'Full Metal Jacket: Deluxe Edition' - High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Just posted Peter's review of 'Full Metal Jacket: Deluxe Edition.' Offering up a remastered video transfer, a TrueHD track and the flick's first-ever supplemental package, Peter says this new HD DVD release is a marked improvement over the dismal 2006 high-def release. Alas, even in upgraded form, he says this one can't compete with the best high-def catalog releases.

Full review here:
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1032/...jacket_de.html

[holsty101]

From the review -

I've before that there seem to be two different kinds of war movies ...

Missing a word there perhaps?

I'm thinking said ...

[hi-def-fanboy]

Not that big into the genre. Will be a rent. Glad to see Warner go back and remaster titles though (sorry for those who have to double dip). It would make more sense to do it from the start instead of rushing out titles. I know the HD format is new, but we've been through this so many times with DVD

[Motorheadache]

Yeah, I believe this is the first high def double-dip. Hopefully a trend is not starting...
Oh, and before anyone corrects me, I don't count the Fifth Element as a double dip, because the company set up a disc replacement program, so that was more like fixing discs that were defective rather than trying to sell you an new improved version of something you already own.

[timbobarry]

Anyone buy this who already had the previous version think its worth the upgrade (as in replacing)?

[Spideybat]

Thankfully I never bought the previous version due to bad reviews and word of mouth. I love this film and am really looking forward to seeing in HD. timbobarry, I would definately pick up the new remastered edition. I've heard way too many bad negative things about the old one. Only good on this one.

[cloudy]

Too bad the newer version won't be the one they ship with the 5free promotion.

[ben1080p]

Will rent it to see the difference..if its worth an upgrade.

[osmodiarshazbot]

I owned the first version and traded it for spidey 3. Has anyone out there purchased both versions? I love FMJ but want to know if there is a significant improvement over the first BD release. I'll probably just re-buy the damn thing but it was easily the weakest BD i'd bought to date. Hopefully, they've improved the picture to the point where it's noticeably different? Please HELP!

Sorry I posted in HD DVD, but they are the same PQ wise. I was ultimately referring to BD but it doesn't matter with WB.

[wgfinley]

Front the review:

Unfortunately, while I'll always give props to a studio for supporting high-res audio, it's clear that the source is the same, and this track is obviously limited by the source material.

I believe the source material in this case is mono. I'm fairly certain the original theatrical release was in mono as was the laserdisc and original DVD. I believe the soundtrack was remastered later on to 5.1.

--Guy

[EvilResident]

Originally Posted by cloudy

Too bad the newer version won't be the one they ship with the 5free promotion.

I just got it in my 5-free. I was ECSTATIC because the picture on the order form was of the old version.

[Goose Borfner]

Has anybody else noticed that this "widescreen" version of Full Metal Jacket is actually a cropped full frame version? I did an A-B comparison of the original DVD standard screen version and it sure looks like we're getting widescreen by sacrificing the top of Kubrick's intended framing. I think it would be better to have both versions of the movies that have had this done to them on the same disc.

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by Goose Borfner

Has anybody else noticed that this "widescreen" version of Full Metal Jacket is actually a cropped full frame version? I did an A-B comparison of the original DVD standard screen version and it sure looks like we're getting widescreen by sacrificing the top of Kubrick's intended framing. I think it would be better to have both versions of the movies that have had this done to them on the same disc.

Almost all movies projected theatrically at 1.85:1 and more than half of movies projected at 2.35:1 are photographed with a 1.37:1 camera negative ratio, then matted on the top and bottom.

See the "open matte" section of this article:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...rs_Go_Away/764

The correct aspect ratio for Kubrick's movies has been the subject of debate for some time. I wrote about it in my review of the original HD DVD:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/24110/full-metal-jacket/

[bruceames]

Wow, so this whole time his home video movies had been fullscreen because Kubrick was a black bar hater? It would be kind of cool though to have the fullscreen version also included, just to see what was cropped out. If there's room for it then why not?

[JackHunt]

Kubrick was notorious for that. It was "the way Kubrick intended it"

Anyway, I got the original version part of the HD DVD giveaway. The transfer is really a let down, looks only marginally better than the DVD. Only watched it once.. love the movie though.