Mystery Men (4KUHD)

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.

I've always loved this movie, though I only owned the DVD version. The 4K UHD version is an almost totally different experience. This movie is a visual delight. I've noticed things I've never seen before, and I almost want to pause and step through it frame by frame to examine the sets.This movie is under-rated and in many ways was quite ahead of its time. The cast is a delight and the costumes, props and sets are marvelous. Great performances from all the actors. So glad I got this.

people don't wanna talk about how mystery men, kids in the hall brain candy, cabin boy, clifford, and it's pat saved the world in the 90's...we just take still breathing for granted.

I ordered this to upgrade from my DVD to 4K. I’m happy to say it arrived on time and in near mint condition. Thanks guys!

it was okay

I’m surprised I missed this one when it came out. If you like Ben Stiller movies, you’ll like this one.

I love this movie. I like the super hero aspect and all the humor. A campy predecessor to series like Doom Patrol and Boys.

The first one I got was an empty bluray case with a slipcase over top of it. The second one was a DVD and Bluray in French and I am 80% certain is bootleg. I'd be ok with a French copy (as long as it had the English track which this does) as long as it is a 4k bluray, which is what I paid for... twice.

I saw this way back when it came out, and when it came out in 4K, I couldn't resist. This movie is delightly funny and different. It has a great cast, and a lot of love went into the set and production. It's an interesting world, in its own way as well crafted as Tim Burton's Batman universe. The supervillains are absolutely ridiculous by design. Don't mistake them for one-dimensional character, this is all done on purpose and it works beautifully thanks in great part to amazing actors like Geoffrey Rush. The "superheroes" are all very endearing. I wish there had been a sequel, but it's also very refreshing to see that the producers decided to make this a one-of-a-kind movie experience. To this day, it's still very watchable and worth several viewings.

This was the first DVD I ever bought so I was excited to buy the 4K version. I have seen better 4K upgrades but this still looks decent

Mystery Men was an ahead-of-its-time superhero comedy that didn’t get the recognition it deserved in the 90s, making jokes—both meta and not—about superheroes that only now, in a world with the MCU and DCEU that general audiences, not just comic fans, could appreciate. Which is why it’s all the more surprising that this movie that didn’t set the box office on fire has gotten an astounding amount of tender loving care for its 4K restoration.The image is better than any obscure 90s film has any right to be in 4K. Kino Lorber went back to the original camera negative, scanned it, and meticulously cleaned up dirt, specks, and other imperfections, and it shows. This is a clean, sharp image. Perhaps even more surprising, they went nuts with the HDR, presenting a vibrancy to the color that complements the sharpness for an incredibly impressive restoration that rivals top-tier, AAA movie restorations.The audio is good but not amazing. There’s the expected 5.1 lossless mix, and this is well done, though this movie doesn’t use the subwoofer a whole lot. An unexpected bonus is the inclusion of a lossless 2.0 mix, something that wasn’t on the previous Blu-ray releases. The audio, while by no means bad, is a little bit of a disappointment considering the image restoration is so good, but unlike some other obscure films like Dragonslayer, Mystery Men does not get an upgrade to Dolby Atmos to take advantage of height channels. To be fair, this isn’t a demanding film audio-wise, so maybe that would have been an extraneous effort.For extras, this 4K version has a nice balance between legacy extras dating back to the DVD release, as well as some new material for this 4K edition. Featurettes, a commentary and a few other things are all here to give a little more insight for fans of the movie. It may not be as exhaustive as a Criterion or Arrow release, but for a film that whimpered along in the 90s and grew a cult following in subsequent years, there’s a good amount of stuff here.So if you want an astounding 4K visual restoration, 4K Mystery Men delivers. If you wanted Dolby Atmos too, and a ton of brand-new extras, this won’t give you that. But anyone who owns the previous DVD or Blu-Ray releases and is looking for a BIG visual improvement is going to be very happy with this release.

Regardez un excellent film avec votre lecteur HD-DVD et profitez d'une image et d'un son extraordinaire. Bon rapport qualité prix imbattable!