David Galindo
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2003
- Messages
- 1,264
[c]Predator (UMD)
Region 1 • R • Subtitles: English • Available Now
[/c]
One of my many favorite sci-fi movies makes it on UMD, and the results couldn’t be more disappointing.
Thoughts on the Movie
I’ve been looking forward to this UMD, simply because I never saw Predator completely all the way through. I had seen the end, most of the middle, never saw the beginning. Now that I have seen it in its entirety, I can say that I’ve really enjoyed it.
I mean, just look at the cast. This cast certainly ranks high in the halls of bad-assery. You’ve got Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, Carl Weathers, Sonny Landham as that crazy Billy guy… wow. Who would have thought two of these people would go on to be state governors?
The Predator himself is quite amazing. Many people think that the movie is illogical because of him, simply because it doesn’t make sense that an alien would come to earth just to hunt humans. But it makes perfect sense to me… I mean, this guy is probably on vacation and hunts humans during the summer. What’s there to not understand? Isn’t man the biggest hunt of all?
Well, I really enjoyed this movie. It was interesting how the men were not sent to kill the Predator, but rather they gradually realize they’re not in control, and fight back. I also liked the men and how their characters were fleshed out before we get to the meat of the story. I just dug this film.
To rank Schwarzenegger’s movies, I would put Total Recall on top, the Terminator franchise next, and Predator in a solid third. Great movie.
Video Quality
We get another warning before the movie starts that the ratio was cropped to fill the screen. Again, why was the cropping necessary? The original ratio was 1.85, and it’s zoomed to 1.78. Why? While it’s not a huge travesty as a 2.35 to 1.78 would have been, it still annoys me.
Thankfully, this movie looks much better than the tepid Napoleon Dynamite transfer. The colors look great, and one of the scenes in the movie takes place in a helicopter that’s bathed in red light. Usually reds are the hardest to pull off well on a DVD or UMD, especially after compression. I was pretty impressed by the look of the scene, and everything in the movie was sharp and detailed. When you first get a two second glimpse of the Predator in camo mode (when he kills the first man in the group), it will shock you. Not the special effects, but the clarity of the scene and the amazing detail the PSP screen put out. Oddly, that’s the only time the camo effect wooed me, but I rewound that scene several times.
Good transfer overall, and hopefully Fox will keep future widescreen movies in their true widescreen formats.
4/5
Audio Quality
The movie, unfortunately, suffers from a overall lack of loudness (much like the National Treasure track). I had to turn the movie up to the max, as well as the UMD volume booster to +2, before I felt comfortable. Still, it is way too quiet at times, such as the briefing before heading to the jungle. Thankfully, the score sounds great on the UMD.
There is something interesting to note though. Usually UMD movies use Atrac3+ audio for the movie, which is very loud at times and can really deliver some solid sound. But Fox, so far, has encoded their UMDs in stereo sound, which sounds a bit underwhelming. I have no idea why they are doing this, because Atrac3+ audio allows for some fake surround sounds, unlike stereo sound. In fact, there is no good reason why Fox uses stereo tracks except to save room on the disc, which would have been understandable if there were lots of extras. Except for the fact that…
2/5
Extras
…there are no extras. No chapter selection. Just two trailers you can watch (one of them, an old trailer for Aliens, is pretty cool). The menus are OK, and the score that plays in them sounds great, but what the hell is up with Fox for not putting a chapter selection menu? Not only that, but this UMD case has the cover art from the Predator special edition DVD, and there is not a single extra.
I really hope that these titles were simply rushed and Fox will put more effort in their future releases, because so far, I have almost lost hope altogether in them. Next Fox movie I see that gets the same treatment as Napoleon and Predator gets a zero in this section.
0.5/5
Overall…
It really pains me to give such a low score to a great movie, but I have said before that this is a UMD review and not a movie review. Why Fox uses stereo sound is beyond me. Why they don’t include a chapter selection is puzzling. Why they crop movies that hardly need cropping is bamboozling. Why they don’t include just a tiny extra is perplexing. Why they expect people to pay $30 is simply mystifying.
I really, really, really hope that Fox gets their act together. Until then, stay away from all UMDs with the Fox logo on it…you’ve been warned!
1/5
Region 1 • R • Subtitles: English • Available Now
[/c]One of my many favorite sci-fi movies makes it on UMD, and the results couldn’t be more disappointing.
Thoughts on the Movie
I’ve been looking forward to this UMD, simply because I never saw Predator completely all the way through. I had seen the end, most of the middle, never saw the beginning. Now that I have seen it in its entirety, I can say that I’ve really enjoyed it.
I mean, just look at the cast. This cast certainly ranks high in the halls of bad-assery. You’ve got Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, Carl Weathers, Sonny Landham as that crazy Billy guy… wow. Who would have thought two of these people would go on to be state governors?
The Predator himself is quite amazing. Many people think that the movie is illogical because of him, simply because it doesn’t make sense that an alien would come to earth just to hunt humans. But it makes perfect sense to me… I mean, this guy is probably on vacation and hunts humans during the summer. What’s there to not understand? Isn’t man the biggest hunt of all?
Well, I really enjoyed this movie. It was interesting how the men were not sent to kill the Predator, but rather they gradually realize they’re not in control, and fight back. I also liked the men and how their characters were fleshed out before we get to the meat of the story. I just dug this film.
To rank Schwarzenegger’s movies, I would put Total Recall on top, the Terminator franchise next, and Predator in a solid third. Great movie.
Video Quality
We get another warning before the movie starts that the ratio was cropped to fill the screen. Again, why was the cropping necessary? The original ratio was 1.85, and it’s zoomed to 1.78. Why? While it’s not a huge travesty as a 2.35 to 1.78 would have been, it still annoys me.
Thankfully, this movie looks much better than the tepid Napoleon Dynamite transfer. The colors look great, and one of the scenes in the movie takes place in a helicopter that’s bathed in red light. Usually reds are the hardest to pull off well on a DVD or UMD, especially after compression. I was pretty impressed by the look of the scene, and everything in the movie was sharp and detailed. When you first get a two second glimpse of the Predator in camo mode (when he kills the first man in the group), it will shock you. Not the special effects, but the clarity of the scene and the amazing detail the PSP screen put out. Oddly, that’s the only time the camo effect wooed me, but I rewound that scene several times.
Good transfer overall, and hopefully Fox will keep future widescreen movies in their true widescreen formats.
4/5
Audio Quality
The movie, unfortunately, suffers from a overall lack of loudness (much like the National Treasure track). I had to turn the movie up to the max, as well as the UMD volume booster to +2, before I felt comfortable. Still, it is way too quiet at times, such as the briefing before heading to the jungle. Thankfully, the score sounds great on the UMD.
There is something interesting to note though. Usually UMD movies use Atrac3+ audio for the movie, which is very loud at times and can really deliver some solid sound. But Fox, so far, has encoded their UMDs in stereo sound, which sounds a bit underwhelming. I have no idea why they are doing this, because Atrac3+ audio allows for some fake surround sounds, unlike stereo sound. In fact, there is no good reason why Fox uses stereo tracks except to save room on the disc, which would have been understandable if there were lots of extras. Except for the fact that…
2/5
Extras
…there are no extras. No chapter selection. Just two trailers you can watch (one of them, an old trailer for Aliens, is pretty cool). The menus are OK, and the score that plays in them sounds great, but what the hell is up with Fox for not putting a chapter selection menu? Not only that, but this UMD case has the cover art from the Predator special edition DVD, and there is not a single extra.
I really hope that these titles were simply rushed and Fox will put more effort in their future releases, because so far, I have almost lost hope altogether in them. Next Fox movie I see that gets the same treatment as Napoleon and Predator gets a zero in this section.
0.5/5
Overall…
It really pains me to give such a low score to a great movie, but I have said before that this is a UMD review and not a movie review. Why Fox uses stereo sound is beyond me. Why they don’t include a chapter selection is puzzling. Why they crop movies that hardly need cropping is bamboozling. Why they don’t include just a tiny extra is perplexing. Why they expect people to pay $30 is simply mystifying.
I really, really, really hope that Fox gets their act together. Until then, stay away from all UMDs with the Fox logo on it…you’ve been warned!
1/5
