Is Gangs Of New York Worth Picking Up?

[robertc88]

Glad some folks are drawing the line. I do not recommend a purchase of whatever you want to call the quality of this BD.

[Eternalnow]

Do not purchase this disc no matter what. The picture quality is worse than an upconverted DVD.

[GoBlu08]

Yes and it looks really good.

[Sonny]

Damn! I wish I could show everybody hear the film on my TV's , it looks F-ing great! Your jaw would hit the floor

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by Eternalnow

Do not purchase this disc no matter what. The picture quality is worse than an upconverted DVD.

How do you figure What cause you read that on the Net. What did you watch it on & what player? Or did you even watch it at all

[JJ]

I have never seen so much anger and divisiveness over a single blu-ray release. Makes you miss the war days when you could aim anger elsewhere. The line here seems to be split amongst the people who hate the transfer (seen it or not - and have formed a hatred for it solely on other's opinions) and those who don't have the videophile eye and think it still looks pretty damn good.

Or those who don't give a whale's behind about what others say, love the movie, and will pick it up and discover it looks alright after all.


Honestly. This movie and Patton have created quite an uproar lately.

[theprophecy247]

ahhh to many mixed reviews lol

[Eternalnow]

Originally Posted by Sonny

How do you figure What cause you read that on the Net. What did you watch it on & what player? Or did you even watch it at all

Heh heh, I figured I would get this kind of reaction. First of all I didn't just blindly follow the reviews and critics, I purchased the Disc. And yes, I watched it, silly

I have a 37 Inch Samsung and a PS3 with HMDI. I found the picture:

1)Very blurry, it seriously looks like a DVD and NOT a Blu Ray.
2)lacking a large amount of the details we have come to love with HD (skin pores are mysteriously missing, fine object detail is inconsistent)
3)halos around some of the actors heads during certain scenes (beginning battle for the 5 Points)
4)Scenes that were very soft looking (think 'House of Flying Daggers' soft)
5)dull colors (sure some of the reds and blues looked amazing, but the rest of the palette was bland or unsaturated)

Some will argue that its at least better than the horrible DVD version, and they are somewhat right. While some of the colors look better and there is more detail to be found, the Blu Ray really isn't that much better than an upconverted DVD.

Don't believe me? Then go ahead and find out for yourself. No skin off my back. However I would NOT recommend this.

[Eternalnow]

Originally Posted by JJxiv1215

I have never seen so much anger and divisiveness over a single blu-ray release. Makes you miss the war days when you could aim anger elsewhere. The line here seems to be split amongst the people who hate the transfer (seen it or not - and have formed a hatred for it solely on other's opinions) and those who don't have the videophile eye and think it still looks pretty damn good.

Or those who don't give a whale's behind about what others say, love the movie, and will pick it up and discover it looks alright after all.


Honestly. This movie and Patton have created quite an uproar lately.

I don't have a videophile eye and I think this transfer is horrible. No, it looks nothing like Patton. At least with Patton the picture looked leagues better than the DVD, that is not the case with "Gangs of New York'. While there is a minimal upgrade picture wise, vast amounts of detail are missing, images look very blurry. You can tell that sharpness has been increased, but to no avail. Its a horrible looking picture, but hey you are welcome to go ahead and check it out for yourself.

[owa]

I'd rent it to make sure it's okay with you but I have to laugh at all the fuss over it. I've watched it 1 1/2 times (one time trying to enjoy the movie and pay attention to PQ and half of it just looking for issues) and don't think it's anywhere near as bad as people are saying. In fact, I thought it looked pretty good quite a bit of the time. Just reaffirms why I insist on checking things out for myself.

[BStecke]

How anyone can say that this looks even "good" is beyond me. I was in the boat that figured I'd give it a chance and that it was hyped to be worse than it actually is. But the hype was 100% correct, and it actually looks WORSE than my lowest expectation. There isn't a single moment on the whole disc that looks like somebody even gave half of a rat's ass about how this film would look. I can whip out a dozen DVD's that would put this to shame. Absolutely no exaggeration, and if you care to take the time you would see that I have NEVER been one to claim that ANY DVD is comparable to a Blu-ray release.

[owa]

It's easy. I watched the DVD before boxing it up (not long ago) and the blu-ray is superior in every way and the detail looks great quite a bit of the time. But, that's fine, I don't care if you disagree. At least you've actually seen the movie and made up your own mind. I have no problem with that.

Originally Posted by JJxiv1215

I have never seen so much anger and divisiveness over a single blu-ray release. Makes you miss the war days when you could aim anger elsewhere. The line here seems to be split amongst the people who hate the transfer (seen it or not - and have formed a hatred for it solely on other's opinions) and those who don't have the videophile eye and think it still looks pretty damn good.

Or those who don't give a whale's behind about what others say, love the movie, and will pick it up and discover it looks alright after all.

Honestly. This movie and Patton have created quite an uproar lately.

The worst part of it, imo, is that now I've gone from just normally being skeptical and wanting to check things out for myself to being pretty close to convinced there are ulterior motives involved and not trusting anything I read in that regard. I also think it's pretty obvious that a lot of people are taking what an expert says and running with it without even seeing the movie for themselves. If people want to let others dictate what they watch and buy, just to be on the safe side (i.e. don't want to risk wasting money on something they won't approve of), that's fine but jumping on the bandwagon and attacking a movie they haven't even seen because of what someone else is saying, is ridiculous imo.

Anyway, I think it'll work itself out in the end. I've tried to avoid being swayed since I really do like to check things out for myself (not just with movies) but it's hard to avoid it completely. But how many times am I going to watch a movie and think, "wow, that looked really good" and then go online, read an expert opinion or review, comments, etc. that are completely opposite of what I think about it and still put stock into what they're saying?

[robertc88]

Nothing wrong with owning it I suppose if you like the content of the movie.

To say this PQ is good though is entirely a different story. Might as well go ahead and buy every BD then if you like the content of the movie regardless of the quality because if you like this one, you will not be disppointed with most of the others.

[owa]

Okay, how about this: When *actually watching* the blu-ray I think the PQ is good and I'm mostly pleased with the results. When *reading about* the blu-ray online I'm completely disgusted with the PQ and can't believe they did such a poor job with it.

[Eternalnow]

Hmm, since this is a thread asking if the Blu Ray is worth picking, I would assume the point would be to post reactions. I was very disappointed with it. Do I regret buying it? No. I love this film, and that makes it worth it, however I would disagree with anyone claiming that 'Gangs of New York' looks 'good'. It simply does not. And speaking of ulterior motives, I suspect many of those who claim that this Blu Ray looks 'good' are merely trying to convince themselves that they made a good purchase, or they really need some proper perspective. Sure, its a little better (very slightly) than the DVD, but isn't Blu Ray supposed to be 5x the resolution of DVD?

Truth is, this transfer was obviously handled in a poor manner, and I fully welcome a re-issue.

1) Edge Enhanced garbage - halos appear over actors heads during the first freakin battle.
2) The picture is way too blurry during some scenes (the scene where Bill is sitting in the chair draped in the American Flag - check out his head, its really blurry and odd looking)
3) Fine detail is absent. Sure some scenes exhibit some detail, but you can totally tell most of it has been taken out for some odd reason.
4) Film grain spikes in inconsistent instances
5)Colors, while somewhat better than the DVD, still get really un-saturated at times
6)Actors faces look somewhat blurred, skin pores are almost non existent save for a few scenes here and there.
7)Some scenes look no better than the DVD version (check out the theater scenes)

If you don't believe any of us, go ahead and check it out. No one is forcing you to do otherwise.

[Josh]

A great film. Could it have looked beter? Yes. Is it superior to the DVD in every way? YES!

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Josh

A great film. Could it have looked beter? Yes. Is it superior to the DVD in every way? YES!

Is it 5 times better than the DVD? Thats what I am paying for. Thats the "BD promise". To me, "better" isnt good enough. It should be amazing. The technology is there, and, I am paying top dollar for players and discs, therefore I EXPECT amazing. We have all seen discs that look exactly like the theater version. I EXPECT that every time. I am entitled to that, since I am paying for that.

[miked924]

Originally Posted by Josh

A great film. Could it have looked beter? Yes. Is it superior to the DVD in every way? YES!

Blu ray should be FAR superior to dvd and this disc isn't

[Eternalnow]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Is it 5 times better than the DVD? Thats what I am paying for. Thats the "BD promise". To me, "better" isnt good enough. It should be amazing. The technology is there, and, I am paying top dollar for players and discs, therefore I EXPECT amazing. We have all seen discs that look exactly like the theater version. I EXPECT that every time. I am entitled to that, since I am paying for that.

Hit it right on the head!

Disney could have easily done a better job with this one. It seems rushed, or lazy. From what I understand the master that was used for the DVD was also used for the Blu Ray. So they didn't re-master the film (which all studios should do when transferring a film to Blu Ray), and it really shows.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not paying $30 a disc for quality that is merely "better" than DVD. I want the 5x resolution, the 1080p, the lossless audio, the fine detail, the excellent color reproduction. Hell, I'll even take grain over a digitally processed mess. I didn't pay $300 for a Blu Ray player just to get "decent" quality.

Coming from Disney I expected much more, being that they have consistently put out great releases so far.

[Roland1919]

S**T, You guys suck, now I have to put return to sender when I get home. Sorry AMAZON, I'm gonna get this one from BB.