Having read The Ultimates, the comic series on which it is supposedly based, I thought it was extremely mediocre in comparison. The animation looks barely above TV level, the story is a dumbed-down jumble, and the only redeeming feature is the final battle, which is a bit more violent than you might expect. I'd certainly rent it before buying. I wouldn't buy the next Avengers DVD (coming this summer) based on this one.
Has anyone noticed that this disc may have been improperly "flagged"? There are very annoying distortions that occur within fast movement, video effect shots and several edit points. The only way to eliminate the problem is to put the DVD player into "video" mode, rather than "auto" or "film". While this remedy fixes the problem, it results in a drastic loss of resolution and an unacceptable amount of dot-crawl and aliasing, or "jaggies".
This problem is also noted in another thread about Everybody Loves Raymond and Sex and the City.
This is the newly released Marvel Movie Ultimate Avengers. This really should be in the Software section. I got it the first day and I loved it. The sound was pretty good and the animation was great. I would defintely reccomend this one for purchase. My suggestion is that it's not really for kids 7 or younger since you have to explain the vaporizing issue.
Yeah, the disc does have some flagging issues, though I didn't notice them beyond a handful of occasions, often during character mouth movement. Stepping through scenes showed combing of frames every so often as well. The disc showed up as being flagged progressively for the most part, though every so often my player's display indicated interlaced or mixed instead of progressive.
Avengers fans will want to check out the features, which include a twenty minute or so mini-doc about the original series, including interviews with George Perez and Kurt Busiek among others. More interesting than the main feature, to be honest. The flyer inside the case also mentions that an Iron Man film will be coming out this fall, and Dr Strange in 2007. There's no way it will happen, but how cool would a Dr Strange film done in the Ditko style, a la Strange Tales, be?
I'm on the fence about this one. On the one hand, I watch Spider-Man on ABC Family every single morning before work. On the other hand, I don't wanna be in for a bad comic book movie, a la Catwoman.
I haven't kept up with Marvel products outside of the feature films, but I bought this based on what I've read online. I really enjoyed it. Better than The Hulk movie, for sure (which I guiltily own.) I'll buy the next one in July.
I thought it was good. Its a origin story after all, and the battle at the end was excellent. Terrific Sound also. I am looking forward to the next one being a lot better, but its definatly worth the pickup
Finally got to watch this, man it was awsome! My only problem with it was mjolner having a bladed side instead of just being a hammer. It wasn't like that in the comic sketches, wonder why they changed it. I can deal with the "blackification" of Nick Fury, it's a way better change than the way the superfriends became culturally more diverse when I was a kid. Apache Chief anyone? Anyway, I'm really looking forward to #2, and especially to Dr. Strange!
Mjolnir looks like that because this is based on the "Ultimate" Marvel Universe. Basically, a more modern, re-imagining of the Marvel Universe for younger readers. So this adaptdation is pretty accurate from what I understand (I don't follow the Ultimate universe as closely as the regular one).
Anyway, I really enjoyed this, but it felt more like the pilot for a TV series than an actual feature. I'll definately check out the next one in the series. I'm still hoping we get a live action Avengers flick in the theaters someday (or at least Captain America).