DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Superman Returns - Two-Disc Special Edition (RECOMMENDED). (1 Viewer)

[Mark_TB]

Bryan, I don't think it's just you. There are many scenes on the disc where the color seems "off" to me, and I don't remember it looking like that in the theater. To be honest, this is one of the worst-looking discs that I've seen in recent years. I love the movie, so this is very disappointing.

Mark

 

[Will_B]

It fit Luthor's history, in that his choice of weapon was a call back to Luthor's time in jail; Luthor had told Kittie, earlier, that in jail his life was worth less than a pack of cigarettes and a shiv -- a sharp piece of metal.

This movie impressed me in the theater and it blew me away again on DVD. The Luthor plot wasn't so strong, granted, but Spacey and Posey were great and, frankly, their entire scheme was only there to service the more interesting story about Superman's outsider status. That is what makes this film so good -- it isn't really an action film, it is a film about alienation.

The actors playing Superman and Lois Lane were very good too -- I hope they get more screen time together in the sequel, because really they only met a couple times in this first film.

I agree that the compression on this DVD wasn't that good. I was watching on about a 50" projected image, and there were moments when compression squiggles were visible. They should have asked whatever company fit the expanded Lord of the Rings films onto individual DVDs (for the latest repackaging of the Rings) to do the job.

The documentaries on disc two aren't so good. Just the usual stuff, loosely thrown together. Not as organized as a Peter Jackson film. The excellent production diaries are missing. But I do recommend the two disc edition for one powerful sequence at the start of disc 2, which shows a montage of newspaper headlines which for some reason really touched me. It looked as if this montage of newspaper headlines may have been intended to appear (in a more carefully crafted form) in the original longer version of the film, but that is never explicitly declared.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Coloring is a huge problem for the SR DVD. Having seen the film 4 times in the theater, I have a pretty good idea what scenes looked like on film. And many of the DVD scenes look nothing like what we saw in theaters.

The biggest offenders for me are the scenes within the farm house. They look entirely TOO yellow and it really takes away from the impact of those scenes.

 

[Matt Hough]

I felt the film lacked magic to a major degree. Routh was OK, but I did not like Kate Bosworth as Lois at all. I felt MAJOR sympathy for the luckless James Marsden character who's the innocent in this weird, ungallant love triangle. Some good action scenes, but the emotional stuff either left me cold or made me uncomfortable. And it seemed at least 20 minutes too long for the story it had to tell.

The DVD video quality was a HUGE disappointment for me after the stunning BATMAN BEGINS last year. I felt the skin tones looked pasty far too often, and the "haze" that others have mentioned softened the image too much for me.

 

[Bryan Ri]

Considering how many of us have complaints about the video quality, it's odd that it mostly good marks with reviewers.

 

[Ryan Wong]

I don't know. Maybe they ALL concluded the transfer with just the airplane scene.

 

[Bryan Ri]

haha, could be. It seems very odd that SO MANY DVD critics didn't jump all over the poor video quality. Maybe some assumed that because it was coming from a digital source that it should have been perfect.

 

[Tim Glover]

Too bad about the transfer issue for the standard def dvd. Kind of surprising that such a high profile film didn't get the best from Warner who usually puts out the best dvds out there.

The HD-DVD is stellar. Overall not as pristine as the HD-DVDs of Batman Begins or Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire but still looks great. My only complaint is some occasional background noise and some softness. But the softness issue was there in the IMAX version too.

How's the audio on the dvd?

This should have been a home-run dvd from Warner.

 

[Bryan Ri]

Good point on the IMAX print, Tim.

The audio is great, in my opinion. Nice balance, nice clarity. It doesn't knock you out like in the theater, but there's nothing technically to complain about.

 

[Ryan Wong]

Last time I checked, the Dolby Digital English track for the DVD is 384kbps. Sound a bit flat for my taste.

 

[Tim Glover]

I'm really clueless sometimes....

I own the HD-DVD like I mentioned but this is HD-DVD & DVD combo! Doh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll give the SD side a spin soon.

Sometimes I amaze myself....in a bad way

 

[Jeff*H]

I've noticed that on my Pioneer Home Theatre System, the Dolby 5.1 center channel is MUCH quieter than the surround channels. I find myself having to constantly adjust the volume level, something I've NEVER had to do with other recent movies I have viewed in 5.1 and DTS. The surrounds are great, for what it's worth. Has anyone else noticed this issue?

 

[Bryan Ri]

ahaha! Let us know what you think, Tim. I'm really curious if my set is just in need of some serious calibration.

 

[Tino]

I checked the flip side of the SR HD combo disc and I thought it looked horrible. Muddy, full of compresssion artifacts and just plain ugly.

The HD version looks much better, but as Tim said, other HD DVD's look far superior.

Looks like Warner disappointed on both fronts.

 

[Seppo]

Maybe I'm just too dumb or something but in my opinion the transfer is very good. A little soft, yes, but that could've been the original intention maybe? I saw "Superman Returns" during its theatrical run and it looked a little soft then as well. I didn't notice any noise or compression artifacts on the DVD, too.


My system: Sanyo PLV-Z3, Oppo upscaled to 720p, 92" 16:9 screen.

 

[Mark_TB]

You know, this one really has me scratching my head. I don't believe that reviewers and others (like Seppo) are blind or "dumb." But I can't figure out why this looks so bad to some of us, but fine to others.

This is purely speculation, but is there any chance there is a bad batch of discs for SUPERMAN RETURNS? Maybe some ARE bad, while others are correct. I'm not really sure how to go about testing that theory with any accuracy, though.

Again, I'm not making any accusations; I'm just trying to find an explanation for this variation in opinions.

Mark

 

[Nick Laslett]

Rented Superman Returns last night.

Picture quality was poor in my opinion, similar feelings to the other comments in this thread.

This was the PAL UK release.

Watched on a 42" Panasonic Plasma, Denon 3800 DVD player.

I thought maybe it was my eyes becuase I could not believe that a blockbuster release from this year would look so poor, but my wife agreed that the image quality was not good.

The film was okay, but I do have high hopes for the sequel, now that the character has been re-established on the big screem, I liked David Spacey's performance and thought that Brandon showed promise.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

"David Spacey"?

 

[TheBat]

must be kevin's twin?

or stunt double?

Jacob