Anyone who follows my blog regularly will know that I was very impressed with the blu ray of 'Batman', so naturally straight afterwards I followed it up by watching the sequel. This film was always criticised for being too dark, but that's what I like about it. Danny DeVitos Penguin is one of my favourite Batman characters, his performance is spot on. When looking at the blu ray quality, the picture quality isn't as good as it predecessor, I mean it's good, but not as good as it could be. In some ares it looks really good, but it others, most notably the scenes in the Batcave, it just looks like it has been taken directly from the DVD, it is the same with the sound quality, the music sounds incredible, but things like speech, sound just like a DVD. When it comes to special features, it's quite impressive, there's a lot to choose from, including the bit I was most looking forward to, 'The Shadows of the Bat' documentary, which doesn't disappoint. It gives us an in depth look at the casting and the making of the movie. Other special include another piece on the making of the film (which I think was a TV special) which uses a lot of the same interviews of 'The Shadows of the Bat'. There are pieces on creating the penguin and creating the penguin army (which is both funny and interesting) and a look at the costumes of 'Batman Returns'. Then as usual there are some music videos, galleries and commentaries. If I am right then these special features are very similar to those that came on the DVD, but this blu ray is worth watching just for the great film and some extensive special features. I'm going to give 'Batman Returns' a 7.5/10.
My least favourite Bourne film, but that doesn't mean that I am saying it is a bad film, it is in fact a brilliant film, with a well thought out story and a cracking car chase scene. Lets look at the blu ray now shall we? The picture is good for the better part, there are a few scenes where it drops, but it is hardly noticeable, and the sounds quality is decent, it sounds at its best during the chase scenes, but during smaller scenes the quality drops a bit. As for the special features, just like the first film it doesn't disappoint. It starts us off with some 'explosive' deleted scenes (which aren't explosive at all, they just a few seconds of footage that fill in a few minor gaps), then it continues with a piece called 'Keeping It Real', which goes into how they didn't want to approach this sequel and make it cliche. They didn't want a film filled with special effects and explosions, they wanted everything to be real, they wanted it to flow like it would in real life. It really gives us an insight to Greengrass as a director. After that we have loads more, from fight training, to bits on blowing things up, to looking at the score, racing through the streets of Moscow, commentaries and much more. This is a great blu ray for special features, one of the best i've seen. I was worried that they'd used up a lot of the special features on the author on 'The Bourne Identity' so there wouldn't be much to talk about on this one, well they don't talk about the author, but they go really in depth at looking at the making of this film. I am going to give 'The Bourne Supremacy' an 8.5/10, the special features is what makes it worthwhile, well that and the epic film that comes with it.
The third and thought to be final instalment of the Bourne saga. A really really good film, with great action and a compelling story that does nothing but deliver all the way through. The blu ray quality is brilliant. It looks and sounds great, maybe the sound quality drops on occasion, but it's hardly noticeable. The special features are pretty darn good, we start with deleted scenes, then move on to a test which you, the audience, can take to find out whether or not you are spy material. Then we movie onto looking at Bourne on the move, which goes through all of the cities where the chases take place, then a look at the rooftop pursuit (how they filmed it, which is really interesting). Then we look at the filming of the main fight scene, i.e. the choreography, the preparation, the filming and two pieces on the car chase scenes, including how they were filmed and how they were filmed (interesting Matt Damon is a very talented driver and did a lot the driving himself). So I have to say I am very impressed with this blu ray, a solid 10/10 from me, I can't really find any major flaws in it. The best part about the Bourne films is that a lot of the stunt work is real, so that makes it easy to make great special features on the iconic scenes in the movie. The fact that nearly everything is stunt work is why everything in the film looks so real.
That's all for this week. Next I definitely be reviewing the blu rays for 'Batman Forever' and Batman & Robin' (god help me I actually have to watch that movie again). Plus whatever else sparks my fancy.
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