The 4kDE has been showing for a few days now I believe and no comments from anyone so I guess I’ll ask if anyone’s seen it? Thoughts?
Yes I have. I’m glad that it exists, and it probably is the best way to watch this film, but oddly, I actually found it to be slightly less stellar than I hoped. The new background in the officer’s lounge was a nice touch. Too bad the rotoscoping of the actors was awful! X(
I thought there was something wrong with my display, but no, it really does look that terrible.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP_R-pJWQAAaPti?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPztTaYWUAMXZkz?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
There are some nice touches to the original DVD CG effects now in glorious HD. However they’ve added this fake bloom in a lot of these shots and I hate it! It looks like CG from 2005. I just wish they followed the rules when they were working on the DVD version, which is to not add any effect that doesn’t look like something that could’ve been done in the 70s. The DVD’s effects look genuine, some of the 2022 VFX sticks out like a sore thumb in a similar manner to the Star Wars Special Edition.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOnmTkYXoAIe9CC?format=jpg&name=medium
I like that they went through all the effort to find the original ADR for much of the dialogue to have cleaner, less distorted audio, but again, just like with the effects, they didn’t go all the way. They didn’t add any ambient reverb to help the ADR not sound like it was recorded in a booth. The base is also a little too high. It’s not a big issue unless you have a big subwoofer like I do. All of these things combined makes the actors sound more like sports commentators than dialogue for a Hollywood film.
Anyways, on a positive note, we were long overdue for an HD release of the Director’s Edition. And if people choose not to watch the HD Purist Edition, then I would say that the 2022 release is still better than the DVD original, and especially over the theatrical cut.