Saints Road to XLIV Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Saints Road to XLIV Blu-ray Movie Review

The Saints ain't the Aints now.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 9, 2010

The New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl Champions. Also making news today: pigs are flying, the sun rose in the west, and the Pittsburgh Pirates have secured a winning record. Yup, it was that kind of unbelievable for the team from the Big Easy; the team formerly known as the "Aints" hoisted the Lombardi Trophy after a classic matchup with the AFC champion and playoff-tested Indianapolis Colts. It was no easy road for a franchise that, before 2009, had won exactly two playoff games dating back to the club's inaugural 1967 season. The team had experienced recent success with the acquisition of quarterback Drew Brees for the 2006 season, the elite signal-caller leading the club to a winning record and a playoff victory over the Philadelphia Eagles before being ousted from the playoffs by eventual Super Bowl runners-up the Chicago Bears. The team missed the playoffs again in both 2007 and 2008, but 2009 would not see the drought stretch into three seasons; the club, again led by Brees' all-pro right arm, amassed an impressive regular season record on their way to the big game in Miami. With fate on their side and a city in desperate need of something worth cheering for behind them, the magical run saw the club defeat two of the game's best all-time QB's in Brett Favre and Peyton Manning on their way to a first-ever Super Bowl victory.

Game time.

Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida was the site of Super Bowl XLIV, but there was plenty of drama and high-octane pigskin action leading up to what would become one of the more memorable Super Bowls of the decade. The Saints opened the 2009 regular season in dominating fashion, beating up on the hapless Detroit Lions, manhandling the consistently-solid Philadelphia Eagles, trouncing the lowly Buffalo Bills, and defeating the eventual AFC Championship game-bound New York Jets 24-10. Before fans could breathe, the Saints were 4-0 and headed into their week five bye. The week off didn't hurt the team; the Saints churned out nine additional victories -- including an impressive come-from-behind victory against the much-improved Miami Dolphins and an overtime win against Dan Snyder's high-dollar Washington Redskins -- before finally dropping their final three regular season games to the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Carolina Panthers. Despite entering the playoffs with three straight losses and a bye week to mull it all over, the Saints hosted the previous year's Super Bowl runners-up, the Arizona Cardinals, in the NFC divisional game, winning by a convincing score of 45-14, despite going down 7-0 in the game's opening seconds on a 70-yard run by the Cards' Tim Hightower. By the time the first quarter ended, Hightower's sprint was a distant memory; the Saints racked up 21 points to put the game away early on. The team's true test would come in a showdown with the high-powered Minnesota Vikings, led by future Hall of Famer Brett Favre. The game proved to be a seesaw affair with the teams trading scores throughout, leading to a dramatic overtime period in which the Saints picked off a Brett Favre pass, kicked a field goal, and punched their ticket to their first Super Bowl berth.

The Saints' opponent, the Indianapolis Colts, was led by rookie head coach Jim Caldwell, the team's longtime assistant under Tony Dungy, the only other head coach to lead the Colts to a Super Bowl win, that coming in a 29-17 victory over the aforementioned Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Perennial MVP candidate Peyton Manning and the Colts charged through the regular season, amassing an impressive record of 14-2, including an astonishing 14-straight wins to start the season. The Colts enjoyed a first-round bye and soundly defeated both the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets at Lucas Oil Stadium on their way to a relatively easy Super Bowl berth. The Colts entered the big game the odds-on-favorite to win, with oddsmakers, pundits, and fans alike citing the team's veteran leadership on the field, prior Super Bowl experience, and the Saints' previous inability to come through in the playoffs as reasons why Indy would be hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the second time in four seasons. That, as they say, is why they play the game.

As for the highlights of the big game? They're all here in Warner Brothers' two-disc set for Saints -- and football -- fans to relive time and again via this two-disc set. Aside from presenting the Super Bowl it entirety -- sans commercials, replays between every snap, and the like -- this two-disc set also features the Saints' week 13 overtime victory in Washington (2:06:51) on disc one, captured from the original Fox television broadcast. It's worth noting here -- and this observation carries over to the other games -- that it's somewhat disconcerting with how choppy the games can occasionally feel when they jump from one play to the next and without the usual filler of replays, color comments, and statistics to fill in the gaps. Though the program does allow for replays, sideline reporting, statistical graphics between plays, and other fan-friendly materials that add more depth to the experience and highlight many of the game's more crucial events, the occasional and sudden jump from one play to the next doesn't quite feel right. It would be nice if the games could be completely uncut in future releases, but as it is now, it's not a deal-breaker. For a point of reference, it takes 57 minutes and change for the first half of the Stains-'Skins game to play out, and that's without commercials, so hardcore football fans that are intimately familiar with the pacing of televised games might have a good idea of what to expect based on that runtime. As for the other content found in this set, viewers can enjoy the Saints' Divisional playoff victory over the Cardinals on disc one (1:59:07) and the NFC Championship game (2:20:14) and the Super Bowl (1:40:18) on disc two.

Saints Road to XLIV Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Warners' 1080i high definition 1.78:1-framed transfer replicates the original broadcast elements seen during the live telecasts of each of the four games included in this set. Both discs warn of inherent errors in the source, but for viewers comfortable and familiar with the images they see on their high-def displays every Sunday, there shouldn't be many complaints with the quality of this set. The games are indistinguishable from Fox's and CBS' original presentations, and with that comes those myriad of issues. The field can look blocky and chunky; edges can sometimes appear unnaturally jagged; aliasing is occasionally visible; players lack definition when seen from the standard play-by-play wide-angle overhead shots; and other technical bugaboos creep into the image, but at a base level, it's more than acceptable. Colors are nicely resolved, whether the green grasses, the Redskins' maroon home jerseys, the Saints' gold helmets, red pylons, or various graphics that appear on-screen. Detail is fine, with letters and numbers on jerseys nicely visible, while torn-up chunks of turf and most other on-field and sideline objects appear sufficiently sharp but obviously lacking that realistic texture associated with filmed images. Fortunately, the Super Bowl was broadcast on CBS, and that network's games always look better than what Fox has to offer. Detail is noticeably sharper, colors are richer, and technical problems are lessened significantly. As stated above, fans familiar with how football looks in high definition -- on both networks -- know what to expect with this set; it's a carbon-coby of Sunday afternoons brought to Blu-ray.

Saints Road to XLIV Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Saints Road to XLIV features a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack that, like the video, is reflective of the original broadcast elements. Whether the CBS or Fox presentations, background sounds play as somewhat squishy, particularly the unbalanced crowd noise that never really immerses the listener into the games. It's largely undefined and lacking in clarity, but as with the picture quality, those familiar with the average over-the-air HD football broadcasts can expect the same things here. Announcer dialogue is suitably crisp and clear. There's nothing here of note, really; this is very basic stuff that wasn't made to wow listeners but rather serve as an audible compliment to a visually-based sporting event. No revelations, no boosts in quality, just what seems to be a bit-for-bit reproduction of the games' original television presentations.

Saints Road to XLIV Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

An optional trivia track that occasionally pops up during the Super Bowl is the only extra included on either disc.

Saints Road to XLIV Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The impossible has happened. When New Orleans desperately needed something to cheer for, something to remember, something to believe in, they got the 2009 New Orleans Saints, a team of destiny that fought for pride, for a game, for a city, all culminating in the celebration that is the achievement of earning the ultimate prize: the hoisting of the Vince Lombardi trophy. Led by Quarterback Drew Brees, Heisman Trophy-winning Running Back Reggie Bush, and Head Coach Sean Payton, The Big Easy has a reason to celebrate: their first Super Bowl victory, a shining light in an otherwise bleak history of professional football in the Pelican State. Fans can relive four of the team's best games of the season -- a regular season overtime thriller versus the Washington Redskins and the Saints' three playoff victories -- with Warner Brothers' two-disc set. Though lacking in substantial extra content, fans that want to experience these games over and over again will be getting a set with picture and sound qualities that are virtually identical to the original broadcast elements. Recommended to Saints and football fans.