300: THE COMPLETE EXPERIENCE (2007, Blu-ray released July 21, 2009 – MSRP $39.99)
I’m not going to try to sell you on 300. You either like the film or you don’t. If you’re here, reading this review, you probably think the movie’s all right and are no doubt familiar enough with the story, so I’m not going to bore you with it. It is, at its core, a two-hour fight scene. It’s an amazing battle, and incredible eye candy to be sure. But really, this sort of action epic, light on story, heavy on special effects is either your bag or you’re going to look elsewhere for your cinematic delights.
That out of the way, let me say WOW! I love this Blu-ray package. What an amazing job Warner has done with this set. Double-dip be damned, if you care at all about this film and are the sort of person who enjoys bonus features on a disc (I know there are two or three of you out there who couldn’t give a Spartan’s spear about them) then it’s worth ditching the old bare-bones one in favour of this, the 300: The Complete Experience.
This disc takes all the bonus features from the old Blu-ray disc edition, the stuff you could only get on the HD-DVD version of 300 and adds a whole new, rule-breaking way of experiencing the film – The Complete 300: A Comprehensive Immersion. This feature is worth the price of the disc alone. When you enter into it, you’re greeted by the director, Zack Snyder who walks you through the usage of it (and if you’re still confused, there are three pages devoted to the Comprehensive Immersion in the digibook packaging – more on that later.) There are three “timelines” to choose from while experiencing the film, each offering you a different stream of information focussed on a different element of the film and/or its production. “Creating a Legend” focuses on Frank Miller‘s vision and how the story made the transition from page to screen. “Bringing the Legend to Life” is all about the filmmaking process. “The History behind the Myth” was most interesting to me, as an opportunity to examine Miller and Snyder’s take on the tale from a historical standpoint. The interface may be a little clunky when switching from one stream to another but it doesn’t detract from the fun of the feature.
Without dwelling any further on the special features (there are a ton more and they’re all worthwhile – again, great work, Warner) I just want to add a note about the digibook package. This thing is gorgeous. I don’t care as much for artifacts in this day and age as I used to. I enjoy not owning CDs anymore. I read a lot of digital books. I get my news from the internet. But for some reason, I still like to have the films I care about in a package I can hold. Something tangible. And this book feels like a million books, and looks it too! The digibook gives one a feeling of reverence for a film that mostly likely doesn’t deserve it. It’s a small, sturdy hardcover that’s snazzy, embossed and quite shiny. There’s just enough content inside to get you all fired up to want to watch the film but not enough to distract while watching it. And again, if you’re at all confused by the way the Immersion feature works, it’s all laid out for you here. Really, I couldn’t ask for much more from a 300 Blu-ray experience. Highly recommended for fans of the film!
For a full list of bonus features, read our 300: The Complete Experience disc breakdown here.
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Has it really been months since Watchmen was released theatrically? Seriously? I feel like I was just sitting in the Scotiabank’s IMAX theatre here in Montreal, wrestling with the awkward, bombastic confusion I was witnessing on-screen. I can admit, here and now, that I’m not sure if I’m ready to watch this film again. At least not right now. Maybe I’ll feel a little different when the Blu-ray street date of July 28 rolls around.
I am, however excited to play with the Watchmen: Director’s Cut Blu-ray disc as soon as possible. Warner Home Video is pushing the limits of BD-Live functionality with this release, giving us our first in-movie social media experience! While watching the film, you’ll be able to sync your Facebook friend network with BD-Live, allowing for interactive community-screening and commenting. Expect scores of posts on your “wall” regarding the lamentable song selection accompanying the Owl-Ship love scene (I love your work, Mr. Cohen…just not so much as the soundtrack to neon-lit, nasty superhero cavorting).
After taking a good, hard look at the special feature list of this upcoming Watchmen: Director’s Cut I’m not quite sure if this is the last we’ll be seeing of this title on home video. While the disc seems feature rich, the lack of inclusion of the theatrical cut (outside of the “Digital Copy” file provided) and the rumoured “Black Freighter” 205 minute cut (incorporating the animated feature, Tales of the Black Freighter) keeps it from feeling like a complete or comprehensive edition. Don’t be surprised to find an Ultimate Collector’s Edition box set on the shelves, much like Warner prepared for their I Am Legend double dip, sometime next year.
WATCHMEN: DIRECTOR’S CUT
190 minutes (vs. 162 minutes for Theatrical Cut)
Video: 1080p VC-1
Audio: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
Special Features:
• Maximum Movie Mode (BD exclusive split-screen, on-camera commentary)
• Watchmen: Focus Points
• The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics
• Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes (BD exclusive)
• Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World (BD exclusive)
• Music Video: Desolation Row (My Chemical Romance)
• Digital Copy (theatrical version)
• BD-Live
Previously on The Blu-ray Blog: Watchmen: Black Freighter Blu-ray details and Animated Trailer
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If you followed the history of this film on high-def formats, you most likely saw this one coming miles away. Timed to take advantage of the release of Zack Snyder‘s Watchmen on home video, 300: The Complete Experience will hit the shelves on July 21, packing all the features from the HD-DVD onto the Blu-ray edition of the film, along with some new BD-Live functionality and a book!
To be fair to Warner, this isn’t your average double-dip story. You see, way back in July of 2007, when 300 first came to home video, there wasn’t a Blu-ray player on the market that could handle the advanced BD-Live functionality (outside of the PS3, that is) required to take advantage of the additional features. The Complete 300 – A Comprehensive Immersion and the bluescreen picture-in-picture were available on the HD-DVD but held back from Blu-ray, giving our first cue that we would eventually see a more robust edition released on the format once all the hubbub over “profiles” settled down. And from the looks of this list of extras on the disc, it will have been well worth the wait:
300: THE COMPLETE EXPERIENCE
Digibook edition with 40-page book
Video: 1080p VC-1
Audio: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD
Special Features:
• The Complete 300 – A Comprehensive Immersion (new): interactive picture-in-picture experience which provides 3 unique perspectives to explore while you watch the film:
◦ Creating a Legend – Frank Miller and Zack Snyder Interpret a Classic Tale
◦ Bringing the Legend to Life – Building a World From a Comic
◦ The History Behind the Myth – The Real Story of The Hot Gates
• Bluescreen picture-in-picture (new)
• Audio commentary by director Zack Snyder, writer Kurt Johnstad and director of photography Larry Fong (already included in 1st edition)
• The 300- Fact or Fiction? (in HD; already included in 1st edition)
• Who Were The Spartans – The Warriors of 300 (in HD; already included in 1st edition)
• Preparing for Battle – The Original Test Footage (in HD; already included in 1st edition)
• Frank Miller Tapes (in HD; already included in 1st edition)
• Making of 300 – A look at how the movie was made (in SD; already included in 1st edition)
• Making 300 in Images (in SD; already included in 1st edition)
• Webisodes (in SD; already included in 1st edition)
• Additional Footage – Deleted Scenes with Introduction by Zack Snyder (in HD; already included in 1st edition)
• BD-Live (new): Media Centre; Live Community Screening; My WB Commentary
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Via: Blu-ray.com