Kingdom of Heaven: The Director's Cut review

[Jeff®]

Kingdom of Heaven: The Director's Cut

Reviewed by Peter M. Bracke

"Kingdom of Heaven: The Director's Cut' comes to Blu-ray with considerable expectations. In its Blu-ray launch promo materials, Fox used quotes from director Ridley Scott trumpeting the stellar quality of the high-def master made for 'Kingdom of Heaven,' so if this disc was anything less than magnificent, it would be branded another strike against Blu-ray. Not to worry -- this 2.35:1 widescreen 1080p/MPEG-2 encode (at 24mbps) really is quite excellent...."

"The tonal quality of fine sonic details is outstanding, and I would say superior to any DTS-HD track I've heard yet from Fox, even 'X-Men: The Last Stand' and 'Fantastic Four.' Dynamics are also fantastic, with the kind of ultra-real transparency to sound that rivals the theatrical experience. Low bass is also stupendous in its power, even if played at just a decent volume level...."

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/kingdomofheavendc.html

[KenThompson]

Bracke likes this disc and the directors cut. He also gave the audio a 4.5 stars. Maybe one day we'll get a 5 star Anyways its a winner and its mpeg 2. A bd 50 and it used up almost of the space but its all about picture and sound quality, for me anyways.

[MFS3Kiryu]

This will be the first Blu-Ray movie I purchase for my PS3. The director's cut is just so amazing, and to see it in Blu-Ray quality will be excellent. Shame it's barebones, but since this is a double dip for me, I won't sweat it.

[theknub]

my $.02

video: as ridley says, it is like looking through a window

audio: very dynamc, full range of audio, no complaints

even the core sounded great and more dynamic than what comes encoded on the DVD

[hyperdine]

We always said that you could take Ridley Scott's quote to the bank and we were right. Ridley is not a studio puppet. He's not going to tout the benefits of Blu-Ray unless he means it.

[MFS3Kiryu]

Originally Posted by hyperdine

We always said that you could take Ridley Scott's quote to the bank and we were right. Ridley is not a studio puppet. He's not going to tout the benefits of Blu-Ray unless he means it.

You're absolutely right. Ridley doesn't BS. I found it interesting that on the Gladiator extended edition he says "This is not the director's cut, that is what you saw in theaters. But hopefully these extra scenes are worth looking at." I love the honesty.

[C6 Z06]

First Blu-ray movie I purchased a few days ago and the best looking out of the 10 titles I bought since. Thank God it's the extended cut!

[Rolo]

One of my favorites on blu-ray. It has to be one of the best for both video and audio quality so far.

[MFS3Kiryu]

Originally Posted by simon1976uk

Cant wait for blu ray to get established in the UK, thinking of getting a chipped player, as soon as possible, because man Kingdom of Heaven and Black Hawk Down in HD will rock

I just got Black Hawk Down for a present and I've had KoH and my god, they rock. You will not be disapointed.

[Jeff®]

Robert Harris just reviewed it:

A few words about...™ Kingdom of Heaven -- in BD

Now in BD, Kingdom of Heaven is everything that I hoped it would be.

Miraculously beautiful, and a perfect work of compression and authoring, Kingdom of Heaven is one of the highest ranking members of my Best DVD List of 2006.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...d.php?t=248276