 |
DVD Title |
Gunhed |
International Title |
Gunhed |
DVD Length |
Original Length |
100 Minutes |
100 Minutes |
Company |
Year of Manufacture |
ADV Films |
2004 |
Language |
Subtitles |
Japanese, English |
English |
Region |
Number of Discs |
1 |
1 |
Aspect Ratio |
Sound |
1.85:1 |
2.0 Stereo |
Extras |
. |
Menus (English) |
. |
Chapters (13, 0 selectable from menu) |
. |
Trailers: Gunhed,
Gravion (ADV), Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda
Season 4 (ADV), 2009 Lost Memories (ADV),
Farscape Starburst Edition (ADV), Neon
Genesis Evangelion (ADV), Martian Successor
Nadesico (ADV) |
. |
Includes a insert with stats on Gunhed |
. |
Alternate DVD cover |
 |
|
Captures |
|
Review |
Foolish me. I actually took one look at the
main menu, and, for a brief moment, thought
perhaps ADV had changed their ways. That perhaps
they had a new live action title to tout as
a decent release, beyond the three Gamera DVDs,
unfortunately that's far from the case. From
a wretched video presentation to a decent audio
presentation and featuring a very sparse amount
of extras, Gunhed is a pretty poor DVD
in most regards. |
Gunhed's video presentation is pretty
standard for a live-action ADV release, which
means one should brace themselves for a disappointment.
The colors on this release, for example, tend
to be anything but vibrant, and look rather
muted. The colors are also off on this release,
with the entire movie appearing overly green
and brown. The brightness level is just right,
though, with details during the, numerous,
scenes that take place in the dark corridors
being easy to see. However, the contrast level
is too low here, most noticeable from the
lack of any true black in the film. As for
digital inconsistencies, they plague this
release pretty bad, as they do with most of
ADV's discs. Artifacting is a huge problem
here, with the film looking noticeable pixilated,
while edge enhancement is apparent as well,
with the movie appearing overly blurry. Shimmering,
a rainbow band of colors on fine details,
is also a problem on this release, most noticeable
on things like metal grids and ammo bands
in the film. As for noise levels, there
appears to be a good amount of grain present combined with other issues coming from the
amount of artifacting.
In regards to the print used in the transfer,
it's the international version of the film.
This means the credit sequences are done in
English. Sadly, like ADV's VHS release, the
text that appears on the screen has a jarring
error where it appears to jump in place. The
text is overly blurry too, almost unreadable
sometimes unless you have a partial clue as
to what it's trying to say. Here
is the opening credit for Brenda Bakke, as
an example. As for the shape of the print,
it's not perfect. Scratches do appear on occasion
during the course of the film. To end on a positive
note, the movie is presented in its original
aspect ratio of 1.85:1, although it isn't
Anamorphic for widescreen TVs.
|
As for Gunhed's audio presentation,
no real complaints. Contained on the disc
is a 2.0 stereo presentation of the film's
original Japanese audio track along with a
2.0 stereo presentation of the film's international
dubbed track. Both tracks could have stood
to be better, though, with the stereo presentation
sounding a little flat, especially the English
dubbed track which sounds as if the upper
levels of the audio track had the volume reduced.
Overall, though, it's not bad. There are no
pops or crackles in the audio track, or static
hisses in the background. The subtitles, which
compliment the Japanese audio track, are well
done. Color distinctions also appear when
more than one character is talking, with the
second set of text appearing white, which
is a nice addition. Unlike earlier ADV releases,
like The
Hypnotist, the subtitles here are
removable if needed.
|
The extras on this disc are a mixed bag,
which is actually giving the disc more credit
than it deserves. On one hand, I almost want
to praise ADV for actually going out of the
way to secure the original Japanese trailer
for the film and sticking it on this DVD,
which tends to be a rarity on region 1 Toho
releases. In fact, the trailer looks better
than the quality of the film itself, with
much more vibrant colors present along with
no discoloring (example here).
Sadly, this extra appears like it might have
been a comprise for a chapter selection menu,
which is notably absent from this release.
The chapters are there, thirteen in total
in fact, but there is no menu to select them
on. Looking beyond the lack of a chapter select,
the only other extra on this disc are six
stock trailers ADV created for some of their
other (none of them Toho) releases.
It should be addressed, though, that there
are two "extras" that appear in
print copy on this disc. One, and it's a odd
feature, is an alternate cover for the DVD
case, which is printed on the back. One can
simply remove the current cover and flip it
over if they want to change it out, although
it's vastly inferior to the one ADV went with.
The other feature is on the insert inside
the DVD, which can be flipped over for detailed
stats on the Gunhed mech from the film, including
dimensions and armament.
|
Bottom line: ADV tried some new things with
this release, some of the odd ball extras are
interesting, and the Japanese trailer is a welcome
addition. Sadly, though, the sorely lacking
video presentation is what brings this DVD down,
and I'd really only suggest the title to fans
of Gunhed or completists. |
-Anthony Romeros
|
Buy
this DVD |
|