I've always been a fan of the movie "Mystery Men." This bizarre 1999 superhero parody was ahead of its time in a lot of ways, coming out before the huge wave of early-2000's superhero movies. It was essentially poking fun at a genre that most people weren't even familiar with at the time. But like a fine wine, this movie has gotten better with age, and is more relevant now than it was 24 years ago on initial release. And likewise, its audience seems to have grown over the years as well. Outside of myself, I didn't know a single person who saw it when it first came out, but now, most people I know who love superhero movies have seen it at least once, if not multiple times.
Sadly, its previous home video releases have been pretty hit-or-miss. Especially when it came to the Blu-Ray, which was decent enough, but certainly not all that much of an improvement over the DVD. The Blu-Ray noticeably was a bit murky and soft, with slightly muted colors, which is a little sad for a film with so much color and so many visual flourishes.
Thankfully, I will say that from a visual standpoint, Kino Lorber's 2022 4K release of "Mystery Men" is, without any hyperbole, one of the best 4K upgrades I've ever seen. I was actually shocked by just how good this film looked, even watching it on my 2020 55" 4K TV. And I can only imagine how incredible this would look on a larger OLED screen. Even with my modest set-up, I was blown away by this release.
From the very first moments, the sharpness and level of detail completely blew the Blu-Ray out of the water. The swooping shots of Champion City looked incredible with how much more you could actually see, while the opening action scene showed off an impressive level of detail in things like skin and clothing. You could practically see every stich in the actors' wardrobes and every pore on their skin. And this detail and sharpness is maintained throughout the two-hour runtime, with only a few occasional scenes (primarily very dark scenes) going a bit soft. And the color! Woof! The color alone made this almost seem like a completely different film. It's so much more vibrant than the Blu-Ray and DVD versions, with colors that practically leap off the screen. From a visual standpoint alone, this disc is borderline demo-worthy.
There's also pretty much all of the bonus content from previous releases, plus a new featurette that I haven't watched yet, but am looking forward to.
The only place where this excellent release falters is the audio, which as far as I can tell are the same tracks featured in previous releases. For the most part, they're quite excellent... but there are several moments where the quality somewhat falters. Most blatantly is the introduction of the character Bowler. For some reason in every home video release of the film that I've seen, there's a period of about 60 seconds after she's introduced where the audio quality noticeably drops, before going back to normal in the next scene. It's a shame that with such a wonderful visual upgrade, we couldn't get improved audio as well.
Still, for the price, this is one 4K I'd highly recommend! The movie is a blast, and the visuals are mind-blowing. Watching this disc felt I was seeing the movie on the big screen again back in 1999.
"Mystery Men" on 4K gets a 5 out of 5 for me.
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From the manufacturer
Kino Lorber Studio Classics is dedicated to bringing you the best of Hollywood’s successes, critical and commercial. All from best available sources, many on DVD or Blu-ray for the very first time.
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Top reviews from other countries
- Jules-Pierre MalartreReviewed in Canada on September 17, 2023
A superhero movie like no oter
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