'Black Rain' -- High-Def Digest review

[PeterB]

Checked out 'Black Rain' today:

http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/blackrain.html

Not so sure how well the film has aged, though stylistically it still looks good. But definitely, the transfer is fantastic -- i wasn't expecting such a fine-looking image for a catalog title like this. The soundtrack is no slouch either, and the extras are nice. Fans should love this one.

[Overseer]

Glad to hear the PQ is good on this one. Really looking forward to getting this in the mail.

[Paulleahey]

Thanks for the review Peter - pre-ordered this last month at DVDPacific so definitely looking forward to seeing it now after reading your review - haven't seen the film in soooo long but really liked it.

Can't wait to check it out.

Paul.

[Tejstar]

Great to hear that the pq is top-notch! I never owned this on DVD but it looks like I'll have to do so on HD-DVD!

Great review.

[Mal Reynolds]

Great news indeed, this was a great movie and I never added it to my collection, but I might have to now... shame about the soundtrack, though

[Blurry]

I love Ridley Scott so I will most likely be buying this. Have been a bit over budget with my hi-def purchases however (despite some saying there aren't enough titles, I find myself buying more than I can afford).

[ctakim]

Nice review, but Takakura Ken is alive and as far as I know, quite well. It is the criminal Matsuda Yusaku that died shortly after this movie of cancer, sadly. Yes, I know they all look alike.

[Crispin]

I also remember reading somewhere else that Ken Takakura had died of cancer, goes to show how much misinformation goes around the internet.

I am glad to hear that this version looks good. I purchased the SD-DVD last October because of a remastering in anamorphic 16:9 and because it also contained the DD 5.1 Surround EX mentioned in the review, but I was disappointed in the video quality. Sound-wise it wasn't anything to write home about and after having not watched the movie for several years I was somewhat surprised that the story seemed as dated as Peter mentioned in his review. Black Rain is definitely a child of the 80's.

[Mark_H]

Finally got around to watching this. I'm going to give Peter the benefit of the doubt here because it was one of the early HD releases and perhaps he hadn't seen much prior to this, but this IS NOT A GOOD example of HD. It's noisy, digitally enhanced, flat looking and has source dirt/hairs visible in places. A poor example of HD-DVD compared to what we are now used to seeing.

Mark

[Cider X]

Originally Posted by Mark_H

Finally got around to watching this. I'm going to give Peter the benefit of the doubt here because it was one of the early HD releases and perhaps he hadn't seen much prior to this, but this IS NOT A GOOD example of HD. It's noisy, digitally enhanced, flat looking and has source dirt/hairs visible in places. A poor example of HD-DVD compared to what we are now used to seeing.

Mark

I call BS. While I don't own the disc myself, my friend does and I have watched it on my own system and it's not flat looking. Yes it does have a little source dirt but that has nothing to do with it being HD or not.

I rate the PQ 4 out of 5