NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos Blu-ray Movie Review

Orange and blue are the new gold and silver.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 13, 2016

2015 was a pretty special year for the NFL. The season was set to culminate with the fiftieth Super Bowl (designated by its Arabic numerals rather than the more traditional Roman numerals; "Super Bowl L" admittedly sounds pretty lame), a milestone celebrated by the NFL's "On the 50 Campaign" that painted every stadium's midfield stripe gold, among other golden surprises. At season's start, all eyes were, where else, on the Patriots. Coming off a Super Bowl win and the "Deflate Gate" scandal, Tom Brady's crew was rightly the center of preseason attention. As the season developed, the Pats remained well in the thick of the conversation, starting the season 10-0 before dropping four of the last six regular season games. The year's other big story, record-wise, was the Carolina Panthers, a team that went undefeated all the way to week 16 before losing to the Atlanta Falcons. Nevertheless, the team confidently marched into the playoffs with a 15-1 record and looked too dominant to stop. Then there were the Denver Broncos, the AFC's top seed but a team that came under heavy scrutiny when future Hall-of-Fame Quarterback Peyton Manning was benched and sidelined with injuries. Everything else was just noise as the NFL once again seemed primed for a Brady-Manning showdown, if the Denver QB could get back on his game, that is.

Peyton Manning.

The Denver Broncos made one of the biggest acquisitions in NFL history when the team signed veteran Quarterback Peyton Manning as a free agent prior to the 2012 season, and each year since has been defined by a special occasion for the man and the franchise. Manning was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the year award following that season. He would improve in 2013, taking the team to the Super Bowl and earning his fifth league MVP award. In 2014, Manning broke the NFL record for career touchdown passes, but the Broncos were dismissed early in the playoffs. Manning had certainly made a positive impact on the Broncos, but he had yet to secure his legacy with the team. That would change in 2015, but not before one of the most tumultuous seasons, and a season that would end up being the last, of his Hall of Fame career.

All the accomplishments in the world don't grant immunity for play on the field, and they don't prevent injuries. Peyton Manning's injuries, and benching in favor of backup Brock Osweiler, dominated NFL headlines for weeks, including the lead-up to the playoffs. Osweiler carried the team and performed well, but his own struggles down the line started the QB carousel again, with Manning making a hero's return and leading the Broncos to a 12-4 record as the team coasted into the playoffs, earning a tiebreaker for the top seed against the rival New England Patriots thanks to a 30-24 overtime win in Denver in week 12. First up for the Broncos was the sixth-seeded Steelers, a team coming off a brawl of a game and an emotionally charged win against division rival Cincinnati in the first round. A wounded and depleted Steelers squad looked to be in control until late when a key fumble turned the ball over to Denver, resulting in a game-winning drive. The Broncos hosted the Patriots in the Conference Championship game an scratched out a 20-18 victory, a lead preserved thanks to a key Bradley Roby interception of a New England two point conversion try late in the ballgame. As for the Super Bowl against the 15-1 Panthers, well, the rest is history, and it's all right there in NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos.

NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos, similar to past Super Bowl Blu-ray films, offers a linear approach through the Broncos' season. Even if it lacks creative structure, it enjoys impressive cadence and that unmistakable NFL Films dynamism. Every moment feels crucial, each play decisive, and the Broncos' run of tremendous importance to the football, and global, landscapes. Most of the attention is spent on the Super Bowl, a little less on the playoffs, and there are but brief recaps of each regular season game. The film finds a positive sense of balance nevertheless. Its constraints are obvious -- it simply cannot offer protracted highlights of every game -- but it makes the time to show key plays and, more importantly, a plethora of critical behind-the-scenes information that helps better shape the ins-and-outs of the Broncos' season, going, essentially, beyond the headlines in search of the reasons why the season ended with a Super Bowl championship. It's good stuff, as expected, good enough for casual football fans, die-hards who root in for other teams, and, of course, Broncos fans who will never forget the team's Golden Season glory.

NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos rides onto Blu-ray with 1080i, 1.78:1-framed transfer that sees footage sourced from both HD video and film. The former makes for the predominant component, but the latter is the more attractive, particularly in some graceful slow motion shots. The video-sourced footage rarely proves problematic, revealing only trace levels of macroblocking, aliasing, noise, and banding. The transfer offers dominating detail and extraordinary color. Meanwhile, the film footage offers a more tactile, textured look that's a nice change of pace from the usual barrage of HD sports footage on the networks. Fine details never struggle under either format. Uniform fabrics are wonderfully complex, ditto player faces seen in close-up. Background details, such as stadium structural touches, electronic signage, fans, and the turf all enjoy superb, revelatory detailing. Colors are terrific. Denver's orange and blue color scheme explodes off the screen with regularity, as do the colors worn by opposing teams, but that rather tastefully loud Broncos scheme seems made for Blu-ray. Black levels never stray far from a happy medium of depth and shadow detailing. Skin tones, seen in close-ups without helmets, are fine, whether sourced from video or film. This is a superb presentation that every football fan needs to see.

NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos breaks huddle on Blu-ray Blu-ray with a robust and enjoyable DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Voiceover narration that shapes the story of the Broncos' season plays with a rather aggressive, boomy posture that dominates anything else the track has to offer, but even so, raw definition, center placement, and prioritization are terrific. Other examples of the spoken word are also key to the presentation. Post-game interviews, press conferences, tunnel huddles, and locker room and sideline chatter all enjoy good vocal clarity and elevation above supportive music and sound effects. The triumphant NFL Films-style music plays with wide berth placement, terrific definition throughout the range, and a healthy support at the low end. Crowd din and other background details are delivered with immersive refinement and balance with the program's other sound requirements.

NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos contains a lengthy collection of rather brief extras.

• Super Bowl Opening Night (1080i, 11:02): Coach Gary Kubiak and a number of Broncos players, including Peyton Manning, DeMarcus Ware, Von Miller, Demaryius Thomas, Brock Osweiler, Aqib Talib, Emmanuel Sanders, Ronnie Hillman, and C.J. Anderson answer some questions from NFL Network personalities before a large gathering of press.
• Super Bowl Post-Game Ceremonies (1080i, 8:06): The trophy presentation ceremony and Jim Nantz interviews with key members of the Broncos family.
• Elway and Kubiak (1080i, 3:59): NFL Network's Andrea Kramer sits down with the coach and the legendary quarterback.
• No Fly Zone (1080i, 3:33): A quick chat with the Broncos' secondary.
• Players on Manning (1080i, 2:55): Andrea Kramer chats with a number of Broncos players about their star quarterback.
• All-Time Greats on Manning (1080i, 3:59): MLB's Derek Jeter and the NBA's Kobe Bryant talk about what makes the legendary quarterback great.
• 2015 NFL Shots of the Year (1080i, 4:08): A rapid-fire run-through of some of the most visually arresting footage from the year.
• Broncos Super Bowl Sound Archive (1080i, 4:40): Sights and sounds from the Broncos' numerous Super Bowl appearances.
• The NFL Year in Sound, Part 1 (1080i, 7:04): Sound byte highlights from the season.
• The NFL Year in Sound, Part 2 (1080i, 5:25): More sound byte highlights from the season.
• The NFL Year in Sound, Part 3 (1080i, 6:41): Even more sound byte highlights from the season.
• The NFL Year in Sound, Part 4 (1080i, 4:57): The last collection of sound byte highlights from the season.

NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

NFL Super Bowl 50 Champions: Denver Broncos is essentially the same release as the past few NFL Films Super Bowl releases. All that's really changed are the colors and names on the jerseys. The quality of presentation is above reproach. Video and audio presentations are excellent, right on par with the past few releases. Supplements get a little repetitive, but they're top quality. This is obviously one of the must-own releases of the year for Broncos fans, but it should find wider appeal amongst the NFL fan base as well, so long as they're not Steelers, Patriots, or Panthers fans.