![]() ![]() That said, ‘Clones is not only a significant improvement over ‘Menace, but it is also resoundingly good almost throughout. This has the result of marginally restraining the final film presentation, preventing it from having that glorious 3D pop, depth of image and stunning clarity that you may have hoped for (and which the next film would have). Basically, because it was one of the first movies to be realised using Digital technology, it was also one of the early few which were still suffering from the ‘testing’ of the process – Lucas himself felt that the preview footage shot was simply too sharp and clear and thus it was processed to take the edge off and look a little softer. Unfortunately, whilst certainly not having as many disadvantages as The Phantom Menace, there were still some issues with the way in which ‘Clones was shot, and the result is still shy of demo quality. ![]() As such, on SD-DVD, it looked, at the time, gorgeous – particularly when compared to the presentation of its lacklustre predecessor. Yes, it’s got its problems, but, by far this is much more enjoyable viewing experience.Īttack of the Clones was the first Star Wars film to be shot digitally. The Phantom Menace has never looked better. At the end of the day, whilst you may baulk at what they’ve done with many of the faces, for the most part you will likely be really quite impressed by the surprising improvement over SD-DVD. The CG characters – even that idiot Binks – look better than ever before, lovingly polished up and yet blending into the backgrounds like you would not believe, with scant few instances where they stand out in a strikingly obvious way and interfere with your enjoyment of the movie.įurthermore the image benefits greatly from the wider original scope, the image returned to its original ‘fuller’ size, with more information now around the edges. This overbearing application of DNR is far from fatal, however the resulting edge enhancement is surprisingly negligible, and, as stated above, the more effects-driven moments actually clearly shine through with stunning clarity. Liam Neeson appears to have suffered the worst, and there are one or two freeze-frame moments where the entire image takes on the look of a painted comic book (pause towards the end of the scene where Qui-Gon is trying to persuade the Council to allow him to take Anakin as an apprentice). Whilst I’m not sure that I would go so far as to say that it has had as bad an effect as we have seen on, say, the Predator Blu-ray, it is certainly going in that direction: we’re talking about waxy faces and a perpetually polished look for many of the cast. That said, there is some bad news: in polishing up the image to make it cleaner and more digital-looking, it appears that a fair amount of DNR has been implemented. It’s a marked improvement, and one which should impress fans considerably. There are several jaw-dropping moments the CG also appears to be better integrated into the proceedings and the heavy layer of overbearing grain has also been swept away. The detail is also greatly improved the CG-based segments – particularly the more panoramic landscape shots or battle sequences – look simply perfect. ![]() Sure, skin tones often border on the over-saturated, veering in a distinctly orange direction, but that’s still certainly an improvement over the pale, muted look from before. The colours are much brighter, much more vibrant, and more vivid too, bringing it more in-line with the other prequels. Well, first the good news: The Phantom Menace has had a brand new 2K transfer struck, the resulting much-needed remastered image looking considerably better than the film ever did on SD-DVD. Clearly this was the movie that was going to need the most work. On SD-DVD it looked awful, plagued by noise and edge enhancement, as well as heavy grain, a strangely muted colour palette, and a shamefully cropped image (although the same aspect ratio, all the edges were trimmed to avoid the damage that is most prevalent there). As many fans will already know, The Phantom Menace was the last of the Star Wars movies to be shot on standard 35mm film, the resulting anamorphic print unfortunately not really standing up when compared to the digitally-shot later movies. If any of the video presentations were going to be controversial, it surely had to be that of the first movie. All six entries in the Complete Saga come to Blu-ray presented with 1080p High Definition video renditions in the movies’ original theatrical aspect ratios of 2.35:1 widescreen. ![]()
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