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Gamertell Review: The Dark Knight on Blu-ray (with digital download and BD-Live)
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I’ve already given The Dark Knight a glowing review so I’ll skip the equally glowing rehash and concentrate on the extra features included in this worthy three-disc Blu-ray release including BD-Live.
Let’s Get Physical
The real kicker is the back side. Yes, that oft-ignored flipside of any home video most people give a passing glance and from which pre-teens swipe their school report synopsis. Both versions contain the same imagery, synopsis and the usual disc info - length, list of special features, video/audio/subtitles details, format, warnings and credits - but the in-the-box art has been faux vandalized by the Joker.Some designer got to scratch out segments of the synopsis and scribble on Batman so it made fun of the movie in much the same way as kids scratch out the text in hand blower in public bathrooms to read something rude.
Whoever fought for that at the many WB meetings and won, congratulations, you were right. It is funny. (For a closer look, check out the scans of the Blu-ray release packaging).
Numero Uno
There are three discs to this release but only two are Blu-Ray. The first contains the movie as well as a few extra features including the BD-Live link. The movie looks absolutely amazing. The only weirdness is that the widescreen flips between two widescreen ratios, likely due to the IMAX footage being mixed in. If you are watching the movie on a larger screen you will hardly even notice since the switches are made between scenes.
Again, the movie is great, the acting superb, effects look great and the audio is nice and clear.
There are several mini featurettes on this that show how various special effects were accomplished as well including comments by the director (Christopher Nolan). The first disc’s menu also links to the BD-Live feature.
...and BD-Live
The much-promoted feature, BD-Live (check out our photo gallery of BD-Live’s menus), requires that you play on an internet-capable Blu-ray player (as in the PS3), have a live internet connection and requires that you register. It is accessible through the first disc’s menu (which you have to force up if you watch on a PS3) Immediately upon registering, even before you confirm your account, you are able to view a few BD-Live features including a couple trailers and short animated segments.
After you get your confirmation email you can then access the other features that include the ability to record and post your personal picture-in-picture commentary for others to stream onto their BD-Live account and watch. The main issue here was that, because the commentaries are tied to specific segments of the movie, the movie jumps around and results in more time watching a WB spin on a loading screen than actually watching commentaries. At least five times in an hour of trying to watch commentaries I was kicked back to my PS3 screen. Also, you cannot record from your PS3 and have to do all of your account setup and recording from your PC. Even then, some of the BD-Live features were not yet live (this was several days before Dark Knight was released) so there were plenty of “Comic Soon” screens as well.
One of the other BD-Live features is that you can join in a community viewing of the film, which requires that you sit at your PC so you can your virtual buddies can message each other about the flick while you watch the digital version. Again, this was pre-release so not really a good opportunity to try this feature. Comments are shared as pop-up messages - which I had not seen in action - but seems to make more sense than audio comments which could potentially cause some serious feedback issues. If Pop-Up Video and tremendous interruptious is your idea of an enjoyable movie-watching experience, check it out.
There are also several trailers and, best of all, animated short films to watch as well which, for me, makes BD-Live a bit more valuable. The short films may not be amazing animation but they are at least original content I can get into. While I certainly applaud the attempt at more social interactive features, BD Live is still a bit too quirky to call a complete success.
Sections Included: Home, Express Yourself (Live Community Screenings and My web Commentary), WB Shop (“Coming Soon”), Help, My Profile, Media Center (“Coming Soon”) and My Library (“Coming Soon”). For the Live Community Screenings you can find and select scheduled screenings or schedule your own. For Web Commentary you can browse and select public commentaries by other people (Watch a Commentary) which include typed descriptions of the commentaries or click on “My web Commentary” and you’ll be emailed a link to record your own. From there you’ll be directed to the BD-Lie web site with instructions for recording your own commentary through your computer.
Le Disc Second
The second disc contains the standard extras including image galleries and two segments you might have seen on the Discovery Channel titled Batman Tech and Batman Unmasked, The Psychology of the Dark Knight. Both are well produced and are certainly worth watching if you missed them when they aired.
A little more weird and strangely interesting are six fake news segments hosted by actor Anthony Michael Hall as a news anchor (as he did in the movie) for the local Gotham City news channel show, Gothan Tonight. The segments sometimes go a little long but are well tied into the movie including interviews with various characters from the film.
Disc Number C
The third disc is the odd disc out, being a DVD that contains only the digital version of the film (check out screen shots of the digital version of the film). In order to actually use it, you need to put the disc in your PC (Windows or mac), type in the code printed on a card in the case and wait for the download to finish. You can then play the digital version your video iPod (or iPhone or iPod Touch) or Windows Media Player. It does seem a little silly to include when you can simply download it through iTunes but it’ll save you a lot of time.
The digital download does look great (for a digital download) even when maximized on a computer screen. This version is, however, where the flipping ratios will be most obvious when watching the movie on a much smaller screen like an iPod Touch or iPhone. Do be aware that the free digital download does expire a year from the disc’s release (December 9, 2009), so if you are planning on waiting that long for the price to drop, you’ll lose out on the $10-20 value.
The Whole Shi-BANG!
This is certainly a set worth purchasing either for yourself or for your favorite hero-lovin’ fans in the family. The movie has a lot to offer in terms of story, acting and effects (although, again, it’s a bit too creepy for pre-teens). The free digital download of the film is certainly a nice, portable bonus.
Do look through some of the bonus features on the two discs and at least give BD-Live a look if not a full-on interactive try. It’s not yet superb but it does show some promise for people who especially like to talk about movies (and listen to people who like to talk about movies).
Don’t skip our three photo galleries. The first contains more than 30 screen shots of the movie. The second has images of the Blue-ray release packaging, digital download menus and BD-Live photos. The third has photos of the BD-Live service in action through the PS3.
Read [Gamertell] Site [The Dark Knight] Site [BD Live] Photo Gallery 1 [Gamertell] Photo Gallery 2 [Gamertell] Photo Gallery 3 [Gamertell]
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