The Warriors [Blu-ray] [1979]

I never, ever, ever mention the quality of Blu-Ray transfers in my reviews and always focus on reviewing the film itself - not the format. However, in this case, I'm going to make an exception, because the film looked STUNNING! ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!

I'm not going too talk about the film at all here - it's a classic, and I'm sure everyone reading this has seen it, or at least knows about it (briefly it's a 300 style story, where few take on many as they try to get home), what I'm going to talk about this amazing version of it.

I've never seen a Blu-Ray like it, and the effect was even more startling because of the films age. Having always seen it on VHS or TV the difference in HI-Def was mesmerising. It felt and looked like a totally different film. You could see the leather grain in the hide of the Warrior's vests for instance - the amount of detail was staggering, and this Hi-Def vibrancy and detail added a whole new element.

In fact - having watched the extras - I now know it was a level that was always there (or at least intended to be) but only now can technology relay the director's true vision to us. In the extras he talks about his original concept, and his hopes for the film; the comic book feel he wanted and tried so hard to achieve.

One way he hoped to achieve this was with the costumes or 'colours' that the gangs wore, and it's only now we can see the richness of the colours, and lustre of the fabrics used for these. The costume designs look amazing on this Blu-Ray; the silks, the satins, even the oils in the face paints and the shines of the leathers and lycras. Almost each individual grain of grease or dirt can be seen, ground into the individual threads of the gang's T-shirts, are now all there to witness for the first time in this detailed transfer. It's like looking though binoculars or something.

Even the lighting now comes alive in the Blu-Ray version of this film. We can see the original (an brilliant) idea/vision for the lighting at work - again trying to reinforce the directors vision of a comic book. At the start of the film, when the Warriors first go on the run, there is a torrential down poor. And this was because the guy in charge of lighting and the director wanted the streets wet with rain water for the rest of the film. Why? So that the water reflected all the lights from the city streets - and this again in the Hi-Def format works wonderfully as the greens, yellows and other colours from the street lights bounce upwards from puddles around the screen. This was just something that was just lost on me every other time I'd seen this film.

This Blu-Ray is a Director's cut of the film - and there are now added 'comic book' style cuts and transitions between scenes, which in my opinion aren't necessary and don't really add anything, but you can live with them - they certainly don't take away from the enjoyment of the film. Overall though, for me, this Blu-Ray director's cut will be remember for the staggering transfer which turns a great classic into a completely new film... it was like watching it again for the first time and it was 10 times better.

I'm going to have to give this 10/10 - the film itself is a 9... but honestly. I was left speechless. For the first time, I've witnessed what Blu-Ray can do, and why I spent so much on my home cinema system. It's just a shame other Blu-rays don't make the same effort.

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The chances are that if you are thinking about buying the warriors on Blu-ray you already know about the film so I wont bother reviewing that side of it. I already owned The Warriors on DVD and wasn't sure if I should bother buying it again on Blu-ray but I am so pleased I did. Not all films have the money spent on them when they are transferred to Blu-ray and can be worse than the DVD but The Warriors is 1st class. This film is 30 years old and it is spotless, no grain and sharp glossy clear pictures, it just looks amazing on Blu-ray.

The Warriors is a great film from a director who has made more than his fair share of great movies. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, directors feel the need to tinker with their films and the result is nearly always detrimental. And so it is with The Warriors.

The opening scene in The Warriors with the eerie music and Wonder Wheel in the background is exceptional. Unfortunately, in the Director's Cut it is presaged with an unnecessary comic strip alluding to the historical connection between The Warriors and ancient Greece. For me it detracts from the greatness of the opening scene.

The comic strip interludes are used throughout the rest of the movie. To me they serve absolutely no purpose - the historical allegory doesn't add anything to the story or impact of the film. If anything, they actually detract significantly from the film in three ways:

1. It slows the film down. Though this is only marginal, the padding of the cut scenes creates an unwelcome break in the action and flow of the film.

2. The strips look and feels totally wrong. They look new and computer generated whereas the rest of the film is gritty, urban and very 70s. Could Walter Hill not at least have commissioned a hand-painted washed-out 70s style comic strip? As it is, the interludes really clash with the style of the actual movie. I find it quite jarring.

3. This is a bit pedantic, but the font used in the comic strips is MS comic sans. This font wasn't produced until 1994 - decades after the movie!! Again, couldn't Walter Hill have found something contemporary to the age of the film? Or something more attractive - Comic Sans is one of the ugliest and most over-used fonts.

I should add that the BR transfer is generally very impressive. When the gangs all meet at the start the colours are punchy and saturated. There is some grain - but that is in keeping with the age of the film, the feel of the film and the fact it was mainly shot at night.

As I say, the Warriors is a brilliant and classic film (5 stars) and this BR disc does it justice, I just wish two versions had been released - the original and the Director's Cut on the same BR disc.