Special Features
Like the movie itself, there's little in the supplementary materials for
The Patriot that requires more than one viewing, but they're interesting while they last. "The Art of War" featurette purports to be a study of the film's elaborate battle logistics, but it offers only a cursory appreciation of sequence planning and stunt work. The "True Patriots" featurette is much better, examining the painstaking efforts toward authenticity in production design, artillery, and costuming. The visual effects featurette offers a study of several pivotal shots, displayed in triptych fashion (to show how effects are layered together from separate elements) and narrated by visual effects supervisor Stuart Robertson. Generous photo galleries are included, featuring shots of the primary cast, sets, and costumes (the last matched by a gallery of conceptual drawings), and the feature-length commentary by director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin is worthwhile, if not altogether essential.
--Jeff Shannon
Product Description
The Superbit titles utilize a special high bit rate digital encoding process which optimizes video quality while offering a choice of both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. These titles have been produced by a team of Sony Pictures Digital Studios video, sound and mastering engineers and comes housed in a special package complete with a 4 page booklet that contains technical information on the Superbit process. By reallocating space on the disc normally used for value-added content, Superbit DVDs can be encoded at double their normal bit rate while maintaining full compatibility with the DVD video format.