This is the second release of the title on Blu-ray, this one touting a video quality improvement as the primary selling point. In fact, the disc sheds all bonus material to allow for more space to be used for the video track, while the company has gone to some effort to remaster it in 4K before using this as the source for the 1080p presentation here. So how does this disc stack up? Well it offers stellar video and audio quality for the film, with a compromise of zero extras.
| Video: |
 |
The video is the element that Sony placed most of their effort on this new release. Does it compare well to the earlier Blu-ray title? Yes, although it's not a huge improvement. The image in particular looks sharper here. This is most obvious when comparing the GODZILLA 2009 Blu-ray stills with this one. I'd suggest opening the other review in a new frame and comparing a few stills, in particular the image with the footprint. This will convey that the new transfer has more detail in the frame.
As for the colors, they are touted as being better on this release. This is true, although it's minor. The earlier 2009 release had a very mild blue tint to it, while this one has a very minor yellow tint to it. Reds seem to come through a little more vibrant, so it's got that going for it.
Like before, the condition of the film looks great. There is no signs of print damage while some of the grain that was present on the 2009 version has been removed as well.
GODZILLA is presented in around a 2.40:1 aspect ratio. This is less than the original 2.35:1 aspect, but features mildly more of the image than was found on the 2009 Blu-ray release that cropped the image even more.
| Audio: |
|
There are two audio tracks on this disc. They are lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 English and French tracks. Compared to the 2009 release, the Spanish track and the lossless Portuguese track both didn't make it over. That said, let's talk about the two tracks that did.
First up is the English track. Quality wise, Sony has done an excellent job with this surround track. The range present is stellar, with things like the rain or the echoes underground feeling immersive to the audio experience. These effects, while bombastic at times, are also subtle on occasion as well and overall it's a great audio track. The same praise can also be said of the French track found here, which also does a great job with the directionality of the surround presentation. This track also features actor Jean Reno dubbing his own lines in French, adding to the noteworthy element of it.
To compliment the audio tracks the disc also features a ton of subtitle tracks, nine in total in fact. Five of these were on the previous Blu-ray release and include two in English, one that subtitles and the other for the hard of hearing, along with French, Spanish and Portuguese options. The new subtitle tracks for this one include two in Chinese, one simplified and one traditional, along with Korean and Thai options. All subtitle tracks are removable.
| Extras: |
 |
The array of extras found on the 2009 release have been removed here. All that remains really is an animated menu, the same used on the 2009 release. Speaking of, that menu felt dated back when it first launched on DVD, and the cheap CGI is only getting worse as time goes on.
| Overview: |
 |
Bottom line, this is about equal to the earlier release. The video quality is better, but it's not a huge improvement. The loss of the extras is a shame, but most were presented very poorly on the 2009 release and the only major loss is the lack of the audio commentary track. So that's really what it will boil down to: slightly better video quality or the audio commentary track and sub par extras? Either could be the correct choice really.
|
