This is absolutely one of my favorite movies and I'd like to add it to my BR collection. That said, I've noticed a few different editions of Predator on BR. Perhaps someone could tell me, is there any version that's superior to the others? Thanks for any input.
shareNeither one is superior and they both have their pros and cons, it all comes down to preference. There is the 2008 version and the controversial 2010 Ultimate Hunter Edition. I'll list the pros and cons for you:
2008 Blu Ray pros: The transfer still retains it's natural film grain, pretty good sound and picture. The cons: It's out of print, it has no special features, despite the quality picture it's not that much better than the Special Edition DVD, just slightly from what I've seen.
2010 UHE pros: The transfer is in pristine 1080p HD quality(some would say too good), it has great sound, it has all the special features ported over from the SE DVD including a new 11 minute documentary and trailer, it has a cooler front cover on the box! The cons: This is the reason it's controversial among Predator and film grain purists, the studio took all of the film grain out of the movie using very heavy DNR(Digital Noise Reduction) tinkering and the transfer is squeaky clean! It looks like it was shot with HD cameras and made yesterday, it really pissed a lot of people off! There are people who do like this transfer(personally it's not that bad, HD wise it's very solid work) but it does lose some of it's nostalgia with the remastering. I thought the 2008 transfer looked dated(but good!) and this one fits in better with modern consumers and casual HD film watchers with their HD home theater set up. I like both versions though.
So if you choose any of those two just be warned about the UHE, it's not for purists! Just beware of both versions and what they offer. It all comes down to what you prefer.
Yes, BladeRunner2049 took the words out of my mouth (must've been while he was kissing me) but the UHE is probably the better one to get depending if you wanna whinge about film grain. It personally didn't bother me at all but the sound is great and if you're a special features enthusiast like me it has a lot of good mini docos on it.
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