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I don’t think The Mummy can ever get any better than this.
The film is again released in 2.35:1 widescreen. The wide and brilliant palette is nicely brought to life and contrast and saturation is spot on. When the hot sun blazes over the Sahara desert, the film looks quite warm. When O´Connell and the other adventurers are in a deep cavernous chamber, there is a chill to the visuals. The film features a high level of detail and many scenes are quite three dimensional looking. Textures of the CGI rendered Mummy´s decaying carcass look brilliant and the metallic textures of the Egyptian artifacts look quite good. However, the transfer is not perfect and there are a few moments where the picture quality comes across a bit soft. Another problem with the film is that the fast-paced action routinely blurs with fast movement and the level of detail noticeably drops. There are a few instances of film grain during some of the darker moments, but shadow detail and black levels remain high. The print used for this mastering was extremely clean and nothing to diminish your enjoyment of the film appears.
Sound:
Looking at my previous review of "The Mummy," I noticed that I had given the film a score of ten. I´m typically not one to throw perfect numbers around too commonly. After reading my review I found myself wondering why I had scored the film as a ten and not a nine. This was either a case of typing in the wrong number or simply being a little over zealous. Regardless, I´m pretty sure the score of ten was a mistake on my part as I stated in the review text that it could not compete with the latest and greatest technology. Well, now on Blu-ray Universal has upped the ante and "The Mummy" comes equipped with an English DTS Master Audio 5.1 audio track. Dolby Digital has been completely left behind with this release as the companion foreign language support finds both Spanish and French supported with a baseline DTS 5.1 mix.
At one point in time, "The Mummy" was one of the titles I reached for when I wanted to show off my home theater setup. The earlier DTS mastering of the title was chock full of ear-shattering goodness. The audio of the HD-DVD was an improvement over that mix with the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio mix that was among the better sounding Dolby Digital mixes on the format. With the Blu-ray release, Universal returns to DTS and the new Master Audio 5.1 mix is a rather apparent upgrade over the previous high definition effort. Every aspect of this new audio mix is better than what I experienced during my head-to-head review of the two titles. Thanks to "The Mummy" I became quite adept at switching the HDMI switcher and the 6-channel audio switcher simultaneously with my thumb and pointer finger of one hand. Chalk up another odd skill for the old resume.
Technology has evolved in the past nine years between the first and third "Mummy" films and "The Mummy" still remains a solid sounding picture that is aggressive and impressive sounding enough to still show off a high end home theater setup. All six channels are full of life and the film is laden with some impressive sequences that show off what a surround system is capable of. A couple swirling sound effects move through each channel and shows how good the separation and imaging of the soundtrack is from speaker to speaker. This was quite impressive with the Dolby Digital Plus mix, but it is awe inspiring in DTS-HD. The .1 LFE channel sends deep and powerful bass to the subwoofer during action sequences and the heavy bass emphasizes the cinematic score. Dialogue is clean and impressive and the spoken were is easy to separate from the action through the entire film. With the Blu-ray release, "The Mummy" has fully entered the next-gen realm and it is an audio treat.
Extras:
Universal put out some rather impressive titles onto HD-DVD and I must admit that I´m pleasantly surprised that they are surpassing their previous efforts with their early Blu-ray releases. They aren´t simply porting the titles to the Sony-backed format with DTS-HD sound; they are adding new features and using their familiar "U-Control" functionality. "The Mummy" lacked any "U-Control" features, but this Blu-ray release contains profile 1.1 based features that are accessible through the interactive "U-Control." Everything that was found on the previous HD-DVD release is present on this new "Deluxe Edition" of the film.
The disc features three commentary tracks to be played during the film´s running. The first Feature Commentary with Director Stephen Sommers and Editor Bob Ducsay is the outstanding commentary of the three and the film´s director is both informative and entertaining and discusses the genesis of the film from its 1932 beginnings and the CGI effects used in the making of the film. Bob Ducsay steps in to help out when Sommers needs to take a breather. This is an above average commentary track and worth a listen. The second Feature Commentary with Actor Brendan Fraser isn´t quite as stellar as the first track and finds the film´s star riding solo. Fraser is very personable, but seems to run out of things to say a couple times during the commentary´s running length. The third and final Feature Commentary with Actors Oded Fehr, Kevin J. O´Connor and Arnold Vosloo is lively and finds the three supporting talent reminiscing about their experiences, but this track falls in third place when ranking the three, as they just aren´t quite as interesting as either Stephen Sommers or Brendan Fraser.
Aside from the three nice commentary tracks, there are a number of featurettes. The first is Building a Better Mummy (49:52). This relatively lengthy documentary is a full-frame presentation that looks at the history of the Mummy´s story and its various incarnations over the years. After the opening looks at the older film, the documentary starts to focus on the making of the film and the effects utilized to bring the modern update to life. This was a pretty decent making of feature and had nearly all involved with the project offering their two cents. A Visual and Special Effects section looks at five sequences from the film and is narrated by visual effects supervisor John Berton. The "City of Thebes," "Scarab Burial," "Serious Trouble," "Imhotep Eats Scarab" and "Rick Rescues Evelyn" scenes are dissected and broken down into their plate photography elements, visual effects elements, composited shots and final feature sequence. This was actually pretty spiffy and fun to compare the scenes as they evolved to the final product.
After the two lengthy and involved supplements, a few more relaxing items of interest are included. The Deleted Scenes (2:20) are a few very short omissions from the film and letterboxed and pillarboxed for your viewing discomfort. A Storyboard to Final Film Comparison is presented for three scenes from the film: "Hangman´s Noose," "Scarab Run" and "Trouble in Cairo." These segments showcased the final scene in comparison to the storyboards by presenting the storyboards in a window above the actual scene. This wasn´t as interesting as the visual effects section, but a nice little inclusion. A Photograph Montage and the Theatrical Trailer completed the list of bonus materials.
The new Blu-ray features include the previously mentioned U-Control and a Sneak Peak of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (3:01). The Sneak Peek is nothing more than a very brief promotional making-of feature. It isn´t a trailer, but a quick ´spotlight´ type vignette that whets ones interest in the upcoming third film. I was hoping for more, to be honest. The "U-Control" contains Profile 1.1 required Picture-in-Picture that appears in fifteen of the eighteen chapters. Some of the material contained in these PiP videos is culled from some of the other making-of featurettes, but there is some new behind-the-scenes footage that appears to be new. I was pleased to see that Universal added a little something extra in this Blu-ray release.
Closing:
I´ve been a fan of the series ever since I attended opening weekend for this film, "The Mummy." The sequel "The Mummy Returns" followed the formula set by this film, but started to fall a bit too deeply into the realm of cheese. However, the series has never been about strong scripts and overly dramatic performances. "The Mummy," its sequel and the spinoff "The Scorpion King" are all about delivering fun to their audience. This first film appeals to audiences of all ages and some of the harshest of film critics found themselves entertained by this remake of the classic horror film, where the title and a few names are about the only similarities. Brendan Fraser is very good as Rick O´Connell and made for a convincing action hero. It is sometimes a shame that he is typically cast in goofy comedies. He is a far better actor than what his roles typically would have you believe.
It wasn´t too difficult to sit back and watch "The Mummy" not too long ago when the HD-DVD version of the film arrived to review. With the upcoming third film in the series, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" hitting theaters in short order, I would have likely watched these two films again. However, yet another version of the film exists on a home video format and I can now add the Blu-ray release to my collection that contains a couple incarnations of the film on DVD and also on HD-DVD. The new Blu-ray release is easily the finest version of the film yet released and for my fellow fans of the series, this is a must purchase disc. I don´t think "The Mummy" can ever get any better than this. This film looks very strong, the sound is improved over the previously strong HD-DVD release and there are even more supplements to enjoy. What more could you want?
Sound:
Looking at my previous review of "The Mummy," I noticed that I had given the film a score of ten. I´m typically not one to throw perfect numbers around too commonly. After reading my review I found myself wondering why I had scored the film as a ten and not a nine. This was either a case of typing in the wrong number or simply being a little over zealous. Regardless, I´m pretty sure the score of ten was a mistake on my part as I stated in the review text that it could not compete with the latest and greatest technology. Well, now on Blu-ray Universal has upped the ante and "The Mummy" comes equipped with an English DTS Master Audio 5.1 audio track. Dolby Digital has been completely left behind with this release as the companion foreign language support finds both Spanish and French supported with a baseline DTS 5.1 mix.
At one point in time, "The Mummy" was one of the titles I reached for when I wanted to show off my home theater setup. The earlier DTS mastering of the title was chock full of ear-shattering goodness. The audio of the HD-DVD was an improvement over that mix with the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 audio mix that was among the better sounding Dolby Digital mixes on the format. With the Blu-ray release, Universal returns to DTS and the new Master Audio 5.1 mix is a rather apparent upgrade over the previous high definition effort. Every aspect of this new audio mix is better than what I experienced during my head-to-head review of the two titles. Thanks to "The Mummy" I became quite adept at switching the HDMI switcher and the 6-channel audio switcher simultaneously with my thumb and pointer finger of one hand. Chalk up another odd skill for the old resume.
Technology has evolved in the past nine years between the first and third "Mummy" films and "The Mummy" still remains a solid sounding picture that is aggressive and impressive sounding enough to still show off a high end home theater setup. All six channels are full of life and the film is laden with some impressive sequences that show off what a surround system is capable of. A couple swirling sound effects move through each channel and shows how good the separation and imaging of the soundtrack is from speaker to speaker. This was quite impressive with the Dolby Digital Plus mix, but it is awe inspiring in DTS-HD. The .1 LFE channel sends deep and powerful bass to the subwoofer during action sequences and the heavy bass emphasizes the cinematic score. Dialogue is clean and impressive and the spoken were is easy to separate from the action through the entire film. With the Blu-ray release, "The Mummy" has fully entered the next-gen realm and it is an audio treat.
Extras:
Universal put out some rather impressive titles onto HD-DVD and I must admit that I´m pleasantly surprised that they are surpassing their previous efforts with their early Blu-ray releases. They aren´t simply porting the titles to the Sony-backed format with DTS-HD sound; they are adding new features and using their familiar "U-Control" functionality. "The Mummy" lacked any "U-Control" features, but this Blu-ray release contains profile 1.1 based features that are accessible through the interactive "U-Control." Everything that was found on the previous HD-DVD release is present on this new "Deluxe Edition" of the film.
The disc features three commentary tracks to be played during the film´s running. The first Feature Commentary with Director Stephen Sommers and Editor Bob Ducsay is the outstanding commentary of the three and the film´s director is both informative and entertaining and discusses the genesis of the film from its 1932 beginnings and the CGI effects used in the making of the film. Bob Ducsay steps in to help out when Sommers needs to take a breather. This is an above average commentary track and worth a listen. The second Feature Commentary with Actor Brendan Fraser isn´t quite as stellar as the first track and finds the film´s star riding solo. Fraser is very personable, but seems to run out of things to say a couple times during the commentary´s running length. The third and final Feature Commentary with Actors Oded Fehr, Kevin J. O´Connor and Arnold Vosloo is lively and finds the three supporting talent reminiscing about their experiences, but this track falls in third place when ranking the three, as they just aren´t quite as interesting as either Stephen Sommers or Brendan Fraser.
Aside from the three nice commentary tracks, there are a number of featurettes. The first is Building a Better Mummy (49:52). This relatively lengthy documentary is a full-frame presentation that looks at the history of the Mummy´s story and its various incarnations over the years. After the opening looks at the older film, the documentary starts to focus on the making of the film and the effects utilized to bring the modern update to life. This was a pretty decent making of feature and had nearly all involved with the project offering their two cents. A Visual and Special Effects section looks at five sequences from the film and is narrated by visual effects supervisor John Berton. The "City of Thebes," "Scarab Burial," "Serious Trouble," "Imhotep Eats Scarab" and "Rick Rescues Evelyn" scenes are dissected and broken down into their plate photography elements, visual effects elements, composited shots and final feature sequence. This was actually pretty spiffy and fun to compare the scenes as they evolved to the final product.
After the two lengthy and involved supplements, a few more relaxing items of interest are included. The Deleted Scenes (2:20) are a few very short omissions from the film and letterboxed and pillarboxed for your viewing discomfort. A Storyboard to Final Film Comparison is presented for three scenes from the film: "Hangman´s Noose," "Scarab Run" and "Trouble in Cairo." These segments showcased the final scene in comparison to the storyboards by presenting the storyboards in a window above the actual scene. This wasn´t as interesting as the visual effects section, but a nice little inclusion. A Photograph Montage and the Theatrical Trailer completed the list of bonus materials.
The new Blu-ray features include the previously mentioned U-Control and a Sneak Peak of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (3:01). The Sneak Peek is nothing more than a very brief promotional making-of feature. It isn´t a trailer, but a quick ´spotlight´ type vignette that whets ones interest in the upcoming third film. I was hoping for more, to be honest. The "U-Control" contains Profile 1.1 required Picture-in-Picture that appears in fifteen of the eighteen chapters. Some of the material contained in these PiP videos is culled from some of the other making-of featurettes, but there is some new behind-the-scenes footage that appears to be new. I was pleased to see that Universal added a little something extra in this Blu-ray release.
Closing:
I´ve been a fan of the series ever since I attended opening weekend for this film, "The Mummy." The sequel "The Mummy Returns" followed the formula set by this film, but started to fall a bit too deeply into the realm of cheese. However, the series has never been about strong scripts and overly dramatic performances. "The Mummy," its sequel and the spinoff "The Scorpion King" are all about delivering fun to their audience. This first film appeals to audiences of all ages and some of the harshest of film critics found themselves entertained by this remake of the classic horror film, where the title and a few names are about the only similarities. Brendan Fraser is very good as Rick O´Connell and made for a convincing action hero. It is sometimes a shame that he is typically cast in goofy comedies. He is a far better actor than what his roles typically would have you believe.
It wasn´t too difficult to sit back and watch "The Mummy" not too long ago when the HD-DVD version of the film arrived to review. With the upcoming third film in the series, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" hitting theaters in short order, I would have likely watched these two films again. However, yet another version of the film exists on a home video format and I can now add the Blu-ray release to my collection that contains a couple incarnations of the film on DVD and also on HD-DVD. The new Blu-ray release is easily the finest version of the film yet released and for my fellow fans of the series, this is a must purchase disc. I don´t think "The Mummy" can ever get any better than this. This film looks very strong, the sound is improved over the previously strong HD-DVD release and there are even more supplements to enjoy. What more could you want?
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[release]23824[/release]