Highlander

Rating:
Summary: Terrible Transfer
Review: This is the worst transfer I've ever seen on DVD. It is a shame that such a great film, and has been ruined.

Rating:
Summary: great disappointment
Review: I have no idea how the Widescreen Review can justify giving this DVD a 4.5 rating for picture and sound quality; it is easily the poorest DVD I have ever viewed. I have seen this movie on commercial VHS, and on VHS that was recorded off of a movie channel, and either one is just as good visually as the DVD version. What a waste of money. The sound was gratingly sharp, almost tinny, so that I would wince at many of the loud noises in the film.

I have been very pleased with the ratings that Widescreen Review has put out on other DVDs that I have purchased, and have used it as a benchmark for determining whether to buy them. They really dropped the ball on this one. Stick with VHS, you'll be much happier.

Rating:
Summary: A classic beginning
Review: This is the movie that started the whole thing. Now there have been sequels and a TV series, but none of them can compare to this classic of fantasy. This is one of my favorite movies. Maybe it's becuase it juxtaposes sword fighting and modern times. Maybe it's because you can never place Lambert's accent. Maybe it's just because this movie has something that you can't put your finger on, but will watch whenever it's on.

This movie is just a classic. It's about a group of immortals who have to do battle because 'there can be only one'. They fight for the prize and the only way that they can be killed is by beheading. The battle leads to modern day New York between the Highlander and the Kurgen (very bad guy). The battles are good and the ending to the final battle is great.

If you've seen any of the other installments, you have to see this. The sequels are not good. The TV series is a pale imitation of this movie. With the new movie (which unfortunately pairs Lambert with the TV guy) coming out, hopefully this movie will see a resurgence.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible Quality
Review: I don't understand why this was given a 4.5 on quality. It's terrible. It was the first disc I bought after I got the player and I thought my new DVD player had a problem. And the disc is not 141 minutes, it's 116 minutes. I loved the movie, but my VHS copy is just as good as this.

Rating:
Summary: Major Audio & Video Disapointment
Review: I was shocked at the level of quality presented in this THX certified DVD. I have grown to rely on this certification, as most customers undoubtably have, to ensure that I'm getting the highest quality product. This goes for equipment as well as (up to this point) DVD's.

The picture quality is very poor and inconsistent throughout the film. The picture is very grainy and washed out. The sound levels increase and decrease throughout the film to the point where I became extremely distracted and began to pay attenditon to the poor quality of film/sound more than to the film itself.

I cannot get over the fact that this was THX certified. This certainly puts a whole new light on the certification standards. I am so dissapointed that I will be sending several e-mails out to other parties to voice this opinion. Something that I never, ever do. However, I feel pretty ripped off after viewing this film.

That said, there is one scene that does shine. The last battle. Very nicely done and very clear and clean visually.

Too bad. Otherwise the premise of this film is pretty interesting. The screenplay varies from exceptional to cheesy. Again, inconsistency. Someone else should have overseen production on this one. Could have been a keeper.

Rating:
Summary: Oh the humanity!
Review: Please be forwarned, you may be amazed that a DVD with allthese features costs so little. There is a reason for this, the picture quality is by far the worst I have -ever- seen, and I've seen plenty. The picture is worse (yes, worse) than VHS or broadcast TV. I have no idea what they did to it, maybe drag the source in mud and jump on it a bit, but it's really -really- atrocious.

The movie you've probably already seen, and know it's rather good. If you want to own a cheap digital copy to have around, this would be it. If you want a good transfer of the movie, please look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing special to us Brits
Review: For people wanting to import this film into the UK, be aware that this US director's cut is actually the European version of the film, or at least indistinguishably close. On the subject of the quality, I was in two minds whether to buy if after what I read here. Okay so the DVD might not be as crisp as the format allows, but at no time during watching as I distracted buy any imperfection in the quality.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible horrible
Review: Absolutely horrible. I must have misread the front label, but isn't this film supposed to be THX-certified? It is beyond any doubt the worst looking film in my DVD collection at this moment. I even have a Madacy DVD which looks better than this! Where to begin....the picture quality is extremely blocky, I see compression artifacts left and right and up and down. The grain of the film is too prominent. On and on...bottom line: I think the VHS version of a non-director's cut of Highlander looks better than this DVD. And the sound! Groan. Sometimes I could barely hear the dialogue which sounds thin and reedy, and in the next scene the sound effects come blaring out the speakers. The sound quality is very uneven; it almost seems like the producers of this DVD took a monophonic soundtrack and attempted to make it into 5.1. Who knows? As for the extras...HAH! It is totally disorganized, almost as if someone took a stack of papers/photos off the desk, scanned them randomly into a computer and transfered them onto the DVD. Furthermore, the photo gallery repeats a lot of the photos (duh) and zips right by at 24 photos a second (duh). By the time you realize it, probably 200 pages have gone by before you can hit the pause button.

So, is there anything to like about this DVD? Well, it does show the uncut widescreen version of Highlander as seen in Europe, so Americans may see a few extra enlightening scenes. There is a commentary by the makers of the film, which is of some interest (and which I found to be more listenable than the actual "THX-certifed" soundtrack). And the price is quite affordable. Fans of the film will probably want to buy the DVD, even though it looks and sounds pretty bad (you've been warned!).

But for the picky DVD collector, for goodness sakes, stay away from this DVD!

Rating:
Summary: Review of film, and SOLUTION to its bad quality.
Review: Alright well, I already posted a review on this, yet I have found out how to make the video actually look good. For some reason when I turned sharpness all the way down and picture very far down on my television, alot of the pixelation and debris are gone and the film is at good quality for one of its time. Try it out, you will enjoy the movie when you watch it this way!

Rating:
Summary: The DVD version is horrible!
Review: I only give this one 2 stars because it's a good motion picture. The picture quality on the DVD is horrible and the sound quality is even worse. Please save your money and find this in some other format. I'll say it again--this is terrible!