The Top Ten Blu-ray Discs You Must Own: Part II - Page 6

The version we will focus on is the new version of the film, the amazing Blade Runner: The Final Cut. The video presentation of this version of Blade Runner is nothing short of spectacular. Ridley Scott has an insert and an introduction that explains this was a revolutionary 4K scan of the 35mm master and it shows. The black levels, the optical shots, and the color levels (especially the neons and the billboards) are amazing and true to life. This is a dark film (not a single bright-as-day scene aside from interior lights) and thankfully the levels are perfect and make this look like a recent film and not one that is over 25 years old. Audio is breathtaking with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 versions to choose from and the audio really takes advantage of the formats. Directional audio is abundant and bass is utilized to amazing effect, the sound levels are always great and the background noise is presented in a way that convinces you that this is truly a crowded and busy place Dekkard lives in.

Finally the extras — wow, if you are lucky enough to get the Ultimate Edition (I was) there are physical extras, but on the discs there is an amazing amount of material. Unbelievably Blade Runner is a five-disc collection, yes five discs, and it can be found for under $30 at most retailers. On the discs we have four extra versions of the film (on top of the final cut) all restored to the best level they could (original, international, director's cut, and work print); these are all different versions, some subtle and some pronounced changes.

We also have many commentaries, a making of documentary that runs over 200 minutes, a number of making of featurettes and a look at the versions from work print to final. This is a staggering amount of material and is, I believe, the high water mark for Blu-rays both from a movie restoration/quality level and the extras that were included. Blade Runner: Complete Collector's Edition is the must have and every single person who owns a Blu-ray player needs to have this collection.

Article Author: Michael Prince

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