Gladiator (2000)

[Elvis]

Originally Posted by Swede

Thanks, that's very kind of you. Although I think I prefer my couch. Have you ever sat on a horse? It's really not all that comfy, especially when watching movies

At least we can agree on one thing, The Sapphire label really is just marketing BS... Somehow I don't think that was their plan though.

No their plan was for all of us to watch these films frame by frame.

[tabikakasun]

I was disappointed with the transfer of pic quality, if you can remaster this with much improved pic quality, this blu ray can surely become one of the best blu rays ever.

[TheZoof]

Just watched it now.

It looked ok. I would say 4/5.

I definately see a lot of enhancement in some scenes that was very distracting... although some scenes looked spectacular.

Worth a buy.

[robertc88]

IMHO, this BD wasn't released without some deliberation. A new transfer wasn't cost effective and the DNR and EE was no "mistake" per se or however you want to describe it. I'm sure a product needs to be approved/blessed before it is released.

I feel there will be a re-issue in the future. Heck it even may have been every intention to do so. So why didn't they do it right/better the first time so to speak? Well we haven't heard anything from the studio whatsoever about anything unless I've missed it. Who knows, they may have even gotten more good feedback than negative.

Now you can blind buy catalog titles regardles that you like the movie hoping the quality is good if you wish but they are what they are sitting on the shelf when released. I stopped just taking shots with catalogs REGARDLESS of reviews beforehand hoping for the best almost a year ago and rent almost every one first now including both Gladiator and Braveheart. The quality is all over the place with catalogs, we are all painfully aware of it.

[Jimbo976]

Yep anyone should rent any catalog Blu-ray if they're not sure they'll be happy. Great advice that I give to anyone as well.

[Blu-Benny]

just wanted to stop in and make sure there wasn't anything good being said about this release!!!

glad to see nothing has changed!!!

[jamsbooking]

so i've read the reviews....and at one point i was actually CONSIDERING about giving in and seeing what the fuss was about...paying about 25$ for gladiator on blu ray...

now i LOVED the movie...matter of fact i saw it for my 14th birthday as a present, my family was lower class and we never went to the movies but this has been a movie that has stuck with me over the years via dvd...

one guy in the amazon forum put it very clear - he stated his case and said ya know what...if your not a professional visual person.... then you won't notice it... and the whole time im like... ya know what...hes right.. i dont care about all that... but then another guy said, "then why don't you just stick with the dvd... why reward studios with these lavish new royalties on movies when all they did was put the dvd on a blu ray disc, put a slipcover on it and put a 25$ price tag on it..."

i was blown away. why was i being so naive? have some of us really got to the point where we don't care what people are putting on the discs we pay so much more for? dvds on amazon go for 0.01+shipping.... and here i am paying 18$ for "misery." guess what cool extras came with...? a cool dvd copy! no trailer, no commentary, nothing... when are people going to actually start sending emails to these studios and actually asking them to live up to these outrageous prices and justify them.

please...send me some addresses, email addresses, i'll start being "that" guy... i'll send letters, not that one guy can really do much, but i think if we actually get a group together to send these letters...

maybe i'm lame in saying all this - but as the proud owner of about 370 blu ray movies now i don't want people "giving in" to studios not putting anything extra on, or just halfassing the release... because if we give in now... movies like "finding nemo," "star trek," could be halfassed...

lets face it...if im working at mcdonalds, and my boss tells me to clean the bathroom, im going to go do it... but over time if i realize he never checks it.. im just going to go outside and chill for 30 minutes while he thinks im working.... am i the only one on that? or would you also not work as hard on something if you didn't necessarily need to...?

[marvinski]

I don't think you're the only one out there with that point of view.

[jamsbooking]

yeah, i mean...90% of the blu rays i've put in you can tell an IMMEDIATE change in the quality as opposed to dvd, or the TBS version.. but when i put "misery" in today... (im a huge stephen king fan) i was BEYOND pissed that the menu comes up as "setup" "play movie" "scenes" i was like...really? 18$ and no extras? quality looked amazing but still...

and now with gladiator, the whole fifth element thing... i feel like if people realize were going to buy the halfass stuff, theres no real reason to work harder and throw more stuff into it, ya know?

[Damage Inc.]

I didn't look into the BDs of 'Gladiator' much, but obviously noticed all the fuss about the quality.
But they didn't out any extras on there while the DVD has 2/3-disc editions??
Geez...

Anyway, don't worry about "sending them a letter".
Plenty of people have complained, whether that's directly or simply through reviews or posts.
They got the message and there are some that care.
Also, they knów they can't keep doing that, because the consumer is getting smarter and smarter.
Now, if they realize it, they'll know next time people won't buy as quickly.
They can probably sell another big title, but if it's bad again, the next one will sell sower yet again.
Because now we know we'll have to "wait and see" first.
It's not about complaining at them, eventually we just won't buy bad products anymore.
At least not as much, and they don't like that...
Otherwise, we can usually get our money back at most stores right?...
So I suggest, if you haven't done so already, you'd return you copy if you really don't like it.
Then they have at least one sale less.
The same counts here, it would just be one, but other people could and should do the same.
That will basically send the message of "No thanks, I don't want your product." .
If it doesn't sell the amount they expect, they'll have to make a better product.

[Kryptonic]

Originally Posted by Damage Inc.

I didn't look into the BDs of 'Gladiator' much, but obviously noticed all the fuss about the quality.
But they didn't out any extras on there while the DVD has 2/3-disc editions??
Geez...

The Gladiator Blu-Ray is packed with extras, including a three and a half-hour documentary.

[Damage Inc.]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

The Gladiator Blu-Ray is packed with extras, including a three and a half-hour documentary.

Yeah, I think I confused it with jamsbooking saying about the 'Misery'-BD not having any extras.
I was already thinking 'Gladiator' not having any extras on the highly anticipated BD was really weird.

[Buddy Christ]

With all due respect OP , why not just add this comment in the original and all mighty Gladiator thread? We do not need another one. You could have easily been the one who legitimately resurrected the BEAST!!

[jamsbooking]

the guy 2 spots above - thats very informative, and i appreciate what you said, lots of it easily slides into perspective. i just feel like if im paying 20 more $ for a blu ray I want "the whole sha-bang" i want everything perfect..

for the guy below - i def. want opinions on the movie, if you feel the movie lived up to your standards fully please state your case. im not dissing the movie fully, like i said, i'm a HUGE gladiator fan, seen it 10-12 times over the years, but like i said if im paying 20 more $$ than a dvd 3 disc, i want to know i've got the best quality, best blu ray extras released for the movie to this day.



i am highly pissed about "misery" though. haha jesus.

[jamsbooking]

Originally Posted by Blu2U

With all due respect OP , why not just add this comment in the original and all mighty Gladiator thread? We do not need another one. You could have easily been the one who legitimately resurrected the BEAST!!

your right, i'm sure there is some big megathread, this is more of a mixture thread. something new i wanted to kinda bring to the table with gladiator being a face, but having other movies i've bought recently that don't live up to par... i buy about 20-30 blus a month, sometimes a trade a couple out but most of the time i keep them.

but what this other guy said kinda made me want to tell people as well that if we keep buying the BS, their going to keep producing BS, and were not going to care. But the guy right under my post put alot of that into perspective and i fully agree with what he's saying about the consumer these days.

[Kryptonic]

Overall, the Blu-Ray release of Gladiator is the best version currently available on any format. The video isn't as bad as some seem to insist. There are problems, mostly pertaining to edge enhancement, but it's an improvement over the DVD which shared similar flaws to an extent. The DTS-HD sound is reference quality and both discs are packed with extras. Yes, it's worth the $20-$25.

[P@t_Mtl]

I think the OP as made some valued points and I do agree.

BD as made me slow down on my movie purchases, yes I have 100 BD's already but that is way less then what I actualy had in DVD after my first year on the format 10 years ago. I have been collecting movies for more then 20 years but I've grown a little tired of the studios tactis in the last 10 years. After the initial releases of DVD when studios saw that they could re-release something with extra bonus stuff, director's cut....it slowly became ridiculous. You end up with double, triple purchases, enough is enough at one point. Now it seem the new tactics will be, make a rush release on BD with a so so PQ and then re-release it later with new improve PQ & AQ. Of course no one is forcing you to buy them again, no gun is put to your head but I do think that a good descent release can be done once and not 4 or 5 times with a few little bits added everytime. For Hollywood to continue this marketing tactic is only killing themselves slowly.

I know personaly that my movie purchases are way down and I am not the only one. I have 3 good friends, movie maniacs like myself who are also tired of it.

[Damage Inc.]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Overall, the Blu-Ray release of Gladiator is the best version currently available on any format. The video isn't as bad as some seem to insist. There are problems, mostly pertaining to edge enhancement, but it's an improvement over the DVD which shared similar flaws to an extent. The DTS-HD sound is reference quality and both discs are packed with extras. Yes, it's worth the $20-$25.

I agree that it's probably a fine upgrade from DVD.
I mean, how can it not be, it IS a new transfer isn't it.
Probably just didn't turn out as good as expected.
And, even though I didn't see the BD, I'm not even impressed with the screenshots.
Now I know, I know, that screenshots don't say everything.
But you can still draw a general idea of how it looks, and I'm not impressed either.
I mean, if I'm impressed by screenshots of some movies,
and not impressed by about any of another, the difference is pretty clear.
On top of that having many people complain about the quality, I can wait.
Also, the price is alright I guess, I'd say limit it to $20 for this one.

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

I think the OP as made some valued points and I do agree.

BD as made me slow down on my movie purchases, yes I have 100 BD's already but that is way less then what I actualy had in DVD after my first year on the format 10 years ago. I have been collecting movies for more then 20 years but I've grown a little tired of the studios tactis in the last 10 years. After the initial releases of DVD when studios saw that they could re-release something with extra bonus stuff, director's cut....it slowly became ridiculous. You end up with double, triple purchases, enough is enough at one point. Now it seem the new tactics will be, make a rush release on BD with a so so PQ and then re-release it later with new improve PQ & AQ. Of course no one is forcing you to buy them again, no gun is put to your head but I do think that a good descent release can be done once and not 4 or 5 times with a few little bits added everytime. For Hollywood to continue this marketing tactic is only killing themselves slowly.

I know personaly that my movie purchases are way down and I am not the only one. I have 3 good friends, movie maniacs like myself who are also tired of it.

The way they release films on BD is actually quite similar to the DVD.
Like the barebone-releases, just like the early DVDs, except the rush-part is probably due to the "format-war".
They had to shove it out the door and keep doing that to promote it for the next YEARS.

If anything, we are at an advantage today, with for example, more communities like this.
We can decide more easily if we want to buy a release or not.
Which limits your buys, which is a good thing in both spending and having an amount of products.
Besides, the format is cheaper earlier than the DVD was in its time.
Also, we can wait for releases that have more on it, you can just ignore the earlier ones.
At some point there will barely be these "barebones" anymore.
I mean, look at how many features this format already has.
'Disney'-films are packed with ridiculous features, compare that to last decade's DVDs and VHSes.
And we can always review and give feedback and ideas
and it will be easier for studios to make better products they want to sell to us.
The advancing has started, but it's barely on a roll.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Damage Inc.

The way they release films on BD is actually quite similar to the DVD.
Like the barebone-releases, just like the early DVDs, except the rush-part is probably due to the "format-war".
They had to shove it out the door and keep doing that to promote it for the next YEARS.

If anything, we are at an advantage today, with for example, more communities like this.
We can decide more easily if we want to buy a release or not.
Which limits your buys, which is a good thing in both spending and having an amount of products.
Besides, the format is cheaper earlier than the DVD was in its time.
Also, we can wait for releases that have more on it, you can just ignore the earlier ones.
At some point there will barely be these "barebones" anymore.
I mean, look at how many features this format already has.
'Disney'-films are packed with ridiculous features, compare that to last decade's DVDs and VHSes.
And we can always review and give feedback and ideas
and it will be easier for studio to make better products they want to sell to us.
the advancing has started, but it's barely on a roll.

Yes this site is quite an advantage, we can share info and we can quickly know the details of releases, something that we did not have 10 years ago for DVD. Well even Disney as offered some terrible releases on certain of their movies when it came to either picture quality or bonus contains. Like I said, no one is forcing you to buy them, no guns to the head and such, I just find it so sad that they use these type of tactics. I do see that they are there to make money but that is not making money that is just taking your customes for idiots.

[Damage Inc.]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Yes this site is quite an advantage, we can share info and we can quickly know the details of releases, something that we did not have 10 years ago for DVD. Well even Disney as offered some terrible releases on certain of their movies when it came to either picture quality or bonus contains. Like I said, no one is forcing you to buy them, no guns to the head and such, I just find it so sad that they use these type of tactics. I do see that they are there to make money but that is not making money that is just taking your customes for idiots.

Yeah, I do agree that they're first just throwing some simple releases at us.
But for some reason I don't really blame them at the beginning.
Especially not while going through this change of format, plus a contending format.
I must still applaud them for making it this far already.
It could also be that many earlier releases just didn't have the time to be worked on for long enough.
I mean, look at how many also still had lossy audio and barely any extras.
They probably just wanted to release some movies,
show off the higher video-quality and let that do the promoting for a while.
There are still some bad or just "OK" releases later on.
But I'm optimistic that it will occur less and less as they're still polishing the format.