David Galindo
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2003
- Messages
- 1,264
[c]The Chronicles of Riddick (UMD)
Region 1 • Unrated • Dolby Digital • Available Now
[/c]
This UMD is all different kinds of fantastic, although the length of the film prevents the bonus features to really be packed in. But we still get quite an awesome deal with this Universal UMD.
Thoughts on the Movie
Ah, Vin Diesel. If Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vin Diesel fought to the death, who would win? I was about to type Vin Diesel, but Arnold has quite a bit of power… I honestly cannot say who would win. Man, that would be one awesome battle.
Anyways. I missed this film in the theaters, and looked forward to watching it. I was pretty prepared, as I recall Pitch Black pretty well, and played through The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay twice on Xbox (which, by the way, is one of the best games I have ever played & has a better single player mode than Halo 2 or any other FPS on Xbox or PS2, for that matter), so I was somewhat ready for the film. Good thing too, because it’s quite involved in the back history of almost all the characters.
I enjoyed this film as a pure action extravaganza. There were some real amazing scenes, such as the battle at night against the Necromongers in the sky, and the different planets we go to. Riddick kills almost two hundred and fifty people with his knife, and one with a teacup. And there are two crotch jabs- one with a pipe, another with three blades. Ouch.
I find it hard to write about this film, because… well, there isn’t much to say about it. It has some great special effects, good solid action, a pretty interesting story, and it has freaking Vin Diesel. You know you have to buy this movie eventually. It’s a pretty good popcorn action movie, quite a step up from xXx.
Video Quality
When the movie first starts, the dreaded text appeared… “This film has been modified from its original version.” Riddick has a ratio of 2.40, so I figured that was a bit too wide for the PSP and had to have been cropped.
I was wrong. Apparently the text meant this was the Unrated version, with different content than the original, because we get Riddick in its proper aspect ratio of 2.40. Hooah!
The results are pretty sweet. The colors are really vibrant, though it’s a bit hard to tell since many of the planets are in sepia tones. The detail is really sharp, and everything looks excellent. Bravo to Universal for not cropping this really awesome looking film!
5/5
Audio Quality
Yet another loud sounding movie, with great fake surrounds, loud bass, and clear vocals. Once again you can hear the movie loud enough with the PSP speakers, but you’d be missing out on some of the smaller details in the audio. With the proper headphones or external speakers, you will be blown away. Good thing too, because bad audio in an action film could have been fatal (*cough*IRobot*cough*).
5/5
Extras
The movie’s length of 2:14 may have capped the limit on the amount of extras we get, but Universal still got some on here anyways. Good for them.
First off, there is a forced trailer… but just press the square button and it’s gone! The menus look really great. I haven’t seen the DVD menus to compare the UMD ones, but I was very impressed regardless. It’s very sleek and nicely done, with the New Mecca city in the background and thunder all around. The cool thing is, if you go to the chapter selection menu, they’ll have a real time preview of the scenes with the lightning flashing over it at random. I realize that’s a pretty small detail, but it’s always good to be on the lookout for stuff that DVDs just can’t do.
We do get one extra though. There’s a montage of Deleted Scenes (8:09) that really help understand the film better… not sure why they took those out of the film, but it’s nice to have on the UMD anyways. Solid presentation overall!
4/5
Overall…
Universal UMDs retail for $15-20 (got mine at Sam’s again for $12!), and to see them put so much effort into their UMD business is extremely satisfying. If you’re looking for a good action film to watch, this UMD fits the bill perfectly. Fans of the movie should not think twice on picking this up- its one hell of a deal.
4.5/5
Region 1 • Unrated • Dolby Digital • Available Now
[/c]This UMD is all different kinds of fantastic, although the length of the film prevents the bonus features to really be packed in. But we still get quite an awesome deal with this Universal UMD.
Thoughts on the Movie
Ah, Vin Diesel. If Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vin Diesel fought to the death, who would win? I was about to type Vin Diesel, but Arnold has quite a bit of power… I honestly cannot say who would win. Man, that would be one awesome battle.
Anyways. I missed this film in the theaters, and looked forward to watching it. I was pretty prepared, as I recall Pitch Black pretty well, and played through The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay twice on Xbox (which, by the way, is one of the best games I have ever played & has a better single player mode than Halo 2 or any other FPS on Xbox or PS2, for that matter), so I was somewhat ready for the film. Good thing too, because it’s quite involved in the back history of almost all the characters.
I enjoyed this film as a pure action extravaganza. There were some real amazing scenes, such as the battle at night against the Necromongers in the sky, and the different planets we go to. Riddick kills almost two hundred and fifty people with his knife, and one with a teacup. And there are two crotch jabs- one with a pipe, another with three blades. Ouch.
I find it hard to write about this film, because… well, there isn’t much to say about it. It has some great special effects, good solid action, a pretty interesting story, and it has freaking Vin Diesel. You know you have to buy this movie eventually. It’s a pretty good popcorn action movie, quite a step up from xXx.
Video Quality
When the movie first starts, the dreaded text appeared… “This film has been modified from its original version.” Riddick has a ratio of 2.40, so I figured that was a bit too wide for the PSP and had to have been cropped.
I was wrong. Apparently the text meant this was the Unrated version, with different content than the original, because we get Riddick in its proper aspect ratio of 2.40. Hooah!
The results are pretty sweet. The colors are really vibrant, though it’s a bit hard to tell since many of the planets are in sepia tones. The detail is really sharp, and everything looks excellent. Bravo to Universal for not cropping this really awesome looking film!
5/5
Audio Quality
Yet another loud sounding movie, with great fake surrounds, loud bass, and clear vocals. Once again you can hear the movie loud enough with the PSP speakers, but you’d be missing out on some of the smaller details in the audio. With the proper headphones or external speakers, you will be blown away. Good thing too, because bad audio in an action film could have been fatal (*cough*IRobot*cough*).
5/5
Extras
The movie’s length of 2:14 may have capped the limit on the amount of extras we get, but Universal still got some on here anyways. Good for them.
First off, there is a forced trailer… but just press the square button and it’s gone! The menus look really great. I haven’t seen the DVD menus to compare the UMD ones, but I was very impressed regardless. It’s very sleek and nicely done, with the New Mecca city in the background and thunder all around. The cool thing is, if you go to the chapter selection menu, they’ll have a real time preview of the scenes with the lightning flashing over it at random. I realize that’s a pretty small detail, but it’s always good to be on the lookout for stuff that DVDs just can’t do.
We do get one extra though. There’s a montage of Deleted Scenes (8:09) that really help understand the film better… not sure why they took those out of the film, but it’s nice to have on the UMD anyways. Solid presentation overall!
4/5
Overall…
Universal UMDs retail for $15-20 (got mine at Sam’s again for $12!), and to see them put so much effort into their UMD business is extremely satisfying. If you’re looking for a good action film to watch, this UMD fits the bill perfectly. Fans of the movie should not think twice on picking this up- its one hell of a deal.
4.5/5
