Superman/Batman: Public Enemies – Blu-ray Disc Review
October 4, 2009 – 8:45 PM - Posted by: Justin SlussTags: Allison Mack, Clancy Brown, DC Universe, Digital Copy, Jerry O'Connell, John C. McGinley, Kevin Conroy, LeVar Burton, Ricardo Chavira, Robert Patrick, Sam Liu, Tim Daly, Warner
has an average rating of 7.2 on IMDb
1080p in VC-1 on a 25gb disc
Dolby Digital 5.1 @640kbps
with 6 bonus episodes & Digital Copy
– 
– 2009
– 67 minutes
– Warner
– 
This uses 10.3GB for the movie out of 18.9GB total.
Overall Verdict – Recommended
Buy it for $19.99 @ Amazon.com
— Review written by: Justin Sluss —
The Movie Itself is directed by Sam Liu and based on the DC Comics graphic novel of the same name, written by Jeph Loeb, pencilled by Ed McGuinness & inked by Dexer Vines. Director Sam Lui did a handful of episodes of “The Batman” animated series and most recently the “Hulk vs. Thor” short animated feature for Marvel.
The film’s setting is very similar in ways to our current situation in the United States, in terms of a horrible economic downturn and new President in office. In this world, the DC Universe, “Lex Luthor” (voiced by Clancy Brown) has just been elected President of the United States. Luthor has put the Justice League in charge of policing things to a degree and has also managed to declare both his sworn enemy “Superman” (voiced by Tim Daly) and his best friend “Batman” (voiced by Kevin Conroy) as public enemies and puts out a 1 billion dollar reward for the capture of both superheroes. This reward is enough to bring every villain from both superheroes’ pasts out of the woodwork, so to speak, all wanting blood, all for that precious reward billion dollar reward — in a world where money seems to be just as hard to come by as ours. Speaking of which, this film may strike a tad bit too close to home in the economic downturn situation but I don’t think most viewers will really pay all too much attention to that and more focus on the onscreen battle between our heroes and those out to get them.
Fans of both “Superman” and “Batman” will get enjoyment out of spotting the villains from both characters’ past in the comic books, films and even animated series as well. While it may not be as intense as the current “Batman” motion pictures like “The Dark Knight” it does hold a bit more crude sense of humor and more violence than past animated outings, deeming it worthy of the PG-13 rating.
In closing, as much as I do hate to repeat myself I have to say the exact that I said for the previous DC Universe release “Green Lantern: First Flight” — this DC Universe animated feature-length film definitely is by far the most visually pleasing yet as you’ll hear me discuss further below in Video Quality and it also has a very good story (script), as well as great voice acting. With that again being said, it is definitely also a more mass appealing title with the two lead comic characters being two of the most legendary (“Superman” & “Batman” of course) in the DC Universe.
Video Quality on this release is in full 1080p using the VC-1 codec on a BD-25 (25 gigabyte single layer Blu-ray Disc) in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Just as with all of the previous DC Universe animated feature-length films to come to Blu-ray Disc this offers a stunning presentation with sharp outlines much thanks to the solid black level found here. The black level here could be compared with the ink that outlined the original comic book pages because it really brings out so much detail. So does the color palette which is extremely vibrant with large emphasis on obviously blue & red because of “Superman” and the dark gray with a solid black for “Batman” — in terms of both superheroes’ outfits. The presentation here really is top-notch for an animated title of this genre, it’s in fact the most impressive DC Universe title I’d say visually to date. This earns a perfect “5 Star Rating” for overall video quality as it’s sure to leave you totally pleased with the visual presentation and left without any complaints of any kind regarding the video quality. Kudos to the folks at Warner for a job well done in terms of the video quality but shame on them for not opting for a lossless audio codec, as you’re about to hear me rant about below.
Audio Quality on this release is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 @640kbps. Considering the past 2 DC Universe films to come to Blu-ray got Dolby TrueHD 5.1 treatment, it comes as a bit of a surprise that this didn’t get the lossless mix. It comes also as a shame because this offers some great material that could have certainly took advantage of the TrueHD codec versus the older Dolby Digital codec. Still, this delivers a very decent audio presentation — even if it is only in Dolby Digital. The dialogue is delivered perfectly throughout and never is drowned out by the action, so no need for volume adjustments here via your remote; just sit back and enjoy. There’s a good deal of rear channel and LFE presence that will leave your subwoofer rumbling at least a few times throughout the presentation. Overall it’s a pretty solid mix and worthy of a “4 Star Rating” but it in all honestly could have likely scored higher if they had opted for the newer Dolby audio codec which would have given it that extra “oomph!” that feels to be missing here.
Bonus Materials on this release are presented in Standard Definition video, using Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.
- Digital Copy is included on this release. It however is not included as usual on a DVD-ROM but rather includes a sheet with your unique code to redeem at a given URL (web address) online. The digital copy is compatible with both iTunes and Windows Media devices as well as Mac and PC computers.
- “A Test of Mind: Superman and Batman” (19 minutes) explores the relationship between the two popular DC comics characters over the years.
- “Dinner with DCU and Special Guest Kevin Conroy – Extended Version” (56 minutes) has the DC Universe creative team having dinner with the voice of “Batman“, Kevin Conroy.
- “Exclusive Sneak Peek at DC Universe’s Upcoming Justice League Crisis on Two Earths” (11 minutes) is self-explanatory from the title.
- “Behind the Scenes of Blackest Night” (9 minutes) is one of the DC Comics super hero events that has comic book characters arisen from the dead; much like zombies of sorts.
- “Bruce Timm Presents 6 Bonus Cartoons” (133 minutes) that include both characters and they are as follows:
- “Justice League Unlimited: Question Authority“
- “Justice League Unlimited: Flash Point“
- “Justice League Unlimited: Panic in the Sky“
- “Justice League Unlimited: Divided We Fall“
- “Superman: Demon Reborn“
- “Superman: Knight Time“
Overall the bonus materials are enough to keep fans pleased and such.
Blu-ray Disc packaging:
Screenshots:
NOTE: The full-sized 1920×1080 files are in a .PNG file format and uncompressed. Bare with the slow loading times, keep in mind these files are at least 1MB (1 megabyte) in size each.
