The End of all Things: A Look Back at the Movies of 2010

Another year has come and gone,
One life ends, another begins,
And in a world where time goes fast,
We come to the end of all things.

We saw great triumphs and journeys,
Valiant heroes and despicable villains,
But for everyone of these that we saw,
There were others destined to fail.

On a cold and warm planet,
That sees equal parts of love and hate,
Anger, fear and aggression,
We must always remember one thing,
That we must never turn to the dark side.

It was also a year that we saw great journeys,
On this world as well as others,
Where the cinemas all stand,
And the popcorn pops on.

So at last, we come to that time of the year,
The time where we not only look back at the year behind us,
But also to what the future holds,
But for now, we are at our end.
The end of all things.

Just wanted to have a little fun with you readers, who says that these types of editorials can't have that little something in them eh.

With that out of the way, it appears that we must indeed look back at the movies that we saw in 2010, the good times, the bad times, the misfires and the missed opportunities but before I go specifically into that I want to talk about the year as a whole.

And that is that 2010 on the whole has only been an okay year for movies at best, in comparison though last year (2009) started off bad and only got worse before James Cameron's Avatar swooped in at the last minute to snatch a key victory from the jaws of defeat, but this year wasn't so fortunate I think.

And that's mainly because a lot of movies released this year suffered from one big problem: The lack of a coherent and finished script, there is nothing more important to a movie's survival than that, it sunk last year's Transformers sequel Revenge of the Fallen and it also sunk a good number of movies released this year, guys look I know you have hundreds of millions of dollars, big name celebrities and state of the art special effects, but you cannot let those elements alone carry a film, you have to have a script, this one inefficiency is making me VERY angry and I've really lost patience with it, now I know some of you have made the criticism that I'm a bit of a grouch but nothing pisses me off more than seeing people pay they're hard earned money on something that they've wanted to see only to get nothing in return, it really gets on my nerves and I wish it would stop.

But hey like I said before, it wasn't that bad of a year overall, but it also wasn't all that good of a year either, as it started off fairly flat and only showed a few signs of life from there, here's hoping 2011 can rise above the last few years of mediocrity but from the looks of it on paper, the signs aren't promising, what is though is a return to the dead zone that dominated the 00's, well for now at least, but I could be wrong.

Now, let's get down to business shall we:

The favourites of 2010:

4. Green Zone/Kick Ass: One of two ties on this list mainly because I didn't like one more than the other, I enjoyed both about the same but for different reasons which are outlined below.

Green Zone was a great reminder of the action days of yore, when action and story blended together to create a satisfying movie as a whole, here not only did you have some pretty terrific action scenes helmed by director Paul Greengrass but also there was a compelling story about WMD's in Iraq, effortlessly carried by Matt Damon, who has now proven himself to be the real deal as an actor.

Kick Ass meanwhile was a very dark, very violent and also very funny comic book movie, my main line about this has been that this is what Iron Man 2 should have been, a smart action comedy that didn't over complicate it's story, if there was any justice in the world, Chloe Moretz would get an Oscar nod for her role as Hit-Girl, how someone so young can carry themselves so confidently on screen is something I'd like to find out.

3. Shutter Island: Martin Scorsese for me has been a little iffy since his 1990 masterpiece Goodfellas (yes I think it's that good) mainly because when you make a movie that's that impressive, it can be hard to follow it up as was the case with his 2006 Oscar winner The Departed, which was ridiculously long and really an attempt to recapture the success of that film, only for it to fail to do so rather miserably.

Getting back on topic, what Scorsese has done here is simply a high end "Haunted House" complete with the rustling weather, local crazies and the "Da Dum" soundtrack, and all of it makes for a movie watching experience that is certainly a lot of fun and Scorsese's best work in years.

2. Inception/The Social Network: Again we have another tie, mainly because again I didn't really like one above the other, I liked them both just as much but again they were for different reasons.

Inception (Director Christopher Nolan's follow up to his 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight) was an impressive affair that juggled not only multiple characters but also multiple realities, as the main group of characters are asked to perform Inception, which is to plant an idea inside a person's mind.

Any other director could have potentially let this material collapse into an incomprehensible mess, but Nolan keeps his eye on the ball at all times, showing an impressive technical ambition not seen since James Cameron, but since the film's home video release some of the gloss has come off a bit as the visuals don't quite impress as much as they did on a nice big cinema screen.

The Social Network meanwhile was a movie that I walked into with very low expectations, as a movie about the founding of Facebook couldn't be that interesting could it, Could it?

Well, I was dead wrong as for two thirds of the film's 2 hour running time it was a fascinating story that also had the gall to say that Mark Zuckerburg, one of the world's youngest billionaires was a manipulative prick who wasn't afraid to trample on anyone or anything around him if it meant advancing his own personal gain.

Unfortunately though, the last third of the movie lacked that excitement as the threads come together and the film attempts to make Mark look like a nicer person, whereas I really liked the bastard, a real pity as when this film was good, it was dead on.

1. Toy Story 3: Yes folks, my favourite movie from all of those I saw in 2010 was an animated movie, about toys of all things.

But that ain't a knock against this movie at all as it hit it's marks completely dead on, simply put not only did this movie leave me with a big grin on my face almost the entire time with its warmth and humour but it also tugged at the heartstrings with two key sequences towards the film's end showing the softer side of a lot of people, and don't say it didn't happen to you cause it had to of in some way.

But I can't not reflect on this movie and not talk about the new characters created for it, all of whom I'm certain will have the same shelf life as the more iconic characters like Woody and Buzz, from the pink Lots'-O'-Huggin-Bear to the Big Baby doll which looks like some alcoholic serial killer to the rather funny Mr. Pricklepants, voiced by former 007 Timothy Dalton, but lastly this was the only film I saw this year which gave Avatar a run for it's money and I ain't gonna complain about that at all.

But enough of praise for the moment, let's see what didn't impress me this year:

The Worst of 2010:

4. Alice in Wonderland: The first main movie I saw this year and all through watching it one thought came to mind "Didn't I see this a few months ago when it was called Avatar", for it basically it had the exact same things that this movie did:

1. The big scary creatures that chases the main lead only to help them later on
2. The big dragon creature that plays a major part in the final battle
3. The leader who rallies both side for one last battle
4. The eccentric locals who come to the lead's aide

And not only that, this movie had nearly no plot at all and even if it did, it wasn't all that interesting, as it was really just a "oppressed people looking for a champion" story, whoop de doo.

Personally, I wish Tim Burton would quit making movies as he simply doesn't have it in him anymore to knock one out of the park but given that this movie made a billion dollars worldwide at the box office, I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

3. Clash of the Titans: Following his blockbuster success with James Cameron's Avatar, Australian Sam Worthington took on another big project with this remake of the 1981 cult hit Clash of the Titans.

Following a promising trailer which showed giant scorpions, clashing gods and a great big Kraken, what we got was anything but that, instead the great big monsters only got two minutes of screen time and Ralph Fiennes's Hades was one of the worst performances this year, sounding like someone who smoked way too much.

Not only that, the film as a whole was SO deadly dull and boring it wasn't funny, Worthington completely phones it in, Gemma Arterton was dull, Liam Neeson turned one of his rare bad performances and the comic characters were anything but.

2. Predators: One of the two movies this year that got on my nerves the most, Predators was quite frankly a pointless and unnecessary addition to the Predator film series.

And the main reason is that this film lacks any kind of worthwhile story, you see in the first Predator movie there was a good 10-15 minutes at the beginning that set up what was to happen in the jungle, a helicopter carrying a cabinet minister and his aide has gone down in the jungle and they're presumed missing, find them and bring them back, of course it was so much more than that.

In this one, we see Adrian Brody hurtling through the atmosphere which looks like outtakes from the sky diving scene in last year's Star Trek movie and a whole bunch of other characters and most of the time they're asking "How did we get here"?

HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW, I'M AS BAFFLED AS YOU ARE

Sorry about the capitals in that last sentence, but that really got on my nerves, as well as it's pointless ending that should been this movie's last act, but hey this means we have something for a sequel, yay for us.

1. Robin Hood: Yes folks, the bottom of the barrel for 2010, Ridley Scott's take on the Robin Hood legend.

Well, no it wasn't as quite frankly it was Gladiator 2, only this time it was Robin Hood and it's story shoehorned into that framework, Russell Crowe's accent changed more times than someone changing their underpants, Oscar Issac was nothing more than a 50 pound ham as King John, but the real kicker was Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian, who doesn't have any fun with this role whatsoever, she plays it as someone who has convinced themselves that they're an AC TOR who has to act not do silly stuff like this, because of that Blanchett will have to do something pretty special to get back into my good books.

But wait there's more, two more things that got my goat:

1. The story making no sense whatsoever as one minute Mark Strong's character is plotting behind the king's back, the next he's collecting money for him, dude make up your mind will ya.

2. The very end of the movie says "And so, the legend began", you know you could have said that TWO HOURS AGO and given us something more rather than once again, makes us wait for a sequel to give us what you promised the first time around, I mean fair go mate fair go.

Yeah, this movie got on my nerves much more than Predators did, now I know that we laugh at Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg and even George Lucas for some of their recent pictures but this movie was made by Ridley Scott, the same man who gave us Blade Runner, how on Earth could he have made this movie, he's above all this mediocrity, oh well, hopefully he'll have something good in mind with his Alien prequel.

The Disappointments of 2010:

One segment that I feel is worth talking about are the movies that disappointed us, you know the ones that you hope will deliver the goods based on what came before and what director did beforehand that you really liked but sadly you just walked out feeling really let down and wanting to cry on someone's shoulder, with that let's mark the top three disappointments of the year.

3. Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps: The follow up to Oliver Stone's 1987 original, I had been very enthusiastic to check this one but unfortunately the cruel hand of fate had other ideas and was left to wait another month before seeing it, but if you've already read my main review of this movie, you'd know this story by now.

The reason it's here on this list is that when I walked out of the movie one thought came to mind: "All this time, and THIS is what I get"; a half baked family drama, a subpar financial story and a lacklustre villain that felt like 3 separate stories rather than 1 glorious whole which was the case in the first movie, don't get me wrong Douglas was terrific but there were a few moments where he was Gordon, in control and calling the shots and you just thought "Where's that movie" but everything around him felt flat and that was a shame.

2. Iron Man 2: The first trailer for Iron Man 2 came out the day I saw Avatar, in fact at last year's Comic Con, the IM2 presentation was said to be better than the Avatar one, which had me convinced that people were looking forward to that film more than Avatar, needless to say I felt that the trailer released that day captured the heart and humour of the first and set up the same wild ride that was just fun on the bun, so I guess my hope was that this movie would stand up to Avatar in the same way that the first film did with the Dark Knight, hopes to be positive about or not?

Sadly, I was wrong as the film didn't have any of the energy, humour, heart and straightforward storytelling the first film did, instead this film was rushed from start to finish, no doubt so the Paramount executives could triple their bank accounts, I mean why couldn't it have been saved for 2011, as it would have mopped up the box office and given fans the sequel they deserved as well as something to look forward to, alas that isn't to be.

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: Yes folks, the biggest disappointment for me this year, Scott Pilgrim was director Edgar Wright's follow up to 2007's Hot Fuzz, which I LOVED so very much, the trailers looked promising for the same kind of high energy, fast pace and quirky characters.

Sadly, my hopes were dashed as this movie had a dead weight hanging around it's neck in the form of one Michael Cera; quite frankly he isn't leading man material whereas Simon Pegg was, and the reason he isn't is because he talks in a very slow and whiny fashion, totally at odds with the rest of the actors and Edgar's style, which is fast and furious.

Not only that, Scott himself was a total smeghead, moaning on and on all the time when the other characters are trying to get it through to him that you have to step up, now I know that some will forgive that and hey, that's your prerogative I'm not going to stop you and nor should I, but this isn't some background person, this is the centre of the movie, you cannot make a massive mistake like that, unfortunately as a result despite high praise from fans and critics, the movie Bob-ombed at the box office earning only $10 million in it's opening weekend.

So, that's that for 2010's movies, hopefully 2011 will be good but considering the offerings, I'm not going to get my hopes up as it looks like a return to the dead zone that dominated the 00's, well we'll just have to wait and see what happens won't we, until then, see you at the cinemas.

2010 on Blu-Ray

Part 1 of my look back feature on 2010 it brought some rather big Blu-Ray releases, I won't bore you with a long diatribe about the good and bad but just tell you what the top three are:

3. The Expendables: A new release on disc, the Expendables resembled to me what a no nonsense disc release should do, not give you hours and hours of worthless extras but just a few high quality bonuses that leave you feeling satisfied, and the bonuses here most certainly did that, sadly the Australian release left off the 90 minute making of so it feels a bit incomplete but what's here was good enough to let it qualify, as well as the booming 7.1 DTS-HD soundtrack and very entertaining movie, this was easily the best sound mix I heard on a Blu-Ray this year.

2. Beauty and the Beast - Diamond Edition: One of the great triumphs for the Disney studios (it's the ONLY animated film to score a legitimate Best Picture Oscar nomination), 2002's Platinum Edition DVD release was not the best, iffy Video, weak Audio and sub par extras really didn't do the film justice.

This year's Diamond Edition Blu-Ray however rectified all of those, with a beautiful Video presentation, great sound and some terrific extras that really take you behind the scenes into not only how the film was made but also how the Disney studios at that time rallied together to get back on track following several flops, a winner of a release.

1. Avatar - Extended Collector's Edition: Easily my favourite Blu-Ray Release from this year (though BatB came very close), James Cameron's Avatar combined first class Audio/Visual Quality with 2 full discs worth of terrific bonuses, from direct access to the 16 minutes reinstated to the film, the making of, the 70 minutes worth of deleted scenes plus so much more, this release deserves to become one of the finest special edition releases ever made.

So there you have it, short and sweet when it comes to the top three Blu-Ray's of 2010 for me, let's hope 2011 brings us some more as this format is really starting to show some serious potential and I look forward to more.

Film Review - Salt (2010)

Salt stars Angelina Jolie as Evelyn Salt, a CIA operative who is asked to quiz a Russian defector named Orlov who claims that a Russian agent hidden on the inside will kill the Russian president, and it's none other than Salt herself.

If that small synopsis sounded slightly confusing, believe me so is this movie, it is literally all over the place, one part resembles the Fugitive, another part resembles the James Bond film The Living Daylights and another part feels like a spy script that was written 20 years ago but also in terms of the central question of whether she's really a Russian spy or not, I don't think this movie really made up it's mind on which way to go and so as a result, it tries to cut it both ways, you know maybe Mr. Kurt Wimmer who wrote the script for this movie should have answered that question BEFORE he wrote the full screenplay, not during it.

You know sometimes a little advance planning of what a story might look like and how it will all play out over a 3 act structure and how your characters fit into the roles that are required for your story can really go a long way towards making it work and if that's hard to do (and trust me, it can be sometimes), well maybe it's best not to write that story at all.

But despite my rant about the dog's breakfast that resembles this script, the movie isn't a total write off, mainly thanks to Jolie, she carries this film effortlessly and the steely resolve in her eyes never leaves you questioning her motives, it's just such a pity she along with Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor left to run the Gauntlet like so many actors that are given second rate action scripts.

All in all, this movie is a total mess and a waste of the three main actors, just a 1 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Harry Brown (2009)

Harry Brown stars Michael Caine as Harry Brown, a retired man who lives in a rundown area of London that is run rampant by violent youth gangs, but when one gang murders his best friend played by David Bradley, Harry decides to take matters into his own hands.

Harry Brown is a dark and atmospheric film anchored very nicely by Caine, those with a light stomach should not watch this movie as the MA15+ rating is justified as there are scenes of people getting savagely killed and high on drugs, one character looked like Gollum from Lord of the Rings after a 3 day binge, but overall I don't think that it matched last year's Gran Torino which starred Clint Eastwood who also directed it, that film was great whereas this was okay.

2 out of 5 for Harry Brown.

Film Review - The Expendables (2010)

The Expendables is the latest film from Sylvester Stallone and stars himself and other action luminaries past and present such as Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren and more, the story here is that a team of mercenaries is sent to a South American jungle to overthrow a military dictator, but it won't be as easy as they thought.

The Expendables has all the elements to make a great action picture, a terrific cast with some great cameos which I won't spoil here but will be familiar to those who's seen the previews for the film, nice cinematography by Jeffrey Kimball and some good action scenes but the first half of this film is terrible beyond all belief, so much so that it almost sinks the film, luckily once the action kicks into high gear to film gains momentum and investment in its main leads.

All in all, a good night out, a 2 and a half out of 5.

1 Year Today...

Yes folks, It was 1 year ago today that James Cameron's Avatar first hit cinema screens and took us all on a journey to the distant world of Pandora, which was full of great wonders and mysterious dangers.

It was this day that I also remember very well, it was a grey and wet day and I had made the journey to my regular cinema, eager and ready to see what director James Cameron had up his sleeve following a 12 year absence since creating his other mammoth blockbuster, the 1997 historical love story Titanic, also having devoured the film's main 3 and a half minute trailer as much as I could.

This showing wasn't in 3D, just the regular but frankly I didn't care all that much, I was eager to see it, the people cued up, we all went in, took our seats and the movie did it's thing.

About 3 hours later, give or take 15-20 minutes for the various adverts and previews to run their course, I came out of the movie mesmerized, no doubts rested in my mind that Cameron had pulled it off, defying his critics and creating something that had to be seen to be believed, which they did as the movie stormed the box office and created a success which has fundamentally changed the nature of box office success, surpassing Titanic and becoming the highest grossing film of all time, a success story like this I don't think we will see for a very long time.

And yet, as I type this, it's already been 1 year since that film was first released and another year of movies has come and gone for the most part as well as a deluxe special edition release of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray, did I like any of the movies from this year as much as this one, well you'll just have to wait and see for that answer.

Film Review - Tron: Legacy (2010)

Tron: Legacy is the follow up film to Walt Disney Pictures's 1982 original movie, the story here is that Kevin Flynn played by Jeff Bridges has gone missing inside his own virtual world, now fully grown his son Sam played by Garrett Hedlund goes inside to find him, only to find a world beyond his wildest dreams.

Tron: Legacy was my first 3D experience and before I go into the movie as a whole I must talk about it, to be quite honest I HATED the 3D here, it looked dark and dismal and took away from the visual slpendor of the film, at stages I would take off the glasses and the slightly fuzzy footage looked 10 times brighter and had real visual flair, all in all if you can find a 2D screening, take it instead of the 3D one as it really distracted from the visual action, literally in those cases.

As for the movie's plot, well it's a bit like the 3D really, dull and dismal and throws 20 different storylines at you as the film progresses, not only that you can literally pinpoint what's going to happen, also making it very predictable, the cast though however really give their all, Bridges, Hedlund, Olivia Wilde as Flynn's Aide and Michael Sheen as a nightclub owner are actually quite good as is the film's sound design, but lastly there was a quote in the Herald Sun's review of the film by Leigh Paatsch that said this:

"TRON: Legacy summons a spectacle as breathtakingly out of this world as Avatar"

Now I'm sorry but I have to call bullshit on that one, Avatar was a true cinematic spectacle, that swept you away on a journey to a new world in a way that no movie had done in years, Tron: Legacy's visuals are nowhere near as good, muddled by the 3D gimmickry that because of the format's disconnection between the foreground and the background serves to keep us at a distance from the on screen action.

If I had seen the film in 2D, I would have given this a 2 and a half out of 5 for it being an entertaining ride but the wasted actors, dull storyline and gimmickry 3D visuals knotch this down to a 2 out of 5.

Blu-Ray Review - Inception

Inception is the latest film from director Christopher Nolan, who is best known for his 2000 breakout film Memento and his two Batman movies, 2005's Batman Begins and it's 2008 sequel The Dark Knight, which showed a real maturity in Nolan's directorial style but after the mammoth success of Dark Knight, Nolan was given carte blanche to make whatever movie he wanted, no doubt a carrot to lure him back for a third Batman movie, well it seemed to work as The Dark Knight Rises will hit theatres in 2012, with expectations high enough to fill the Empire State Building 10 times over.

But back to Inception, and frankly it's because of Nolan's deft hand that this movie works, any other director could have let the material sink into a gigantic incoherent mess, but Nolan keeps his eye on the prize and as a result, we get sucked into this strange dream world, but I must say that since the first screening, some of the gloss has gone off a little, don't get me wrong it's easily one of the best films of the year but I felt that there were better movies released this year, but that shouldn't stop you from seeing this movie, not at all.

The Blu-Ray:

The Blu-Ray comes in a combo pack which contains the 2-disc Blu-Ray release, the DVD copy and a special Digital Copy of the movie which can be transferred to a portable device like an iPod or a Laptop but will only last for about 12 months.

However, there is one thing about the packaging that has gotten on my goat, there is no mention of the two galleries or the promotional ads (Trailers and TV Spots) but when you put in disc two, they're right there for all and sundry to go through, bad form people, very bad form.

The Video:

The Video comes in a 1080p 2:35:1 widescreen presentation and if you saw this movie on a nice big screen, you won't be disappointed as this transfer faithfully recreates that presentation, DP Wally Pfister shot a very nice color style for the film, distinctive and natural which again are recreated very well, some of the snow scenes looked downright beautiful, after the botching of the Dark Knight's video transfer, where the IMAX scenes looked great and the normal footage looked a little too sharp, this transfer is a nice surprise.

The Audio:

A rocking DTS-HD MA 5.1 track that again, is nicely done, the big winner is Hans Zimmer's amazing score, easily audible during the tension scenes and even in the quiet moments, but it isn't overbearing as the dialogue and gunfire are just as audible, fans should get a "kick" out of this mix.

The Extras:

Despite being a 2-disc release and the fantastic A/V presentation, here is where this release comes up short, as the bonus materials are to be frank, not worth your time as this is the kind of movie that doesn't lend itself to a behind the scenes look, as it would spoil the film's secrets, any who with that out of the way, let's see what's on there:

WB Extraction Mode: The sole extra on disc 1 is what's called "Extraction Mode", basically 45 minutes worth of interviews that can also be played separately, not quite the Maximum Movie Mode that has graced other Warner Home Video releases but more of a traditional PiP feature, to be honest I had hoped this might be more of a MMM type feature, but alas it ain't.

Disc 2:

Disc 2 contains the bulk of the extras, designed into separate categories, so let's get started:

Dreams: The Cinema of the Subconscious: Hosted by Joe Levitt, this 45 minute feature goes into the dream state in some pretty interesting detail, Chris Nolan also appears in this and there are some interesting stories to be told, all in all this is probably the best extra on this set.

The Cobol Job: A Prequel Comic set before the events of the film, this goes for about 15 minutes and again, I wasn't that thrilled with it mainly because the motion comic didn't quite work, a still gallery would have been preferable as then you could read it like a real comic.

5.1 Inception Soundtrack: Hans Zimmer's Score is recreated here in full DTS-HD 5.1, handy for when you need to clean your house one day but one drawback is that you don't get any stills while the tracks play, all you is an intro screen that says the title and then black, not a smart move there guys but you did do this extra so I can't complain about that.

Still Galleries: Two Galleries here, first is a conceptual art gallery that looks at the major sets designed for the film and is pretty thorough while the other is a look at the film's poster art, something that I like seeing especially as this movie had some good ones.

Trailers and TV Spots: Finally, we have 3 trailers and 11 minutes worth of TV ads, again something that's always welcome on a disc release in my book as they've become a sad rarity over the last 5-6 years, there used to be a time when you were guaranteed to get the trailer on a disc, now you'd be hard pressed to find it, sigh.

Overall:

One of the year's best movies that while having a terrific Audio/Visual Quality, it falls short on the extras but should you buy this disc, well personally I'd wait until the price goes down a little bit as after the exquisite Special Edition release of Avatar from a couple of weeks ago, this release feels like a big letdown but if you liked the movie, then chances are you already have the disc but as for the rest of you, I'd hold off for a lower price.

Blu-Ray Review - Highlander

Highlander is a fantasy film from 1986 and stars Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown and Roxanne Hart, Lambert plays Connor MacLeod, a Scotsman who discovers that he is immortal and that he must fight through the ages to the time of The Gathering, where those who are left will battle for the Prize, but in the end, There can be Only One.

Highlander, at least this first film is a film that simply works in almost all areas, the direction by Australian Russell Mulcahy is solid, the cast hit their marks, there's an intriguing story and some great songs by the rock band Queen, a solid package that shouldn't disappoint many.

The Transfer:

Video:

Simply put, this video transfer feels the Quickening, a new HD master was created for this release and the team responsible have done a great job, there are a few instances of grain on the print but it didn't distract from the pleasure of this new print, for years now fans of this film have had to put up with a dark and murky DVD release, this Blu-Ray blows that out of the water as scenes in the Scottish highlands bounce off the screen with strong color and vibrance, again this print is a pure delight.

Oh and if you stop the film at any point and eject the disc, you'll pick up right where you left off next time you put the disc back into your player, a nice touch.

Audio:

Presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 (the 2.0 is the default track, so you'll have to change to the 5.1 via the menu), again the audio here is great and will definitely satisfy fans, the Queen songs are the highlight especially the end song "A Kind of Magic" so the sound will again satisfy.

The Extras:

The Making of Highlander: A 3 part 85 minute documentary on the making of the film, containing interviews with writers Gregory Widen and Peter Bellwood, DP Gerry Fisher and Designer Allan Cameron as well as actress Roxanne Hart, all of these people give their thoughts and memories on their side of making the film, Widen and Bellwood also talk about the response of Highlander II and Hart gives her own memories of working with Brown and Lambert, she also looks better now than she did in the movie.

A good making of that will satisfy fans.

Commentary with Director Mulcahy: Mulcahy sits alone for this track and sounds as though he woke up with a cold or at least a stuffed nose, he gives his own memories on directing the film and working with Queen on the songs, something absent from this release.

Interview with Christopher Lambert: Again, Lambert chips in using his native French to talk about his own memories of making the first Highlander, as well as the aftermath of the film's success.

Deleted Scenes: When the HD master was created a few additional scenes were found, but no production audio came with them, so they were presented with music segments, like 99.9% of all Deleted Scenes, they are best left out.

Trailer: A rarity on modern disc releases, but here is a trailer for the film, it does a good job advertising it but not one that the American audiences likely saw given how it did over there on its initial release (which is: badly)

What's missing:

Well, anything to do with Queen's contribution, no interviews with any of the surviving band members nor the music videos for "Princes of the Universe" (which DID appear on the DVD release), "A Kind of Magic" or "Who Wants to Live Forever", this is really unacceptable given how much the songs had to do with forming the identity of the film.

But then again, the band members might have charged too much for the disc makers to include them, so who knows.

Overall:

If you're a fan and have a Blu-Ray player, don't hesitate to feel the Quickening and grab this release, it's easily the best release of the film available at the moment and despite the absence of Queen, what's presented here should satisfy fans of the film