THE MOVIE

Again, this now the fourth Batman movie and the scripts aren't showing too many signs of improving. I think this one is the best, but that's still not saying much.

The movie start out showing both Batman (George Clooney) and Robin (Chris O'Donnell) in the cave and we are quickly thrown into the first of many, many action scenes involving Batman, Robin and Mr Freeze (Arnie).
Again, the plot is simple. Batman and Robin must defend Gotham from an evail arch rival, this time Mr Freeze. To add a bit of variety, the writers threw in an extra villain, Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman) and an extra good guy, Batgirl (Alicia Silvertstone).

True to form, the bad guys team up, and so do the good guys. This leaves us with action packed fill in scenes until the ultimate and predictable demise of the villains.

Again, a simple plot for this Batman movie, but at least a little more thought has been brought into it. Oh yeah, and Elle McPherson.

I'll give this movie 3 out of 5 (6/10) for plot. Very entertaining for a bit of a no-brainer.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Excellent quality video is apparent throughout this disc. Far greater detail is apparent on this disc than I have seen on any other Warner disc to date.

Colour saturation is brilliant, and shadow detail superb. This is one of the best discs for picture quality I have seen. There is a few scenes were film graininess are apparent, but this is early on in the film and not really that noticable.

I give this 4.5 out 5 (9/10) for video quality. Don't ever watch the VHS version ever again. You can ge sooo much more out of the movie by watching it on this DVD.

Audio:

The opening credits sequence of this film demonstrates how much the stereo surround and bass channels are used in this movie.

This is demo quality stuff for when friends come around. Mr Freeze speaks from all around the room, the car throbs and the motor bikes race at you from all directions. Dialogue is clear throughout and I can't say I noticed any sync problems. The ADR work was a bit sloppy at times, but generally held together.

I'll score this 4/5 (8/10). It dosn't get much better than this. If you need another action movie to round out your DVD collection (yeah right!), then this one is well worth considering as demo audio.

THE EXTRAS

No theatrical trailer. No making of. Nada!! Just like with Batman, you get a few pages of text for the production notes and the cast biographies. However, this time there is some extensive additions for some of the aspects of the movie. An example is the Batcave. There are about 3 or 4 pages of text describing the thinking behind how the Batcave looks in this movie. Other topics covered include the Batmobile and the Batbike.

The Menu system

I don't think Warner spend too much time on menu design. It is again a simplistic design but again is quite functional.

I've decided to give the extras 2/5 (4/10). They can do much better.

SUMMARY

Overall score of 3 of out 5 (6/10). That may seem a bit low considering the points I gave it for audio and video, but I really think the movie could have been a better 'experience' if they had included some behind the scenes stuff, a theatrical trailer - anything really. As it is, I won't bother buying it.