training for the role and how her scenes were filmed, the featurette does also feature interviews with D.J. Caruso and members of the cast. The blooper reel is rather pedestrian and nothing more than a bit of filler, given how sparse the extras are here. There is one other deleted scene entitled “Power Prank” that is included with the digital download of the film.

Final Thoughts  

While long on quality audio and video presentations, I Am Number Four is short on just about everything else and most importantly plot, dialogue and character development. In short, a typical Michael Bay film. Rated as a rental only, if just for the sensational audio presentation.

While not caught up in the hype of the release of the final book, The Deathly Hallows, I did pick up a copy and read it over a few weeks. While I liked the book, I can’t exactly say that I couldn’t put it down because I did, many times. However, I was interested in seeing the book brought to life on film, in this case, in two films and was anxious to see how the films would look on Blu-ray. With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 making its debut in theaters in April, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 is making its Blu-ray debut as well. How does it look and sound? Quite nice indeed.

Film  

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was quite rightly broken up into two separate films. While this is a first for the series, the book is so dense in terms of content and detail that I can’t really imagine the film being condensed into one film. Just too much content, content that the fans expect, would have been dropped had that been the case.

The film picks up where The Half Blood Prince ends, with “he who must not be named” Voldemort and his deatheaters, having killed Dumbledore and taken over Hogwarts. Voldemort and his crew have taken to not only terrorizing their fellow wizards but the non wizard population as well (the muggles) even killing them. However, Voldemort’s main focus is in trying to capture Harry Potter so he and he alone can kill him, as Harry Potter is the only threat to his continued existence. It is only Harry who can kill Voldemort once and for all, or so he thinks, and rid the world of his evil influence.

The Deathly Hallows picks up with a theme from the Half Blood Prince, namely the Horcruxes, which each contain a bit of Voldemort’s soul. Until all of the Horcruxes are found and destroyed, Voldemort can never be completely killed as he can always be brought back to life, made flesh if you will, if a piece of his soul can be retrieved from one of the Horcruxes. Needless to say, Voldemort has those well hidden, although Harry and Dumbledore have already been able to destroy two of them.

That is the central theme of this film, with Harry, Ron and Hermione hiding out and searching for the horcruxes and destroying them, all before Harry’s ultimate confrontation with Voldemort, which will take place at the end of Part 2. Fans of the book will no doubt love this film which is very true to the book as I recall it. You see a real maturity, not only in the roles of the various characters as written, but in the acting of the entire cast, who are really coming into their own in these roles, especially Emma Watson who is the real gem here and who has a real future as an actress outside these films.

The only real problem with breaking a book into two films is that when the film ends, with Voldemort obtaining the most powerful wand in history, you are unsatisfied, as would will have to wait quite a while for Part Two, to see how this whole tail finally unfolds. Much like all of the other films, with the exception maybe of the first two, unless you are familiar with the Harry Potter world, you will be totally lost in this film, as it assumes that you have all of the requisite knowledge to follow the action.

If you are not a fan, you may want to check out the other films before giving this one a look. If you are a fan, by all means check out this release, to get you in the mood for the ultimate finale in Part 2. This release is highly recommended for fans of the books and movies.

Video  

This is a very dark and stark looking film which I am sure was very difficult to encode. If you are anticipating a bright looking film, The Deathly Hallows Part 1 is not for you. The film is very dark with the settings and characters having this stark looking appearance with the film having a de-saturated color palette. The film is bathed in various shades of browns, tans and grays, all of which was done in port production as evidenced from the look of the film in the extras, including skin tones. Blacks are deep and stable throughout the film. Detail and clarity are excellent as well as is the overall depth of the image.

Many films that are this dark have a tendency to look rather soft. That is fortunately not the case with The Deathly Hallows Part 1 which maintains fine levels of detail, clarity and sharpness despite the overall darkness and drab and de-saturated color palette chosen for the film. Shadow detail is excellent as well. The print used for the film looks pristine as one would expect. It is also important to note that while the film has a very dark appearance, the encode is remarkably free of the type of digital noise that once far too often sees in films with this type of overall appearance. Fans of the film will no doubt be thrilled with the look of the film on this Blu-ray release which is totally consistent with how the film looked at the theater.

Audio 

The audio presentation on this release is every bit as good as the video. The film features fine ovealll fidelity, with a smooth and open sound with rock solid bass. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix, right dead center in the sound mix and is always intelligible, regardless of the volume of the overall sound. The surrounds are used fairly aggressively, providing a nice sense of room ambiance whether in the various tend sequences in the film as well as the scene where Harry, Ron and Hermione are imprisoned in the dungeon beneath the Malfoy home. Panning sound effects are very well done and seamlessly spread out over the entire sound field.

I was particularly impressed with the sound of the score which is sumptuous. If I have one quibble with the sound, it is that the surrounds, which while active throughout the film, are not used as aggressively as the very best sounding films, lacking that sense of total immersion that is the hallmark, at least for me, of a film that is deserving of a full 5 star rating. However, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, is not all that far behind.

Special Features  

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 is available as a Blu-ray DVD combo pack. The combo pack contains three discs, the first being the feature as well as the interactive Maximum Movie Mode where you join Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) and other members of the cast and crew on an interactive journey through the film.

Disc two is the extras and disc three, a DVD version of the film. I did not screen the DVD copy. The extras include the opening scene of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2, which was omitted from the review copy that I received for ‘security” reasons. The review copy contained a second disc, which unlike the other two discs, was completely clear and prepared just for the review copies with all of the extras, sans the scene from the upcoming film.

The rest of the extras are rather pedestrian. There is the Dan, Rupert and Emma Running Competition where they discuss which one is the fastest runner, The Seven Harrys which looks at how that scene of Harry’s escape from Privet Drive was filmed and On the Green with Rupert. Tom, Oliver and James which follows that fearsome foursome on a round of golf.

Also included is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter promotional film for the opening of the Harry Potter theme park at the Universal theme park in Orlando, Florida, featuring members of the cast and crew as well as J.K. Rowling herself. We also get the featurette Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One: Behind the Soundtrack” which features and interview with the composer behind the film’s score, Alexandre Desplat. Also included are several deleted scenes, dubbed here as “additional scenes”.

Of all the extras, the only one which I would characterize as a must see, at least for me, was The Seven Harrys, which was a really interesting look, on a technical level, as to how that scene was filmed and assembled. The rest, I could really do without.

Final Thoughts  

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 is a fine film that features excellent audio and video presentations that will surely thrill fans of the film. It is highly recommended for fans of the Harry Potter franchise. I am sure that there are more than just a few of you out there, somewhere.

I have always found music to be a bit different than TV or films in that often times, commercial success in music, especially pop music, is reserved for music that appeals to the lowest common denominator and more often than not, has a shelf life that is a lot shorter than music of less coverall commercial appeal. Just picture landfill somewhere in the not too distant future filled to the brim with Mariah Carey CD’s. While this can be true for films as well, I have found that to be less so than for music.

This topic came to mind in considering the films that are the subject of this review, the Tron Legacy and Tron: The Original Classic, which are being released together in a 3D/2D/DVD combo pack. There is no doubt that the original Tron film is a cult classic of sorts and a very original film, with computer animation that is well ahead of its time. I saw the film when it was released in 1982 and can’t say that it made much of an impression, other than the innovative computer effects. It clearly wouldn’t have been my choice for a remake. I was curious to see if my view of Tron would change after all these years, given its place in the history of CGI and whether Tron Legacy would be much of an improvement.

Films

Tron: The Original Classic   Tron: Legacy  

I am afraid to say that despite the passage of 20 years, my view of Tron hasn’t changed a bit. While I have great respect for the film for its technical expertise and its ground breaking use of computer animation, I just don’t find Tron to be a very good film. I didn’t in 1982 and still don’t in 2011. I find the film to be woefully short on plot and very ponderous and at times, a bit confusing. Too much of the film is devoted to the CGI effects for the sake of the effects only and not as part of the development of the plot. In this regard, Tron reminds me of another film of the same era, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Just like Tron, the first Star Trek film was all about the special effects rather than plot and character development. I mean, how long did we have to look at the Enterprise as is made its was through the cloud? It must have taken up half of the film and in the process, the interaction between Kirk, Spock and McCoy, which made the TV series so special, was completely lost. The same is true of Tron. There is little if any character development.

The plot that is there is confusing at times and at others, just plan boring. The plot of the film is very simple. Jeff Bridges stars as Kevin Flynn, a brilliant computer programmer who breaks into the building of his ex-employer, Encom. to hack into their mainframe to look for material that he has been unable to locate remotely. While in the mainframe, he is discovered by the computer’s operating system. The operating system takes advantage of a Star Trek like transporting device which digitizes the molecular structure of his body and brings him into the computer and drops him into a video game where an effort is made to kill him. While inside the game, he is able to locate the information he was looking for and with the help of computer programs, looks to reach the portal where he can reconstitute his physical form and enter the real world.

Visually, while the film looks rather primitive today, it was a sight to behold in 1982, with this interesting use of light and the clever combination of live action footage and computer animation. However, despite the technical merits of the film, I found the film just as tedious now as I did in 1982. The narrative simply did not hook me and pull me in like a great film does. In fact, I found my mind wandering off repeatedly during the film. Accordingly, the best I can given the film is a recommendation as a rental. If you are a fan of the film, I have no doubt that this will be a must by. But for the rest of you…

I am sure that a redo of Tron was a hard sell for the bean counters and were it not for the fact that previews of the film tested so well as Comic-con, the film wouldn’t have been made. Tron Legacy picks up years after the end of the first film. After Kevin Flynn escapes Encom’s mainframe, he becomes the CEO and takes Encom to new heights. However, he continues to return repeatedly to the digital world of Tron where he continues to improve upon the original programming, producing a world of even greater splendor and complexity, one so complex that it even creates its own life form. There is one problem however… Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges again) is trapped in the world by a program names Clu, which Kevin himself created to mind the store when he is away.

However, Clu evolves on his own and becomes intent on not only dominating the computer world, but in escaping through the portal with his armies and conquering the world. Kevin’s son Sam (Garrett Hedlund) is brought to his father’s old lab by a mysterious page to his former partner at Encom. Sam enters the lab and discovers the portal. He too is pulled into the Tron video game and has to escape the clutches of Clu who is bet on his and his father’s destruction. Together, Sam and his father, with the help of Quorra (Olivia Wilde) team up together to try and stop Clu and finally escape the world of Tron once and for all.

While I will admit that Tron Legacy is an improvement on the original, it suffers from the same issues that plagued the original, and that is style over substance. The film looks great, there is no getting around that. The technical level of the computer animation is sensational. However, the film has little in the way of character development or a fast moving plot. I would Tron Legacy to be almost as ponderous as the original. While the characters are a bit more fleshed out than in the original film, I can’t say they were by much. Why did Kevin Flynn continue to do what he did, why was his son Sam such a brat and why did a new life form or more accurately a new program create on it own. Even worse, why was Michael Sheen even in the film? Much more could have been done with him and his character. What a wasted opportunity.

Had the film focused on these issues, that of the creation of the universe and life itself rather than Clu’s efforts at world domination, we would have had a much better film, albeit one without all the flash. Again, form over substance. Its too bad too, as there is the potential for a very good film here. Tron Legacy, despite all its flash, just isn’t one.

Video

Tron: The Original Classic   Tron: Legacy 

I will admit that I was impressed with the video quality of the original Tron which looks pretty good given its age. The live action sections of the film feature nice blacks and excellent skin tones and plenty of color. The only real criticism I have is with the overall softness of the image, especially the more distant shots, which look quite soft. Overall detail and clarity are good, especially the close-ups which are well detailed. Shadow detail is excellent. I was not able to detect any obvious evidence of the application of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement. The print used for the film looks to be in excellent condition, with no obvious evidence of dirt or scratched or defects of any kind. Clearly, a lot of effort went into restoring the film for this release. Fans of the film will be thrilled with the picture quality on this release. If is safe to say that Tron has never looked anywhere near this good anywhere since its initial theatrical run.

I was expecting Tron Legacy, as a new film, to look exceptional and I was not disappointed. This is a highly stylized looking film. It features a rather subdued and almost washed out and muted color palette. This is true in all sections of the film, whether inside or out of the computer world. I would have expected the look of the film to be limited only to the digital world but it is completely consistent throughout. There is little in the way of deep blacks in the film as the film has this washed out look and is bathed in grays and browns and lighter blacks. However, the film has exceptional level of detail and clarity and three dimensionality, even without deep and inky blacks. Clarity and detail are consistent throughout the film regardless of the setting or the overall lighting. I also found no obvious evidence of the application of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement.

This is a great looking encode featuring exceptional levels of clarity and detail and is one that will thrill fans of the film Disney clearly pulled out all of the stops on this one. It should be pointed out that Tron Legacy is a bit like The Dark Knight as the film’s aspect ratio varies between the 2:35:1 aspect ration of the standard theatrical release and the 1:78:1 image of the IMAX presentation. Therefore some sections of he film will have black bars at the top and bottom while other scenes will fill your screen completely. This is how the film is intended to be presented and there is nothing at all wrong with your set up.

As noted above Tron Legacy is also available in 3D. As I do not have a 3D set up, I will leave a review of that version up to others who do.

Audio

Tron: The Original Classic   Tron: Legacy  

Let’s get the easiest one out of the way right away. The audio presentation on Tron Legacy is simply superb. The bass response and dynamics on this film are among the best I have yet heard on Blu-ray. The bass is deep, tight and detailed without even the hint of bloat. I am not sure I have ever experienced this level of bass response at home, both in terms of quality and quantity. I was afraid the pictures on the wall in my theater room would shake right off the walls the bass was so deep. In addition to the deep bass, the film features exceptional use of the surrounds, placing you in a totally immersive sound field which is simply superb. Overall fidelity is sensational, sounding smooth, rich and open without even a hint of edginess or harshness. This one is easy on the ears at any level. If I had only one criticism of the audio, it would be with the volume level of the center channel, which I found to be just a little on the low side during a couple sequences in the film. However, the rest of the audio is so good that I couldn’t justify giving the film anything less than a full 5 star rating. It is simply that exceptional.

As for Tron: The Original Classic, the audio is good although not at the level of Legacy. They do share something in common though and that is excellent bass although the bass on Classic is not quite as impressive as that on Legacy. The most obvious difference in the audio is the use of the surrounds and the overall fidelity which while good, is no where near as good as that on Legacy. While the surrounds are engaged actively throughout Classic, the film is more front heavy and as a result, the film does not have that sense of total immersion that Legacy does. The overall sound also lacks the fullness and richness that Legacy has, sounding quite nice but thinner in comparison. However, given the age of the film, I was more than impressed by the overall sonic quality on Classic which sounds a good bit better than I had a right to expect.

Special Features  

If you are a fan of these films, I have no doubt that you will enjoy the extras included in this release. The only new extra included in Tron Classic is the featurette The Tron Phenomenon which is presented in high definition and takes a look at the historical significance of the film.

The rest of the extras are from the prior DVD release of the film including an audio commentary, The Making of Tron, Development, Digital Imagery, Music, Publicity, Deleted Scenes, Design, Storyboarding and Galleries. If you already own the prior DVD release of the film, you have already seen these extras. Tron Legacy includes several extras and all presented in hugh def. I will admit that I was a bit surprised that more extras were not included about Legacy.

Included is the featurette “The Next Day: Flynn Lives Revealed: which fills us in on the goings on in the story in the intervening years between the two films as well as what happens after the Legacy ends. Also included is a featurette “Launching The Legacy” which discusses the details about how it was decided to do the film and Disc Roars, which shows how the crowd noises during the fight scenes in the film were recorded at the 2010 Comic-Con. Also included is the music video “Derezzed” which was written, produced and performed by Daft Punk.

Also included is Disney Second Screen which enables you to simultaneously explore interactive content with your iPad or computer as you watch the film. Also included is a look at Tron Uprising, the Disney XD animated series.

In addition to DVD copies of both films, this release also contains digital copies of the film compatible with Macs and PCs.

Final Thoughts  

If you are a fan of the original Tron film and/or Tron Legacy, this is a must buy for you. For the rest of you, I would recommend this release, but on the basis of a rental, if only to experience the exceptional audio presentation on Tron Legacy.

Before I begin (no pun intended), I need a quick moment to reflect upon a disclaimer I need to make. If it were not for on-screen onslaught of The Dark Knight, I don’t think I would have given Batman Begins the much needed respect and appreciation it deserves. I think I need to be brutally honest here for a moment. Batman Begins is an origin story so if you have not seen it, do not go in with the expectations that it is going to be one of the greatest high-adrenaline action movies you have ever seen because you will be greatly disappointed. Instead, you need to appreciate the movie for what it really is. What is that, you might ask? It is a slick vehicle to introduce to the world who the Batman really is.

Batman is not just a man in a masked costume going around fighting loud and ludicrous villains. Batman is a human being just like any of us and suffers from some of the same fears and desperations that plague the lives of all ordinary people. When you strip the Batman character down to bare bones you realize that he is simply a man driven by a fear that severely haunts him and his only way of escaping that binding fear, to fight crime and injustice, is by sharing it with his enemies. How does one do that? You do that by becoming a symbol…by becoming more than just a man. This is the psychological journey we are treated to and undertake in Batman Begins.

Don’t think of this as simply another comic book movie, but instead treat it like you would any good psychological thriller. There is always an underlying reason for a man’s actions, which ultimately defines who he is. In hindsight, we finally get to walk on the red carpet by seeing what exactly makes Bruce Wayne tick. We get to witness what drives him into becoming the only hope that Gotham City has. Gotham City needs to be saved from the underworld clutches of the world’s most dangerous villains and criminals. This ladies and gentleman, is the story of Batman Begins.

Film  

The film opens with eight-year old Bruce Wayne having accidentally just fallen into a cave while playing with his best friend, Rachel Dawes. Helpless and injured young Bruce Wayne has a frightful yet fateful encounter with bats. He grows more fearful of bats every passing day as his nightmares haunt him and extinguish his sleep. Then came the dark night (again no pun intended) that changed young Bruce’s life forever. While attending an opera with his parents, Bruce becomes frightened at the actors portraying bats. Cognitive of Bruce’s frightened state, his parents agree to take him home. Outside the opera house, Bruce’s parents are robbed and shot down in cold blood by a thug named Joe Chill. Having witnessed this seditious and tragic act of violence, Bruce blames himself for his parents’ untimely demise.

Many years go by as a more mature Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) returns home to Wayne Manor from Princeton University, with intent to kill Joe Chill who is being arraigned for a possible early release. His childhood friend, Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes), who is now an attorney herself, accompanies him to the trial. Before Bruce can act on his plan of revenge, an unidentified woman kills Joe Chill for the crime lord Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson). Angered and feeling cheated that he did not get to complete his act of selfish vengeance, Bruce Wayne decides to confront Carmine Falcone. This is where one of my favorite lines of the movie comes to fruition. Carmine Falcone lectures Bruce that he does not understand the nature of crime and that he should be thankful that he killed his parent’s murderer. The most memeorable line comes when Carmine starts pointing out all the lawyers, cops and politicians in the restaurant they are in and how he could fire his gun upon Bruce Wayne without hesitation or anyone questioning the act of him doing so. He tells Bruce that this is power you just cannot buy. I may have mixed some words around but I think you get the point. This is serious stuff here people!

Bruce, at this point, is just disgusted at the injustice and current state of Gotham City ruled by corrupt politicians, police officers and criminal organizations. He decides to travel the world to understand the criminal mind. He learns what its like to live without money and to steal just to feed and clothe himself over a seven-year length of time. Ultimately, he ends up imprisoned and meets Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson). Ducard invites Bruce to train and eventually join the extremist vigilante group, the League of Shadows led by Ra’s al Ghul, dedicated to ridding the world of criminal activity and declining civilizations. During his rigorous martial arts and mental training sessions with Ducard and the members of the League of Shadows, Bruce learns to embrace his fear of bats by utilizing it to fight crime and putting fear into the wrongdoers he intends to stop. The final test comes when Bruce is ordered to execute a criminal and he must decide between what he feels is the right and what is the wrong kind of justice. Upon being ordered to carry out the execution of this prisoner, Bruce finally realizes that the League’s conflicting extremist views do not align with what he feels justice truly should be. As a result, he ends up burning down the temple and defeating Ra’s al Ghul…so he thinks. I told you this film was deep, didn’t I?

Back in Gotham City, things are worse than ever. Gotham City is now pretty much under the corruption and control of Falcone. Bruce Wayne declares war against the corruption that infiltrates Gotham City. Bruce returns back to the loving care and guidance of his family’s trusted butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine), who has taking care and presiding over all of Bruce’s affairs while he has been gone. Bruce manages to re-establish his connections to his father’s company, Wayne Enterprises, which is about to go public. It is there that he is introduced to a former board member, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), who now heads the research and development department. Secretly, Bruce uses Lucius’ knowledge and gadgets to acquire not only suit armor and weaponry, but also the Tumbler, a prototype armored car, which will replace what legacy Batman fans always refer to as the Batmobile. Back at Wayne Manor, with the help of Alfred, Bruce constructs the Batcave and ultimately his alter ego…the Batman. When asked why bats, Bruce responds because he is afraid of them and wants his opponents to share in that fear. The rest ladies and gentlemen…is what they call history. I hope I have given you enough to whet your appetite for what will eventually become a baptism by fire for the Batman as he ventures out to rid Gotham City of corruption and spread his own kind of justice. Of course you can expect a few major villains to go bump in the night and try to foil the Dark Knight’s crusade to save Gotham City. Who will ultimately prevail? I guess you will need to watch and find out because the path through Batman Begins only leads to bigger and better things…The Dark Knight.

Batman Begins ultimately became a critical and commercial success. The film eventually grossed more than $370 million worldwide. While not really being a big fan of Chris Nolan’s prior films, I was somewhat judgmental when I heard he was helming the reboot of the Batman franchise. I personally felt it was way too soon after the failure of the last Batman movie in 1997. I now hang my head in embarrassment and admit how truly wrong I was. Chris Nolan not only resurrected the Batman franchise but has also paved a trend for many more superhero movies to follow. If you keep up with entertainment and movie news like I do, then you will know what I am talking about. Just about every news article I read about future superhero movies talk about how the producers and writers are taking cues from Christopher Nolan’s darker version of Batman. Let’s face it…there has to be a serious issue or deep underlying reason why a person wants to become a superhero and Christopher Nolan explores and dissects this theory by making the audience not only care for the Batman but also for his alter identity, Bruce Wayne. Now if that is not deeply psychologically rooted, then I don’t know what is. This is not a film for the kiddies. They just won’t understand the psychosis of everything involved. Like I said before, the journey that Christopher Nolan has created only gets better as you going along.

Video  

Warner Bros. brings us a video transfer with a 1080P VC-1 video encode and a 2.40:1 widescreen aspect ratio. Unfortunately, here is where I start to digress and take the journey down the road of complaints. While the Blu-ray video transfer is leaps and bounds above the DVD release, it is nowhere close to the reference quality video many current Blu-ray discs portray. There are no problems with the resolution but throughout the entire feature, the colors seem somewhat muted and the image never has that three-dimensional pop that many of today’s Blu-rays exhibit. Some of the shots do look good but the majority of the film is very soft and almost feels as if it has a filter overlaid on top of the image because it almost never seems sharp. The flesh tones all seemed a bit pale to me as well. The good news is that grain is at an absolute minimum for a movie that is mostly dark and filmed in the shadows. While this Blu-ray release may not be of reference quality video, this is definitely the finest High-Definition presentation of Batman Begins that is available and is truly a delicacy for die-hard fans.

Audio  

Like the video, it appears that Warner Bros. has also ported over the audio from the HD DVD release. The audio track of choice here is a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround mix. I have read and heard many conflicting reviews regarding the audio track of the Batman Begins Blu-ray disc. Some people say it is status quo and some same it is reference quality throughout. I fall somewhere in between those two points of view. While I feel the audio definitely has its moments, I would not be inclined to showcase this as a reference audio track. The dialogue is always clear and intelligible throughout the feature. The famous Hans Zimmer also treats us to another fine musical score. The low-end bass is superb during all the action scenes but I just can’t shake the feeling that the rest of the movie just sounds flat during non-action sequences to me. The Dolby TrueHD surround track sounds exactly like the audio track on the HD DVD release of Batman Begins. While the audio track here is nothing to sneer at, I just feel certain dynamics could have been fleshed out a bit more and improved upon.

Special Features  

If there was ever a reason for me to own the Blu-ray release of Batman Begins when I already own it on HD DVD, it was for the six heavenly minutes of The Dark Knight IMAX prologue footage. This is the “Holy Grail” of the Blu-ray release and makes the price of admission and owning the Batman Begins Blu-ray well worth it, even if you own it on two other different formats like myself. The Blu-ray release of Batman Begins was purposely released a week before the theatrical release of The Dark Knight and for many fans it was their first glimpse of the Oscar-worthy performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker. This is the first time in a long time in which I am excited about the extras. As a side note, just about every extra from the past HD DVD and DVD releases are included here. The only disappointing thing is that every special feature is in Standard Definition with the exception of the IMAX prologue and theatrical trailer.

The following are the full technical specs as published on the back of the Blu-ray cover art:

In-Movie Experience – (HD) This is the Picture-in-Picture track that delayed the Blu-ray release until the Profile 1.1 was finalized. This is basically a visual commentary with director Christopher Nolan and is joined by the main cast and production crewmembers through a variety of behind-the-scenes footage.

The Dark Knight IMAX Prologue – (HD) This is the entire first 6-minutes of the opening sequence. It is presented in pristine 1080P with a 1.80:1 aspect ratio. This sequence is reference quality and worth every penny.

Tankman Begins – (SD) This is a funny short skit created for the 2005 MTV Movie Awards.

Batman – The Journey Begins – (SD) This is a short 14-minute documentary on the casting process.

Shaping Mind and Body – (SD) This is a 13-minute documentary that shows the training that Christian Bale undertook for the role.

Gotham City Rises – (SD) This is a 13-minute look at the production team tasked with building the various Gotham City locations.

Cape and Cowl – (SD) This is an 8-minute look at the creation of the new Batsuit.

Batman – The Tumbler – (SD) Here is a 14-minute documentary about the creation and concepts of the new Batmobile.

Path to Discovery – (SD) This is a 14-minute look at the challenges the production crew faced in cold climate of Iceland.

Saving Gotham City – (SD) This is a 13-minute tribute to the filming of the action scenes and how they tried to use as little CGI as possible.

Genesis of the Bat – (SD) We get a 15-minute explanation from director Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David S. Goyer on how the film was conceived.

Still Gallery (SD) – The still gallery contains a collection of various advertising concepts for the film’s marketing around the world.

Theatrical Trailer – (HD) Don’t let this title fool you. This is only the teaser trailer and not the full theatrical trailer.

Reflections on Writing Batman Begins – (SD) David S. Goyer speaks to his experience in writing the screenplay and how he got inspired.  This 2-minute feature is not overly valuable, but worth a quick watch.

Digital Batman – (SD) This 1-minute feature shows how digital images of batman were more believable then the live batman.  Side-by-side comparisons are used.  Rather a dull extra, but somewhat interesting none-the-less.

Batman Begins Stunts – (SD) This 2.5-minute poor quality extra features shots of how a number of stunts were pulled off during the filming of the movie.  No need to waste your time here.

Final Thoughts  

I guess one of the reasons I initially dismissed Batman Begins upon my first viewing in the theatre, was mainly for a lack of action that I was expecting rather than the psychological story I got. I can only figure that I must have got so numb from the previous Batman franchise that I was not expecting to have to do so much thinking. I was so use to the flashy and flamboyant villains that I did not know what to make of Batman Begins. I don’t want to be misunderstood. In no way did I think that Batman Begins was a bad movie. I just thought it was really different than what I was expecting to see and was amazed at how many fan boys came out of nowhere as a result of the darker Batman story. Then the month of July 2008 came around and my life changed forever. My initial viewing of The Dark Knight made Batman Begins mean so much more to me. I finally saw what I was missing all along in Batman Begins. The audience gets to dive head-first into the psychosis thinking of what is going through Bruce Wayne’s mind as we experience first hand his motivation, training and drive that culminated him into our favorite crime fighter…the Batman. What makes Batman unique is that under the mask and costume, Bruce Wayne is just an ordinary man with no superhuman powers except the ability to free his mind of any fear and devote himself to a higher mission in life…saving the lives of others. Batman is more than a man. He is a symbol. He is a symbol that criminals should fear. He uses this fear to clean up the streets of Gotham City. How brilliant is that?

If you are a Batman fan, then this is a no-brainer. I highly recommend the purchase of Batman Begins Steelbook on Blu-ray. But get it before it is gone… this is a Limited Edition release!

Films

The first Highlander is a personal favorite. It is an action-packed sci-fi/fantasy mishmash about a bunch of immortals fighting each other with swords in a quest for “the prize.” The prize is awarded to the last immortal left on Earth because as fans already know, “there can be only one.” The immortals compete in battle and when one is beheaded by another, the victor gains the losers power through a process called the quickening.

Highlander follows the adventures of Connor MacLeod played by Christopher Lambert beginning in Scotland over several hundred years ago when he befriends a fellow immortal named Romirez played by Sean Connery, who introduces Connor to his powers and teaches him how to defend himself, and ends in present day where a gathering of the world’s remaining few immortals in New York City has begun and Connor is forced to face off against an evil arch enemy named Kruger, played by Clancy Brown.

Director Russell Mulcahy packs the movie with plenty of sword fights and lots of Queen on the soundtrack. Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery have good chemistry and share a few good moments and the laughs definitely match the thrills. This movie is a guilty pleasure if I ever saw one, but I’m not too embarrassed about it.

Highlander 2: The Quickening came out five years after the original. The first movie hadn’t been a huge success at the box office, but it had become something of a cult classic. The sequel was plagued with problems during production resulting in the producers cutting the filming process early and removing returning director Russell Mulcahy from the editing room. The theatrical version was a bastardized version of Mulcahy’s original screenplay and the film was met with mostly terrible reviews when it opened. It still randomly appears on many critics’ top ten worst movies ever made lists even today.

A few years after the production, Mulcahy went back and filmed extra scenes and re-edited the movie to closer match what he had originally intended. Initially, the sequel was meant to explain the origins of the immortals a little more by revealing that they were in fact aliens from the planet Zeist. This resulted in more anger from critics and fans alike, so Mulcahy also used this opportunity to remove any mention of Zeist in this new version of the movie simply referred to as “The Renegade Version.” The special effects have been updated as well. This is the version of the movie included on this blu-ray collection.

Although obviously not as good as the original, the sequel does have a lot going for it and is nowhere near as bad as you may have heard. It’s certainly better than some Highlander sequels that have followed and it only started the pattern used by every proceeding sequel of completely ignoring any continuity in story between the movies entirely. There are some great action scenes obviously. It is a joy to see Sean Connery returning as Conner’s mentor Ramirez and he and Christopher Lambert seem to have fun working together during their scenes. Coincidently, the role of Ramirez is the only character outside of James Bond that Sean Connery has played more than once.

The second movie has a very corny sense of humor as well that really works for it. The new version has some improvements, but I wish they hadn’t have tried to erase the alien subplot. It was no less ridiculous than the time traveling patch job they replaced it with thanks to a few small cuts and some re-dubbed dialogue. I’m sure some would disagree, but I really just don’t think it help matters enough to have been worth the effort in the first place. Hopefully, this will finally be the definitive version

Video

Highlander’s video is displayed using the VC-1 codec and Highlander 2 is displayed using the AVC MPEG-4 codec. I have the original DVD release of this film that I got when it first came out and when I picked up the later edition on DVD and saw the difference in the video quality between the two and I was blown away. The original release seemed to use a dirty print and had a full array of issues including an outrageous amount of grain and noise. When I got this Blu-ray I was excited to compare it to the cleaned up DVD and get a laugh by going back to the original DVD that I own.

The video quality is fantastic considering the previous releases, with some really nice sharpness and very little grain issues. The contrast is at a good level that helps with the clarity, but the black levels aren’t as deep as they could’ve been.

However the first film has quite a few issues that arise, although the film looks really great in comparison to previous releases, there are some sections that are simply bad looking. There are a few shots that are so soft that I thought I was watching the film in standard definition and with a few cases of artefacting here and there it’s really hard to see the merit.  It’s miles beyond the original digital release as a whole, but I expected that seeing how a lot of the film seems to have been cleaned up nicely, they wouldn’t spend the money to fix everything.

Highlander 2, being a newer film, shouldn’t have as many issues as the first one. However the film suffer from some banding, stair-stepping and other forms of artefacting throughout.  It doesn’t help that the cheap special effects are applied to make the image look even cheaper.

It’s hard to give this film a horrible rating with all of the technical issues, but considering the history of bad releases for these movies I’d say this is probably PARTIALLY the best it’s ever looked…

Audio

Both Highlander and Highlander 2 use the DTS-HD 5.1 audio codec. HThe audio quality of the films teeters between being a good representation of how the mix sounded back in the day and falling victim to being a mix that is begging to be remastered. The mix is really disproportionate and although the foley sounds are clean, they are simply too emphasized and come off as over-the-top.

The score is loud and distinct as well, and who can complain when we have Queen blasting through the speakers, but the subtleties that differ from films mixed today and back then are very apparent when watching these films.

Dialogue at times is muffled slightly when the mix becomes complicated such as during the fight scenes, but overall it’s clear. The surrounds don’t get much usage due to the fact the mix hasn’t been updated at all to take advantage of the fact that home theatres with advanced audio set-up are commonplace, but the LFE has a bit more to chew on when the booming sound effects go off… for example when a highlander absorbs a defeated enemies power… The audio is definitely a major step-up from the video quality, but nothing about this release is impressive.

Special Features

The first film’s deleted scenes come sans audio with music playing over top, so that’s a point against them and the only other feature from the first film is the commentary track with director Russell Mulcalhy. Oddly previous DVD releases have had other extras. So seeing that this is supposed to be a anniversary collection, they really skimp in this section. I would say if you have the special edition DVD then you’re pretty much covered considering the lack of new extras.

The second film has a few haphazard featurettes covering things like the music and cinematography and with a few deleted scenes all in SD the blu-ray is not aimed at pleasing fans.

Final Thoughts

Although the films have earned some cult status and are fun watches, this Blu-ray release doesn’t justify a purchase even to the fans. If you own the special edition DVD releases of these films then the first Highlander would be the only film I can recommend rebuying separately due to the fact that the Highlander 2 looks equally as crappy on this Blu-ray release as it did on older releases. Also the fact that previous releases of these movies actually have more extras  than this release make this comes down to the technical score and these films don’t make the cut.

Starring a stellar cast such as Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Daines, and the unheralded Charlie Cox, and with a supporting role for Robert DeNiro, I was quite excited.  That Gene Shalit, Richard Roeper, and Dave Karger all enthused about the film also gave it great promise.  Would it live up to this heady billing?

Film

I am comfortable in stating that this film will polarize the audience.  Where I found the film poorly paced, overly complex, somewhat convoluted, and way too violent for the little ones, the official wife was entranced by it.

To summarize the complex plot as quickly as possible, it starts with a Village called Wall, obviously located by a wall that acts as a border between the English Countryside, and the fantasy realm of Stormhold.  In this fantasy realm, the dying King states that his throne will be inherited by whichever of his sons find a ruby, one that he throws into the sky and that bonds with a falling star.

Meanwhile, our protagonist Tristan (Mr. Cox), sees the star fall on the other side of the wall, and vows to return to a certain lady he is pursuing.  Tristan also learns from his father that he is the offspring of his father, and a slave to which whom his father met on the other side of the wall.

Of course Tristan finds the falling star, who happens to be a beautiful girl named Yvaine (Ms. Daines).

Adventures ensue, including pursuit by the King’s remaining sons, pursuit by a witch (Laima, Ms. Pfeiffer) who want to use Yvaine’s power to remain young and gain power.  Through magic, Tristan and Yvaine end up in the clutches of flying pirates, led by Captain Shakespeare (Mr. DeNiro), a kind-hearted cross-dressing pirate.

Further battles and adventures ensue, followed by the requisite fairy tale happy ending.

Was this a bad movie?  No.  Was it good, memorable, or did it encourage multiple viewings?  To my mind, it only encouraged a multiple viewing so that the viewer could try and understand it a bit better.

The acting performances were fine (though Ms. Daines’ role was a bit lightweight), leading me to conclude the film’s weaknesses were more in the script and direction than the performances.  Ms. Pfeiffer out “evils” Ms. Kidman in The Golden Compass, and Mr. DeNiro actually makes a cross-dressing Pirate captain oddly heroic.  Mr. Cox is more than serviceable as our hero, Tristan, and maintains a sort of bumbling “everyman” quality throughout the film.

When I compare this film to one of my favourites, The Princess Bride, it does not compare very well.  The plot lacks a cohesion and linearity The Princess Bride had.  And although the acting is good, the limitations of the script suck much of the humor and whimsy out of what could have been a more special movie.  Simply trying to figure out who is who can actually occupy the viewer for the first thirty minutes of the film, something I find that detracts from a film’s enjoyability.

Ultimately, the limitations of this film outweigh its benefits, and it is highly unlikely this one will end up in my “to be watched again” pile.

Video

Despite the weakness in the film itself, it does have a very lovely looking presentation.  There is lovely color saturation, with all the shiny, colorful, and bright things we normally see in medieval-themed movies.

My main complaint would be the presence of overly pronounced grain in some of the darker scenes.  Although this may be a natural grain, it borders on distracting, and does soften the sharpness of the image.

Audio 

The soundtrack for Stardust is a very pleasing DTS-MA 5.1 presentation.  Outside scenes sound like they are outside, and surround effects are clear and appropriate.  LFE information is good when present, but the score and effects do not overly tax the channel.

In general, a very good audio presentation – nowhere near reference, but very very acceptable.

Special Features

The Blu-ray did come with a slightly above-average set of special features, most notably highlighted by a five-part 1080p documentary about the making of the film which clocks in at just over 55 minutes.  Some of the documentary segments are quite interesting, especially the one that showed the difficulty in translating the novel to the screen while staying under budget.

Also included were a fairly dull commentary track, deleted scenes and outtakes (in SD, boo), a 10-minute feature that looks as if it was lifted from the DVD release, and the theatrical trailer.  All in all, not a bad offering.

Final Thoughts

I do feel bad about not scoring this film higher.  The cast does what they can with the script.  It was shot reasonably well, and the effects are reasonably good. 

Unfortunately, a convoluted plot and an excess of characters makes this film very difficult to follow and enjoy.  Even as a family film, the scary parts can actually be quite scary – definitely not recommended for the under-10 crowd.

Film 

Yes, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is based on that 8 minute portion of Fantasia starring Mickey Mouse and yes, the film plays homage to that very scene in the film, repleat with mops and a flood. Naturally, the plot has been filled out a bit from the original 8 minutes to a rather short 109 minutes as far as feature films are concerned.

The film opens in 8th Century England with Merlin and his apprentices Balthazar Blake (Nicholas Cage) and Veronica (Monica Bellucci) doing battle with the evil Morgana (Alice Krige) who along with rogue Merlin apprentice Horvath (Alfred Molina), plan to destroy the world. In the battle, Merlin is killed and Balthazar imprisons Horvath and Morgana in a  set of nesting dolls known as a Grimhold, I guess because it is designed to hold some rather grim things. However, in order to imprison Morgana and save the life of Veronica, Balthazar is forced to imprison Veronica as well. Before he dies, Merlin casts a spell on Balthazar to enable him to life thousands of years without aging until he is able to find Merlin’s successor, known as the Prime Merlinian. Merlin gives Balthazar a ring which will enable him to discover the Prime Merlinian who will then be tasked with destroying the evil Morgana once and for all.

The film then moves forward to (where else?), Manhattan in 2000 where we meet Dave, a 10 year old boy who wanders away from a class trip and happens upon Balthazar at his antiques hop. It is there that Balthazar discovers that Dave is the Prime Merlinian. However Dave knocks over the large vase wherein Horvath is imprisoned allowing Horvath to escape and do battle with Balthazar. At the end of this battle, both are imprisoned in the vase for 10 years. Flash forward now 10 years and both Balthazar and Horvath are freed. Both Horvath and Balthazar seek to locate Dave (Jay Baruchell), with Balthazar intending to train him in the world of wizardry and with Horvath intending to kill him and free Morgana from the Grimhold and destroy the world. The year 2010 finds Dave in college at New York University and a science nerd, who is attempting to forge a romantic relationship with a girl from grade school, Becky (Teresa Palmer). It is up to Balthazar to locate the Grimhold, train Dave as his apprentice, keep him safe from Horvath, free his long imprisoned love Veronica and kill Morgana and save the world. All in day’s work.

Yes, the film is predictable. Yes is doesn’t have much of a plot and has an ending that is predictable after the first 15 minutes of the film (if that). However, it is one special effects ride after another and a good bit of fun. The film was a good bit better than I had imagined it would be (given the critical reaction to its theatrical release)and is one that I think most families would enjoy on a nice and otherwise rather quiet Saturday night at home.  I while I can give this film a solid rental, I do so on the basis of a rental only.

Video 

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Most of his films have looked and sounded great on Blu-ray and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is no exception to this rule. Much like his other films, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has a nice natural looking and well saturated color palette with deep and inky blacks. (think the Pirates of the Caribbean films and even The Rock). With a few exceptions, the film features excellent levels of detail and clarity. Most of the film takes place either at night or in dimly lit interior scenes and yet, manages to retain its excellent level of detail, depth and clarity throughout. I was not able to detect much in the way of noise in the many nighttime scenes nor was I able to detect any significant evidence of the application of digital noise reduction or edge enhancement. The only real issue I had with the video presentation is a bit of softness that creeps into in a couple of scenes, just enough that I was not able to give the video the perfect score of 5.

Audio 

While I had a rather small issue with the video presentation and it was indeed a very small one, I had no issue at all with the audio which is fantastic. The sound design for this film is all that you could want in an action fantasy film and more. The overall fidelity is excellent sounding smooth and open with excellent imaging and transparency. Dynamics were wonderful with deep and tight bass. The surrounds were used aggressively throughout the film, resulting in a totally immersive sound experience that was a hoot to experience. The surrounds really kicked into high gear during the action sequences, especially the final battle sequence. The dialogue track was well recorded and well placed in the mix and always audible whether during quiet sequences or the most cacophonous of sequences. This is a great sounding audio track and fully worthy of a 5 star rating.

Special Features 

Curiously, while The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is presented as a two disc combo pack (Blu-ray and DVD), the releases does not include a digital copy. The extras included with the film are all presented in high definition and look quite good. The extras are pretty much rather standard faire and include 5 deleted scenes and several outtakes. We also get several featurettes…

• “Magic In The City” which takes a look at the filming of the movie in New York City.
• “The Science of Sorcery” which takes a look at the science behind the tesla coil and plasma bolts featured in the film.
• “Making Magic Real” takes a look at the various special effects featured in the film including a look at the filming of the life action sequences and the effects as generated during post production.
• In “Fantasia: Reinventing a Classic” the cast and crew discuss their memories of Fantasia and how they felt about recreating the famous scene from Fantasia in the film.
• “The Fashionable Drake Stone” takes a look at the various outlandish costumes worn by the character Drake Stone during the film.
• “The Grimhold: An Evil Work of Art” discusses the role of the Grimhold in the film and how the producers finally decided on the concept of Russian nesting dolls for that role.
• “The Encantus” discuses the art that went into creating the book of spells featured in the film.
• “Wolves and Puppies goes behind the scenes i the use use or real wolves during the filming of one of the scenes and how rather gentle wolves were made to loom so ferocious during post production.
• In probably the most interesting and shortest featurette included in the set, we learn in “The World’s Coolest car” that Balthazar’s car in the film was a one of a kind 1935 Rolls Royce Phantom owned by none other than Nicholas Cage himself. Just another of the perks of being a movie star.

Final Thoughts 

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is one of those films that is a bit short on plot but packed with plenty of action and special effects and is certainly a good deal of fun, as long as you are not expecting too much. Recommended as a rental only.

Film

When audiences walk into an M. Night Shyamalan movie, they have come to expect certain things… Usually a suspense filled twisted story that ends with a final reveal that flips your perception of the movie on its head, but with The Last Airbender, we are seeing a different kind of Shyamalan. This one is clearly for the kids.

I’ve never watched the television show before, so I have no idea how it compares to it. Whether it stays true to the original story or not is a mystery to me and I’m sorry to say that it will probably stay that way.  As I mention above, this movie was made for kids and to be more specific, ten year old boys. Unfortunately, that’s the only audience that will be impressed with this movie.  It’s not bad, it just has nothing to offer anyone else, and so it’s hard for me to recommend this one unless you’re a die-hard fan of the show and a completionist.

The basic plot revolves around two children named Katara and Sokka, who find a boy named Aang trapped in an ice sphere and free him. It turns out Aang is an Avatar and has the power to hold the world in balance. Unfortunately, since he’s been missing for 100 years, The Fire Nation has declared war on the other three nations, (Air, Water, Earth), and obviously see Aang’s return as a threat.

The main problem is the acting. Almost every performance feels like exactly that.  The main character is a 12 year old boy named Aang, played by Noah Ringer, although athletic enough to pull off the many martial art style moves he performs throughout the movie, when it comes time to carrying on a conversation it becomes painfully obvious that acting is not his forte. I found this particularly confusing since the movie is an M. Night Shyamalan film and he did direct one of the best child performances, in my opinion obviously, in The Sixth Sense with Haley Joel Osment. I don’t want to single Ringer out exclusively though. The rest of the cast is pretty bad too, with the one notable exception being Shaun Toub as a Fire Nation elder who follows around a fallen prince named Zuko, whose character is supposed to play a major part in the proposed sequel that is apparently in development. Anyway, Toub actually gives a damn good performance and is one of the few small pleasure s I took from the film.

Don’t expect the usual M. Night here, this is just lame movie adaption of a popular kid’s show that is no longer on the air anymore.  I’ve enjoy every movie he’s made up to this one, which is clearly not aimed at me so I’m not surprised… However it feels like when M. Night doesn’t write the script, he’s not as connected and I never felt that all-encompassing experience with The Last Airbender opposed to his original ideas.

Video

The Last Airbender’s video is displayed in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1 using the AVC MPEG-4 codec. The film looks great and the transfer is pristine with absolutely no scratches, dust or artefacting in any way. The print is very clean and noise free, even in the night shots the film doesn’t suffer from overbearing graininess. I’m not sure if the Director of Photography was on his A-Game or if the footage had been polished in post (considering the film was converted to 3D, they could’ve done a very thorough refining job).

The images are very crisp and sharp and on the other end of the spectrum the bokeh is very soft any beautiful when depth of field is in effect. The close-ups that showcase skin texture and hair detail are the moments that should be put on loop for showcase purposes.

My only complaint is the contrast of the film was a bit inconsistent, the black levels are true for most of the film but there were a few scenes where I felt the image was a bit too gray and at other times during wide shots at night, the scenes were a little too dark. It’s not much of a complaint and when stacked up against how good this Blu-ray looks, it pales in comparison.  

Audio

The Last Airbender’s audio comes at us using the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio codec and has 5.1 mixing in French, Spanish and Portuguese as well. The film’s mix is very impressive and I would say it’s one of the few Blu-rays I’ve seen recently that is showroom quality, I did notice at some times the mix felt a bit inconsistent, where some sound effects weren’t as balanced as others but that’s being really nitpicky.

The audio offers great dynamic range and the low frequency really roar and rumble to all of our heart’s content. The dialogue is clear and centered with no noise issues as well. The surrounds are used really well to create a very enthralling atmosphere and some interesting use of panning really sells a lot of the actions scenes.

One of the best things I found in the film was the score. James Newton Howard, who has scored every movie M. Night has done and also recently did a remarkable job on The Dark Knight with Hans Zimmer, pulls out all the stops. The music in this movie was, simply put, great. During the climax it actually stirred me out of my boredom and forced me to take notice. It was powerful stuff and sounded great!

Special Features

The Last Airbender has a great selection of extras and thankfully in HD, which is a relief for I was getting tired of having the headache of watching SD footage on a projector.  The extras include four behind-the-scenes featurettes where the film’s production is examined as well as some light coverage on the original show, however I felt these were a bit lacking in the TV show department. I realize this isn’t the television show, but I would’ve liked to see the pilot episode or something along those lines to add some filler. Although these do cover the origins of the characters with the co-creators of the show and go over concept art, I couldn’t really see a child’s attention being captured for more than 10 minutes.

There are deleted scenes and outtakes as well as select scene commentary via picture-in-picture. All of which are pretty straightforward, the lack of a feature length commentary felt weird, but I guess when your movie aimed towards younger audiences, those kind of extras aren’t as important. All in all I would’ve liked to have seen more kid oriented special features but the HD extras and Picture-in-Picture commentary are really great.

Final Thoughts

The Last Airbender was hit with some unfair criticisms in my opinion, but even so it’s a very target audience oriented film that really doesn’t play to a wide audience. M. Night does a fine job directing the film but the script and acting is lacking. Even though the Blu-ray looks and sounds great; unless you are buying it for your kid, leave this Blu-ray on the shelf, check out the CD aisle and pick up the soundtrack instead.

Films

Back to the Future  

Back to the Future Part II  

Back to the Future Part III  

I will be completely honest and upfront about the fact that I love Back to the Future, at least the original film, which is far and way the jewel in this release. It is a great film. The two sequels are more of a mixed bag and rather unsatisfying, especially Part III. They seem to be mere attempts to cash out on the success of the first film. While most of the same team responsible for the first film are back for Parts II and III, I am not sure that they had a clear vision of just where to take these characters, resulting in more of the same techniques used in the first film. If it were up to me and it sure wasn’t, I would have focused more on the future and would have skipped the trip into the old west entirely.

I am sure that most of you are well aware of the plots of the three films. In Part I, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) befriends an old eccentric scientist, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) who just happens to invent a time machine using a DeLorean car. When Doc Brown and Marty are testing the DeLorean at a local mall, they are attacked by a group of Libyan terrorists driving a VW van who are upset with Doc Brown for building them a bogus nuclear bomb. They shoot Doc Brown and Marty jumps into the DeLorean and tries to escape. However, in speeding away, he hits the magic 88 mph mark and is transported back to November 1955.

While there, he interferes with the meeting between his mother and father where they fell in love. In fact his mother Lorraine (Lea Thompson) falls for Marty rather than his father. Marty seeks out the only man capable of helping him fix the time line and return to the future, the 1955 version of Doc Brown. This Doc Brown helps Marty fix the timeline thereby saving Marty from being erased from time and concocts a plan to produce the necessary energy to transport the DeLorean back to 1985. Along the way, Marty invents rock and roll and the skate board and puts his parents together.

When he returns to 1985, he finds it and his parents to be very different, in a good way, from the parents he left as a result of his interference in the time line. This film remans as fresh today as it was when I saw it back in 1985. It is beautifully written and cast and is very funny, with two very engaging performances by Michel J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. This is one comedy that has truly stands the test of time and is not to be missed.

As good as part I is, Parts II and III just are a few cuts below. Part II picks up where Part I ended up, although with a different actress playing Marty’s girlfriend Jennifer. It finds Doc Brown returning to 1985 from the future with bad news about Marty and Jennifer’s future children. They travel to 2015 and change the events that would have led to Marty’s son going to jail. However, Marty’s father’s old nemesis Biff, unbeknownst to them, steals the DeLorean and returns to 1955 with an almanac containing all of the results from sporting events from 1950 to 2000 which the young Biff uses to gamble and amass a great fortune.

When Doc Brown, Marty and Jennifer return to 1985 from 2015, they find a very different 1985 from the one they left, with Biff in total control of the town, Marty’s father dead and his mother married to Biff in what can only be described as an abusive relationship. Doc and Marty figure out what happened and they must return back to November 1955 and retrieve the almanac and destroy it, to return 1985 back to where is was at the end of the first film. In doing so, Marty is place back into the same territory covered in the first film, namely the night at the school dance where his parents fell in love and we are given glimpses of the events of the first film from a totally different angle. I found this to be too clever by a half and is the film’s biggest failing. I would have preferred a fresh slate and fresh adventures for Doc and Marty rather than rehash the same old gags.

The film ends as Marty and Doc are attempting to return to 1985. However, while Doc tries to land the time machine, the vehicle is struck by lightning and Doc is transported back to 1885. In Part III, Marty re-enlists the 1955 Doc to help him get back to 1885 and return him and Doc to 1985. However, his efforts are complicated by the fact that Doc has fallen in love with an new school teacher Clara (Mary Steenburgen), at the fact that the DeLorean’s fuel line has been broken so that the car lacks the gas necessary to get up to the 88 mph speed necessary to initiate time travel.

All-in-all, the first film in this set is so good that I have no trouble recommending the purchase of the entire set as it is the only way, at least for now, to get a Blu-ray copy of the film at this time. While Ihave some reservations about the video quality of all three fims, it is not enough of a concern for me not to recommend the set for all film buffs. Recommended.

Video  

I will deal with the video presentations of all three films together as they are basically the same, which is not surprising given that most of the same crew was used to make all three films and that Parts II and III were shot together and released 6 months apart. I must say that I have agonized a bit about what score to give the video quality of these releases because I can state without equivocation that these films have never looked better in the home environment than they do here.

The problem is that they could have and should have looked even better. Why? Because of the excessive application of digital noise reduction and edge enhancement. As a result, the films’ fine grain structure has been stripped away and along with it, fine detail, such as fine facial details. Edge enhancements and halos are visible throughout the film, around the actors’ faces and around the edge of their bodies. Unless your screen is larger than 58 inches, you may not even notice these issues and if so, you will be thrilled with the video quality of all three films.

I was also disappointed to learn that all three films were mastered from 2k rather than 4k masters. While Aliens also had digital noise reduction applied to remove film grain, it was also used more judiciously, preserving all of the fine facial detail that was lost here. Perhaps that is due to the fact that Aliens was mastered form a 4k master which preserved more fine detail that made its way all the way to the final Blu-ray image. In any event, those of you with truly large screens and those of you who are more picky about these things, will more than likely be upset about the presence of DNR and EE on this release. I thought you should be forewarned.

Other that that, all three of the films have a nice natural color palette which does vary just a tad depending on which time period is involved. The 1985 and 2015 sequences have a very natural color palette while those in the past tend a bit to the warm side. This was intentional on the part of the filmmakers and is caused by the use of a yellow membrane applied over the set lighting. It is a subtle effect but one that is there nonetheless. The film also have deep blacks that at times, can be a bit crushed but not all that noticeably especially if your screen is not calibrated.

All-in-all, without the application of DNR and EE, these films would fully merit 4.5 star rankings. However, in light of the application of both, I can rate the films no better than 3.5.

Audio  

While I have some issues with the video, I have none with the audio which is better than I expected. The overall fidelity of the recorded sound is very good, with an openness and transparency that is quite impressive. I found the overall dynamics to be quite good although not exactly reference quality. The dialogue track is well recorded and well placed in the mix.

The sound effects are excellent as well, especially when the time machine moves forward and backwards in time. The train sound effect are also quite nice as well and very realistic sounding. When the time machine train at the end of Part III booms off into whatever time it is entering, it feels and sounds just like it it going over your head. Panning effects are well done and the surrounds, while not used aggressively throughout the film, are used rather effectively when they are so employed. All in all , all three films sound very nice, especially when you consider the time period in which the films were made.

Special Features  

As one would expect, there are a ton of extras included here which are contained on each of the three films are tied to each of the three films individually. The main extra on each disc are newly created featurettes entitled Tales From the Future, which consist of interviews with the films writers Bob Gale and Bob Zemeckis, the latter of which also directed each film, along with Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, producers Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall.

Deleted scenes are also included, some of which are in pretty bad shape. Disc II features a featurette with Dr. Micho Kaku, a theoretical physicist who is often on the Science Channel, who discusses the scientific validity of time travel as it is portrayed in the three films. Also featured is a Michel J. Fox Q & A, archival featurettes from the prior home video releases of the films, behind the scenes looks at the making of the films, music videos by Huey Lewis and the News and ZZ Top, Q & A Commentaries about the most frequently asked questions about the film and feature commentaries with Bob Gale and Neil Canton.

The trilogy is presented in a 6 disc set, with the three films on Blu-ray discs and digital copies on the other three discs. I would be remiss if I also didn’t comment on the packaging of this release which is by far the worst I have ever encountered. Rather than having the discs snap in place with the traditional center spiral, the digital copy and Blu-ray discs side over each other in a way that makes it nearly impossible to get the discs out of the trays. I was afraid that I would crack the discs in doing so, they are wedged in so tightly. Whoever designed this packaging should be fired. I hope to never see the likes of it again.

Final Thoughts  

Even without the issues I had with the video presentations here, these films have never looked better at home than they do here. Back to the Future is such a great film and belongs in the collection any any film fan. As I doubt that there will be any new editions of these films any time soon, I can recommend this set to any fans of the films, despite my reservations.

Film

The first matrix film was a game changer when it came out and when it was announced that not only one but two back-to-back sequels were going to be released, fans couldn’t hold in their excitement. When the movies received mixed reviews and didn’t live up to hype the films paled in comparison.

I always thought the hate that the Matrix sequels received was unfair; we all expected the Wachowskis to catch lightning in a bottle again. The Matrix Reloaded in particular has some great moments like the highway scene which is on a scale unlike we’d ever seen before. The expansive mythology built within the Matrix universe is something that simply isn’t common in Hollywood and the techniques that the Wachowskis use in presenting the films are so unique and original. Although the film doesn’t have the benefit of not having expectations it still kept pushing the bar.

Matrix Reloaded is action-packed but never feels mindless, the fight choreography is impressive and the special effects enhance every aspect of the shootouts. However, when it feels like the film is so high octane that it borders on gratuitous we’re given these beautifully crafted scenes such as the Architect scene where humanity is thrown under a microscope and it taps into the intellectual side of the audience.

Best of all with many back-to-back movies such as Kill Bill, the first movie that comes out has the opportunity to have an ending that leaves the audience painfully begging for more and the suspenseful ending of Matrix Reloaded definitely hits its mark… Unfortunately the next Matrix still hasn’t been released individually.

Video

Matrix Reloaded’s video is displayed using VC-1 codec in its original aspect ratio 2.40:1. The Blu-ray looks excellent, it’s crisp and sharp with a ton of detail and every texture comes through even when watching on a 100” projector screen.

The colours albeit colour graded to a greenish tint come off nicely and the contrast is at a nice level where we don’t lose details and we get deep black levels. The film has a bit of graininess at times but it’s nothing unusual or distracting.

The film is also free of any artefacting or noise; it’s a very clean print and is one of the best Blu-rays you can watch. It helps that the imagery in front of you has the scope of the Wachoiwski’s who are so talented that even the simplest shots have this edge to it, but nevertheless this is a good looking disc.

Audio

Matrix Reloaded’s audio comes at us using Dolby TrueHD 5.1 codec and sounds just as good as it looks. The mix is well balanced and takes advantage of the surrounds and even when complex scenes like shootouts on a highway are blowing out minds, the mix keeps up and makes sure everything comes through clearly. The sound effects have all the punch to really boost all of the unreal visuals that happen before our eyes and from the high ends to the low frequency roars, there’s little to complain about the sound. You can hear the complexity of the sound effects from the little sweeteners added to give the mix depth to the hollow atmospheric use of reverb.

The dialogue is clean and centered and there’s no noise or distortion in any of the tracks. The score comes through nicely as well and Don Davis really has a unique style with this score, blending organic and mechanic sounds seamlessly to create a surreal sound.

If you’ve been looking for a Blu-ray to flex your speaker’s muscle then add this one.

Special Features

There are quite a few special features on this Blu-ray, bringing over every feature from the Ultimate Matrix Collection such as 2 commentaries, over 20 behind-the-scenes featurette and some other bits on the Matrix game. The main feature that is cool is the in-movie experience that allows you to access some videos and extra goodies throughout the film that is really insightful to the filmmaking process. Unfortunately I wish there were most bonus features that focused on the Wachowskis.

Final Thoughts

If you bought the first Matrix separately and you’re contemplating whether you should continue with the trilogy, you can feel safe buying The Matrix Reloaded. The individual release has all the special features from the Ultimate boxset and the audio and video quality are showroom quality. If you weren’t a fan of  the sequels and haven’t seen them for a while, give them another chance after some time has past, Reloaded is a film that has aged well.